Rethinking Security at Home & Abroad
Friday, February 20, 2026 from 12:00 noon – 2 pm
William D Hartung
William D Hartung focuses on the arms industry and US military budget. He was previously the director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy and the co-director of the Center’s Sustainable Defense Task Force. Bill is the co-author, with Ben Freeman, of the recently released The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home.
He is also the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books, 2011) and the co-editor, with Miriam Pemberton, of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War (Paradigm Press, 2008). And Weapons for All (HarperCollins, 1995) is a critique of US arms sales policies from the Nixon through Clinton administrations.
Bill previously directed programs at the New America Foundation and the World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams. Hartung’s articles on security issues have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and the World Policy Journal.
More than six decades ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the dangers of unwarranted influence on the part of the military/industrial complex. That complex has grown in size and scope in the decades since, resulting in a drift towards force and the threat of force as a primary tool of U.S. foreign policy. In parallel to these developments, threats to basic rights at home have been curtailed in the name of a distorted sense of what makes America and the world safe. Join us for a discussion of how to craft a more balanced approach to security that can provide an effective defense for less — and of the obstacles to making such a shift.
Registration: This SFWAF lunch is $26 for members and $36 for nonmembers. You may pay by check made out to SFWAF and mailed to The Santa Fe World Affairs Forum, Santa Fe, PO Box 31965, NM 87594 or with a credit card using our Paypal account. Please indicate on your check or if using Paypal please note in “add special instructions to the seller” that your payment is for the Friday, February 20, 2026 program.
Members: if you have not yet paid your 2026-27 membership dues, you may include the $50 per person annual dues in your payment for this program, but please also note in special instructions that dues are included. Because we are a 501(c)(3) organization, dues and contributions are tax deductible in accordance with IRS regulations.
If you are not a member or plan to bring a guest who is not a member, please include your best contact information and your guest’s name. We use nametags. If you are interested in membership, please email us: sfwaforum@outlook.com.
Payment for this program is non-refundable after Friday February 13, 2026. We strongly prefer that payment be made by Paypal or check postmarked by February 13, 2026 at the latest to facilitate check in. It is also very helpful if you are sending a check to email us at sfwaforum@outlook.com to let us know you plan to attend.
If you are not a member but interested in membership, please see our membership page and email sfwaforum@outlook.com for additional information.
Because we are a 501(c)(3) organization, dues and contributions are tax deductible.
For pricing and reservations, click here: https://sfwaf.org/payment/
Location: SFCC Board Room (#223) is in the West Wing (Administration building). The college is located at 6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87508. Enter through the building’s main entrance (on the left side of the building behind the flag poles). The Board Room is on the corridor to the left of the Campus Center.
Directions: From Rodeo Road turn south onto Richards Avenue. Turn into the campus main drive. Parking lots are in front of the building. From I-25 take the Cerrillos Road exit, turn east onto Governor Miles Road and then right onto Richards Avenue. Then follow directions above.
The Speaker
He is also the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books, 2011) and the co-editor, with Miriam Pemberton, of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War (Paradigm Press, 2008). And Weapons for All (HarperCollins, 1995) is a critique of US arms sales policies from the Nixon through Clinton administrations.
Bill previously directed programs at the New America Foundation and the World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams. Hartung’s articles on security issues have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and the World Policy Journal.
Anastasios (Tasos) Kioses is a recent retiree from the United Nations. He has worked in the private sector (Air France in Paris, France, and the Athens Olympic Committee for the 2004 Games), the State Department in Athens, Greece, and the United Nations from 2006 to 2025. He has served in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, the Republic of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and last but not least, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from August 2017 to June 2025.
Nelson W. Cunningham
Michael S. Vigil, born and raised in Española, New Mexico, earned his degree in criminal justice at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces where he graduated with Honors. He later joined the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and became one of its most highly decorated agents. Throughout his career, he served in thirteen foreign and domestic posts of duty and rose through the ranks to the highest levels of the Senior Executive Service becoming the Special Agent in Charge of the Caribbean and San Diego Divisions. One of his final posts was as the Chief of International Operations in charge of all DEA offices worldwide.