#defensecontractors

" . . . Washington refuses to support bills that would actually provoke positive chain reactions not only abroad but also at home. Why? Well, let’s look at the groups that would lose a great deal in case this bill is signed into law."

#corruptpoliticians #lobbyists #bribery #weaponsmanufacturers #defensecontractors #weaponsexports #armssales #warmongers

“WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.”                                                 

"This breeds a culture where government officials are subservient to contractors and people who question costs or performance are told to stop rocking the boat lest they be retaliated against professionally." A new report revealed at least 645 instances in 2016 alone where former high-ranking Department of Defense officials entered the defense industry within two years of leaving the Department. These officials became lobbyists, board members, executives or consultants for defense contractors - giving the impression their influence in the Pentagon is winning contracts for their new employers. While these former officials bring with them practical knowledge and experience into the defense industry, the report released by The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) decried the presence of an elaborate revolving door which increased chances of unethical dealings. The report argued: "We should be able to have confidence that government officials are making informed decisions based on what’s best for national security, for men and women in uniform, and for the American people. Instead, the system is skewed by undue influence, rewarding those public officials who favor a future employer or industry with contracts or lucrative jobs. The public is rightfully concerned about the concentration of wealth and self-dealing in the Capitol, with five of the ten richest counties in the United States located within an hour of Washington, DC. Some of that wealth is connected to increased spending on contracting, with the Washington region receiving 17 percent of all federal procurement spending in fiscal year 2016." Though 645 instances were discovered in 2016, the report says that the number could be higher, as it only relied on publicly available sources which largely rely on self-reporting of the defense companies. It also noted that the number of instances was higher than the number of officials, as some of them worked for more than one company. A 2006 Government Accountability Office survey of contractors and Internal Revenue Service data—the most recent government review available—found that 52 contractors employed 2,435 former Department of Defense senior and acquisition officials who had “previously served as generals, admirals, senior executives, program managers, contracting officers, or in other acquisition positions which made them subject to restrictions on their post-DOD employment.”

The Pentagon, headquarters of the Department of Defense. DoD photo by Master Sgt. Ken Hammond, U.S. Air Force. Source; Wikimedia Commons

Major Findings of the Report