[Source: rosecoveredglasses.com]

Ideally, Warren’s report would precipitate a much larger congressional investigation of the military-industrial complex modeled after the 1934 Nye Committee hearings.

At the end of April, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chair of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, released an investigative report: “Pentagon Alchemy: How Defense Officials Pass Through the Revolving Door and Peddle Brass for Gold.”

It reveals, not surprisingly, that nearly 700 former high-ranking and other government officials now work at the top 20 defense contractors, and highlights the need to close the revolving door for ex-government and military officials hired to executive board and lobbyist positions at large defense contractors.

“When government officials cash in on their public service by lobbying, advising, or serving as board members and executives for the companies they used to regulate, it undermines public officials’ integrity and casts doubt on the fairness of government contracting,” Warren wrote. “This problem is especially concerning and pronounced in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the United States’ defense industry.”

To combat the situation, Senator Warren has introduced the Department of Defense Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act, which would “limit the influence of contractors on the military, constrain foreign influence on retired senior military officers, and assert greater transparency over contractors and their interaction with Department of Defense (DoD).”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pictured during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Dirksen Building on April 19, 2023.
Elizabeth Warren [Source: truthout.org]

Warren’s bill would certainly be a step in the right direction if it passes, though it is not enough.

What is needed, more broadly, is a) a fundamental shift in the election campaign financing structure; b) an outright bar of Pentagon officials from working in private military industry; c) much stricter regulations on lobbying; and, ultimately, d) the nationalization of the arms industry, which would take the profit out of war once and for all.

The Revolving Door

The major findings of “Pentagon Alchemy” are that:

  • Top defense contractors hire hundreds of former government officials, most as lobbyists: As of 2021, there have been 672 instances in which former government officials, military officers, members of Congress and senior legislative staff were found to be working for the top 20 defense contractors. In 91% of these cases, the individuals who went through the revolving door became registered lobbyists for big defense contractors.
  • Defense industry consolidation increases the risks from big corporations’ abuse of the revolving door: The DoD is the largest federal contracting agency—of the total $692.3 billion in contracts awarded by the federal government in FY 2021, 61% were awarded by DoD, with almost 40% going exclusively to 10 defense contractors.
  • Big defense contractors hired the most revolving-door lobbyists and stocked their boards with former government officials: Boeing hired the most former government officials, 85, which includes six as high-ranking executives, two as board members and 77 as registered lobbyists. Raytheon hired 64, three as board members, one as a corporate executive and 60 as registered lobbyists. General Electric hired 60 revolving-door lobbyists. These examples shed light on the frequency with which defense contractors use the revolving door to hire former high-ranking government and military officials into senior executive or board positions. 

This Year’s Rank

Last Year’s Rank

Company

Leadership

Country

2021 Defense Revenue (in millions)

2020 Defense Revenue (in millions)

% Defense Revenue Change

2021 Total Revenue (in millions)

Revenue From Defense

1

1

Lockheed Martin 

James D. Taiclet, Chairman, President and CEO

U.S.

$64,458.00

$62,562.00

3%

$67,044.00

96%

2

2

Raytheon Technologies 

Gregory J. Hayes, Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$41,852.20

$42,000.00

0%

$64,388.00

65%

3

3

Boeing

David Calhoun, President and CEO

U.S.

$35,093.00

$32,400.00

8%

$62,286.00

56%

4

4

Northrop Grumman

Kathy J. Warden, Chair, CEO and President

U.S.

$31,429.00

$31,400.00

0%

$35,667.00

88%

5

5

General Dynamics

Phebe Novakovic, Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$30,800.00

$29,800.00

3%

$38,500.00

80%

6

6

Aviation Industry Corporation of China

Tan Ruisong, Chairman of the Board, and Hao Zhaoping, Director and General Manager *

China

$30,155.22

$25,468.59

18%

$80,424.24

37%

7

7

BAE Systems 

Charles Woodburn, Group CEO

UK

$25,775.20

$23,502.38

10%

$26,849.16

96%

8

10

China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited 

Lei Fanpei, Chairman, and Yang Jincheng, Director and General Manager

China

$18,517.72

$16,017.53

16%

$92,573.10

20%

9

8

China North Industries Group Corporation Limited

Liu Shiquan, Chairman, and Liu Dashan, President *

China

$17,711.93

$15,249.27

16%

$81,648.42

22%

10

9

L3Harris Technologies 

Christopher E. Kubasik, Vice Chair and CEO *

U.S.

$14,924.00

$14,936.00

0%

$17,814.00

84%

11

15

China Electronics Technology Group 

Xiong Qunli, Chairman, and Wu Manqing, President

China

$14,659.22

$10,465.75

40%

$57,629.62

25%

12

13

Leonardo

Alessandro Profumo, CEO

Italy

$13,878.35

$11,173.33

24%

$16,720.97

83%

13

14

China South Industries Group Corporation

Xu Xianping, Chairman of the Group and Secretary of the Party Committee, and Chen Guoying, Director and General Manager *

China

$13,744.95

$10,697.68

28%

$44,349.55

31%

14

11

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation

Yuan Jie, Chairman, and Wei Yiyin, Deputy General Manager *

China

$13,125.11

$12,060.26

9%

$41,033.41

32%

15

12

Airbus 

Guillaume Faury, CEO

Netherlands/France

$10,853.55

$12,004.28

-10%

$61,689.56

18%

16

16

Thales

Patrice Caine, Chairman and CEO

France

$10,212.39

$9,228.36

11%

$19,154.29

53%

17

17

HII 

Christopher Kastner, President and CEO *

U.S.

$9,475.00

$8,654.37

9%

$9,524.00

99%

18

18

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

Wu Yansheng, Chairman, and Zhang Zhongyang, Director and General Manager *

China

$9,344.09

$8,305.92

12%

$43,636.74

21%

19

19

Leidos

Roger Krone, Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$8,032.00

$7,341.00

9%

$13,737.00

58%

20

34

Dassault Aviation 

Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO

France

$6,151.33

$3,724.44

65%

$8,517.23

72%

21

23

Amentum 

John Heller, CEO *

U.S.

$5,900.00

$5,000.00

18%

$9,200.00

64%

22

22

Booz Allen Hamilton

Horacio D. Rozanski, President and CEO

U.S.

$5,528.51

$5,470.21

1%

$8,363.70

66%

23

21

Honeywell 

Darius Adamczyk, Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$5,151.00

$5,826.00

-12%

$34,392.00

15%

24

32

Mitsubishi Group 

Katsuya Nakanishi, President and CEO *

Japan

$5,004.36

$3,788.12

32%

$8,350.31

60%

25

96

Peraton 

Stu Shea, Chairman, President and CEO

U.S.

$5,000.00

$651.20

668%

$7,200.00

69%

26

26

Safran 

Olivier Andries, CEO

France

$4,981.39

$4,707.20

6%

$18,048.24

28%

27

25

Rolls-Royce

Warren East, Chief Executive

UK

$4,972.07

$4,863.94

2%

$15,056.49

33%

28

33

Naval Group

Pierre Eric Pommellet, Chairman and CEO

France

$4,850.09

$3,766.68

29%

$4,850.09

100%

29

29

Rheinmetall AG 

Armin Papperger, CEO

Germany

$4,788.57

$4,249.50

13%

$6,693.12

72%

30

28

Hanwha

Seung Youn Kim, Chairman

South Korea

$4,786.92

$4,293.68

11%

$7,167.68

67%

31

30

Elbit Systems

Bezhalel Machlis, President and CEO

Israel

$4,770.76

$4,222.70

13%

$5,278.52

90%

32

45

KBR

Stuart Bradie, President and CEO

U.S.

$4,723.78

$2,739.74

72%

$7,338.68

64%

33

31

CACI International

John Mengucci, President and CEO

U.S.

$4,185.29

$3,999.26

5%

$6,044.14

69%

34

27

General Electric 

H. Lawrence Culp Jr., Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$4,136.00

$4,572.00

-10%

$74,196.00

6%

35

36

Saab AB

Micael Johansson, President and CEO

Sweden

$4,107.09

$3,385.41

21%

$4,563.52

90%

36

42

Tactical Missiles Corporation JSC

Boris Obnosov, Director General

Russia

$3,960.79

$2,919.63

36%

$4,040.85

98%

37

37

Israel Aerospace Industries

Boaz Levy, President and CEO

Israel

$3,867.00

$3,325.00

16%

$4,477.00

86%

38

38

SAIC 

Nazzic Keene, CEO

U.S.

$3,578.00

$3,292.00

9%

$7,394.00

48%

39

35

Textron Inc.  

Scott C. Donnelly, Chairman, President and CEO

U.S.

$3,219.32

$3,449.00

-7%

$12,382.00

26%

40

43

KNDS 

Frank Haun, CEO

Netherlands

$3,173.85

$2,898.06

10%

$3,173.85

100%

41

44

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems 

Yoav Har-Even, President and CEO

Israel

$3,059.26

$2,787.58

0%

$3,059.26

100%

42

41

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

Rajagopalan Madhavan, Chairman and Managing Director

India

$3,040.56

$3,000.00

1%

$3,268.65

93%

43

NEW

Babcock International 

David Lockwood, CEO

UK

$3,002.06

$2,935.52

2%

$5,360.82

56%

44

40

Bechtel

Brendan Bechtel, Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$3,000.00

$3,100.00

-3%

$17,500.00

17%

45

46

Jacobs

Steve Demetriou, Chair of the Board and CEO

U.S.

$2,749.00

$2,498.00

10%

$14,093.00

20%

46

47

Oshkosh Corporation

John Pfeifer, President and CEO

U.S.

$2,525.60

$2,262.20

12%

$7,737.30

33%

47

50

TransDigm

Kevin Stein, President, CEO and Director

U.S.

$2,389.00

$2,180.00

10%

$4,798.00

50%

48

49

Fincantieri S.p.A.

Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO *

Italy

$2,338.69

$2,211.96

6%

$8,175.35

29%

49

48

Aselsan A.S.

Haluk Gorgun, Chairman, President and CEO

Turkey

$2,250.39

$2,218.33

1%

$2,333.68

96%

50

55

ST Engineering

Vincent Chong, Group President and CEO

Singapore

$2,157.72

$1,885.29

14%

$5,723.92

38%

51

52

ManTech

Kevin M. Phillips, Chairman of the Board, CEO and President

U.S.

$1,991.00

$1,964.00

1%

$2,554.00

78%

52

54

Parsons Corporation

Carey Smith, President and CEO

U.S.

$1,888.05

$1,911.91

-1%

$3,660.77

52%

53

56

Serco

Rupert Soames, Group CEO

UK

$1,870.54

$1,736.39

8%

$6,085.59

31%

54

53

Sierra Nevada Corporation

Eren Ozmen, Chairwoman, President and Owner, and Fatih Ozmen, CEO and Owner

U.S.

$1,856.00

$1,918.00

-3%

$2,106.00

88%

55

51

Kawasaki Heavy Industries 

Yasuhiko Hashimoto, President and CEO

Japan

$1,848.76

$2,026.50

-9%

$13,368.34

14%

56

61

Bharat Electronics Limited

Anandi Ramalingam, Chairman and Managing Director *

India

$1,811.78

$1,440.00

26%

$2,018.41

90%

57

63

Vectrus 

Charles Prow, President and CEO

U.S.

$1,768.54

$1,383.90

28%

$1,783.67

99%

58

64

Hensoldt AG

Thomas Mueller, CEO

Germany

$1,743.67

$1,377.58

27%

$1,743.67

100%

59

57

Korea Aerospace Industries

Ahn Hyun-ho, President and CEO

South Korea

$1,709.05

$1,716.71

0%

$2,224.68

77%

60

58

BWX Technologies 

Rex Geveden, President and CEO

U.S.

$1,605.22

$1,634.58

-2%

$2,124.07

76%

61

59

Ball Corporation

Dan W. Fisher, President and CEO *

U.S.

$1,599.00

$1,495.00

7%

$13,800.00

12%

62

65

LIG Nex1

Kim Ji-Chan, President and CEO

South Korea

$1,590.78

$1,357.05

17%

$1,590.78

100%

63

62

Melrose Industries 

Simon Peckham, Chief Executive

UK

$1,544.57

$1,416.83

9%

$10,315.49

15%

64

66

QinetiQ Plc

Steve Wadey, CEO

UK

$1,502.87

$1,270.16

18%

$1,803.45

83%

65

60

Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.

Eileen Drake, CEO and President

U.S.

$1,485.00

$1,472.00

1%

$2,092.00

71%

66

67

Curtiss-Wright Corporation

Lynn M. Bamford, Chair and CEO

U.S.

$1,383.64

$1,263.29

10%

$2,505.93

55%

67

68

Turkish Aerospace Industries

Temel Kotil, President and CEO

Turkey

$1,302.95

$1,256.42

4%

$1,565.61

83%

68

70

Moog Inc.

John R. Scannell, Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$1,299.48

$1,238.36

5%

$2,851.99

46%

69

72

Kongsberg Gruppen

Geir Haoy, President and CEO

Norway

$1,288.21

$1,064.72

21%

$3,191.91

40%

70

NEW

Polish Armaments Group

Sebastian Chwalek, President of the Management Board

Poland

$1,283.66

$1,160.86

11%

$1,755.11

73%

71

81

CAE

Marc Parent, President and CEO

Canada

$1,277.92

$921.35

39%

$2,689.13

48%

72

76

Navantia

Ricardo Domínguez García-Baquero, Chairman

Spain

$1,163.32

$999.24

16%

$1,545.43

75%

73

71

Viasat

Richard Baldridge, President and CEO

U.S.

$1,086.72

$1,066.30

2%

$2,787.64

39%

74

75

Aerospace Corporation

Steven J. Isakowitz, President and CEO

U.S.

$1,084.50

$1,032.00

5%

$1,162.80

93%

75

69

Austal

Paddy Gregg, CEO

Australia

$1,083.60

$1,239.39

-13%

$1,174.07

92%

76

79

Mitre

Jason Providakes, President and CEO

U.S.

$1,010.00

$984.00

3%

$2,100.00

48%

77

77

Howmet Aerospace 

John C. Plant, CEO

U.S.

$944.68

$999.21

-5%

$4,972.00

19%

78

73

Maxar Technologies 

Daniel Jablonsky, President and CEO

U.S.

$936.00

$1,062.00

-12%

$1,770.00

53%

79

83

Ultra Electronics

Simon Pryce, CEO

UK

$920.69

$832.90

11%

$1,170.05

79%

80

NEW

Eaton

Craig Arnold, Chairman and CEO

Ireland

$920.00

N/A

N/A

$19,628.00

5%

81

87

Mercury Systems

Mark Aslett, President and CEO

U.S.

$904.69

$776.17

17%

$924.00

98%

82

78

Meggitt 

Tony Wood, CEO

UK

$878.05

$985.62

-11%

$2,090.61

42%

83

NEW

Teledyne Technologies 

Robert Mehrabian, Chairman, President and CEO

U.S.

$876.60

$578.40

52%

$4,614.30

19%

84

84

AAR Corp.

John M. Holmes, President and CEO

U.S.

$845.90

$812.77

4%

$1,652.00

51%

85

86

HEICO 

Laurans A. Mendelson, Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$823.81

$786.28

5%

$1,865.68

44%

86

NEW

Roketsan

Murat Ikinci, CEO

Turkey

$814.16

$572.29

42%

$814.16

100%

87

NEW

Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions 

Mike Kahn, President and CEO

U.S.

$806.59

$762.06

6%

$1,013.92

80%

88

90

Day & Zimmermann

Hal Yoh III, Chair and CEO

U.S.

$759.54

$741.94

2%

$2,700.00

28%

89

97

Ukroboronprom

Yuriy Husyev, Director General

Ukraine

$754.57

$650.61

16%

$1,451.65

52%

90

100

Indra 

Ignacio Mataix, CEO *

Spain

$752.35

$594.33

27%

$4,010.19

19%

91

NEW

TTM Technologies  

Thomas T. Edman, President and CEO

U.S.

$742.08

$757.92

-2%

$2,248.74

33%

92

89

Woodward Inc.

Charles Blankenship, Chairman, CEO and President *

U.S.

$711.03

$764.00

-7%

$2,245.83

32%

93

82

Fluor Corporation

David Constable, Chairman and CEO

U.S.

$706.30

$864.20

-18%

$12,400.00

6%

94

91

Lumen Technologies

Jeff Storey, President and CEO

U.S.

$687.21

$728.29

-6%

$19,687.00

3%

95

92

Battelle

Lewis Von Thaer, President and CEO

U.S.

$663.00

$705.00

-6%

$10,000.00

7%

96

NEW

Diehl Group

Klaus Richter, CEO

Germany

$651.75

$577.60

13%

$3,400.01

19%

97

NEW

Nammo  

Morten Brandtzaeg, President and CEO

Norway

$641.04

$511.07

25%

$811.44

79%

98

NEW

Saudi Arabian Military Industries 

Walid Abukhaled, CEO

Saudi Arabia

$604.95

$20.18

2898%

$806.17

75%

99

NEW

Patria

Esa Rautalinko, President and CEO

Finland

$602.59

$565.69

7%

$647.90

93%

100

95

Embraer

Francisco Gomes Neto, President and CEO

Brazil

$594.40

$653.87

-9%

$4,197.20

14%

Top 100 defense contractors in 2021. [Source: people.defensenews.com]

.

Interestingly, Warren’s report lists Pfizer as a defense contractor, arguing that it did extensive Pentagon contracting during the COVID pandemic and that the pharmaceutical company retained 73 former Pentagon officials.

[Source: rsn.org]

Warren’s report also noted that a Raytheon board member, Margaret L. O’Sullivan, is a current member of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Foreign Policy Advisory Board and served as deputy national security adviser under George W. Bush for Afghanistan and Iraq.

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis, who oversaw massacres in Fallujah and a wedding bombing in Mukaradeeb as commander of the 1st Marine Division in Iraq, is another poster child of the revolving door who now sits on General Dynamics’ Board of Directors.

Yet another is current Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a former Raytheon Board member who has awarded more than $30 billion in government contracts to Raytheon since his appointment, which Warren inexplicably did not oppose.

Cold War Era Poster Boy

The revolving door is not new; but has been a problem for a long, long time.

During the Cold War, one of the poster boys for it was Roswell Gilpatric, the Deputy Defense Secretary from 1961-1964 who served as Special Counsel for General Dynamics, a top arms manufacturer, and was a close friend of its CEO, Frank Pace.

Roswell Gilpatric [Source: wikipedia.org]

A childhood friend of Nelson Rockefeller and protégé of former Defense Secretary Robert Lovett, Gilpatric admitted before the Senate Armed Services Committee in January 1961 that he was still receiving $21,000 per year from his law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which represented General Dynamics.

As Deputy Defense Secretary, Gilpatric became involved in negotiating a $6.5 billion Pentagon contract—the largest for military planes in American history at that time—to General Dynamics for construction of the Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) fighter plane (later F-111) in March 1962 that Boeing had been more qualified to handle.[1]

The TFX became a financial disaster with the cost per plane ballooning from $2.8 million in 1962 to $22 million by 1970 and planes being overweight and militarily ineffective.[2] A Senate subcommittee headed by John McClellan (D-Ark.) found Gilpatric” guilty of conflict of interest for awarding the TFX contract to General Dynamics” since he had been a “top level counselor” to the company for over two years prior to joining the Pentagon, and therefore “should have disqualified himself from the decision-making process.”[3]

[Source: oldmodelkits.com]

After he resigned his Pentagon position, Gilpatric went back to work for Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which continued to represent General Dynamics, and was paid over $100,000 per year, a fortune for the time.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, who allegedly received a $100,000 payoff for the TFX contract, took good care of Gilpatric by appointing him to several high-profile positions, notably Presidential Emissary to Portugal, to the President’s Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation, and as a President’s consultant on international problems.[4]

Iraq War Architects Cash In

Derek Seidman details in a recent article in Truthout how many of the key architects of the Iraq War have benefited from the revolving door, finding positions with defense industry giants, tech firms and Wall Street investors, and enjoying the good life, raking in consulting and speaker fees, their images washed as they profit handsomely from the insider access they provide.

Seidman gives the example of Paul Wolfowitz, George W. Bush’s Deputy Defense Secretary, who in 2013 was appointed to the board of a tech company, LaserLock—now VerifyMe—and strategic advisory council of NGP Energy Capital Management, an energy-focused private equity firm that oversees billions in oil and gas investments and is partnered with private equity behemoth and Iraq war profiteer, the Carlyle Group.

A person in a suit smiling

Description automatically generated with medium confidence
Paul Wolfowitz [Source: politico.com]
George Tenet [Source: sfgate.com]

George Tenet, the CIA director who skewed intelligence to push for the Iraq war, jumped onto defense tech corporate boards like L-1 Identity Solutions, Guidance Software and QinetiQ Group that cash in from government contracts, as well as In-Q-Tel—a venture capital arm of the CIA, and is chairman of the secretive private investment firm Allen & Company.

An “Ugly Underbelly” at the Pentagon

Warren said that the “Pentagon Alchemy” report revealed “an ugly underbelly at the Pentagon.”

During a subcommittee hearing after its release, she grilled Pentagon lawyers, telling them that “if a defense industry staffer used to work in the next cubicle over from a Pentagon acquisitions officer, there’s a better chance that the industry staffer can get his phone calls and emails returned.”

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), joined Warren in highlighting former Pentagon officials who had gone on to work for foreign governments, including those who have committed serious human rights abuses. Kaine pointed to a Washington Post report that found the Defense and State Departments approved 95% of some 500 veterans’ requests to work for foreign governments since 2015.

Senator Tim Kaine [Source: pilotonline.com]

An analysis of the Pentagon report from the Quincy Institute found that more than half of these veterans worked for the UAE. It also noted that the list included 77 former senior officials working for foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Army General Counsel Carrie Ricci noted at the hearing that “the vast majority of Army personnel” who were approved to work for the UAE and Saudi Arabia…are largely connected to our foreign military sales programs. They’ve been maintainers who have been hired by these countries to help maintain the equipment through security cooperation.”

image of Carrie F. Ricci
Carrie F. Ricci [Source: ogc.altess.army.mil]

Toward a New Nye Committee?

Ideally, Warren’s report would precipitate a more extensive congressional investigation modeled after the 1934 Nye Committee hearings, headed by Gerald P. Nye, a Republican from North Dakota, which looked into allegations that manufacturers of armaments had unduly influenced the American decision to enter World War I.[5]

Gerald P. Nye (R-ND)—an American hero. [Source: fineartamerica.com]
A cover of a book

Description automatically generated with low confidence
[Source: greatwardustjackets.co.uk]

According to Nye Committee reports, weapon suppliers reaped enormous profits at the cost of more than 53,000 American battlefield fatalities. Historian Paul A.C. Koistinen has written that the Nye Committee represented “among the most significant congressional investigating agencies in American history” as it “uncovered and explicated the dynamics of an emerging military-industrial complex.”[6]

During the 1930s, negative publicity regarding the role of munitions makers in the Great War was aroused by the publication of exposés such as Seymour Waldman’s Death and Profits: A Study of the War Policies Commission (1932), a Book-of-the Month Club selection that portrayed a “world-wide munitions racket,” and Merchants of Death (1934), by H.C. Engelbrecht and F.C. Hanighen, which blamed managers in war industries for ignoring the social consequences of their work. 

Over a period of 18 months, the Nye Committee held 93 hearings and questioned more than 200 witnesses, including banker J. P. Morgan, Jr., and chemical manufacturer Pierre du Pont, who profited massively from its manufacture of gunpowder. 

Pierre du Pont testifying at the 1934 Nye Committee hearings. [Source: outlet.historicimages.com]
Peace demonstration, Massachusetts, July 1935. [Source: peacehistory-usfp.org]

Based on these hearings the Nye Committee charged that private armament interests worked contrary to arms embargoes and treaties, sold weapons to both sides during World War I, stimulated arms races between friendly nations, and benefited from excess profits with the government’s blessing.

The inquiry was led by chief counsel Stephen Rauschenbusch, son of the noted progressive theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, and drew upon extensive research in the files of the State, War, Navy, Commerce and Treasury departments, the Federal Reserve Board, the House of Morgan, the Wilson papers, Robert Lansing, Edward M. House, and key subpoenaed witnesses. 

J. P. Morgan [Source: gothamcenter.org]

J. P. Morgan’s export department was found to have operated as a buying agent for the Allies and helped guide the massive growth of the U.S. munitions industry during the war. 

To keep the multi-billion dollar operation going, the Morgan partners led the way in providing American financial assistance to the Allies, which totaled nearly $3 billion up to April 1917.

That investment, Nye and his colleagues concluded, was protected and partially paid off when the United States entered the First World War and took up the Allies’ financial burden. In carrying out its responsibilities, J. P. Morgan and Company dealt regularly with political and economic elites on both sides of the Atlantic, including the British prime minister and the American president. 

The Nye Committee ultimately confirmed many allegations about special interests and their role in dictating government policy and compromising U.S. democracy. Its disclosures aroused great public interest and added to the public’s distrust of war.

Nye Committee. [Source: timetoast.com]

With an eye to the future, the committee endorsed the adoption of stringent neutrality laws, including prohibitions on financial assistance and munition sales to belligerents.

The committee also advocated for strict regulation of the arms industry and specified that the U.S. should not allow a private banking house to act as principal financier and supplier of one side in a war. Senator Nye himself favored the nationalization of the arms industry in order to take the profit motive out of war. 

In January 1937, nearly a year after the conclusion of the Nye Committee investigation, a Gallup poll revealed that 70% of Americans thought it was a mistake to enter the Great War and that 82% favored prohibition of the sale of munitions by private parties.

A new Nye Committee today—building off of the Warren report—would inevitably reveal similar abuses underlying what is now a permanent warfare state.

It might further help arouse public opprobrium leading ultimately to the systemic social change that we need.


  1. See Edgar F. Tatro, “The TFX Scandal’s Link to the JFK Assassination Conspiracy,” Garrison: The Journal of History and Deep Politics, January 2023, 98-102. A longtime partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Maurice T. Moore, was the director of General Dynamics from 1962-1972. Fred Korth, the U.S. Navy Secretary at the time of the TFK deal who was tight with then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, had been President of the Continental First Bank in Ft. Worth, Texas and personally approved a $400,000 loan to General Dynamics. From 1953-1960. Korth was Director of Bell Aerospace, which made a fortune producing helicopters used in the Vietnam War.

  2. Tatro, “The TFX Scandal’s Link to the JFK Assassination Conspiracy,” 125. General Dynamics financial structure was managed by corrupt people with links to organized crime, including the dominant figure controlling the company, Henry Crown, who was an essential godfather of the Chicago mafia and whose mob associates included a “rogue’s gallery of sinister villains from Chicago and beyond,” according to researcher Edgar F. Tatro.

  3. Tatro, “The TFX Scandal’s Link to the JFK Assassination Conspiracy,” 128. Gilpatric had urged restraint during the Cuban missile crisis, but was a member of the special task force which hatched Operation Mongoose, a dirty tricks campaign aimed at destabilizing the government of Fidel Castro in Cuba. He pushed Kennedy to increase military spending. In the Eisenhower administration, Gilpatric headed a secret task force charged with “preventing Communist domination of Vietnam.” Gilpatric argued forcefully for U.S. commitment to halt the Communist threat in South Vietnam. In his position with the Kennedy administration, Gilpatric later signed off on the overthrow of the Diem government.

  4. Tatro, “The TFX Scandal’s Link to the JFK Assassination Conspiracy,” 84. Don B. Reynolds, a Maryland insurance salesman who recruited Johnson’s political fixer Bobby Baker into his firm, testified before the Senate Rules Committee that Baker had told him he had received a $100,000 payoff for the TFX contract, and that “Johnson had interceded to make sure that the TFX was awarded to General Dynamics;” receiving the money as a reward. Reynolds said that when he was inside Baker’s office, a man identified as Roy Evans, the president of Grumman aircraft, then a General Dynamics subsidiary, left a blue flight bag on Baker’s desk filled with $100,000.

  5. The below section is taken from Jeremy Kuzmarov, Charles F. Howlett and Roger Peace, “United States Participation in World War One,” https://peacehistory-usfp.org/ww1/.

  6. Paul A.C. Koistinen, Planning War, Pursuing Peace: The Political Economy of American Warfare, 1920-1939 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998), 254.


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2 COMMENTS

  1. To make the record clean and keep it clean, can we at long last scrap the word “defense” and and use “war” as its true meaning, as in “War Department” instead of “defense department”. The more that we use that language the more it will spread and help more of our fellow citizens to wake up.

  2. Dear Jeremy,

    All very true, but how much I wish you would use the correct ‘word’. The nearly 700 former high-ranking Pentagon and other Government officials you refer to in your excellent article, don’t work for “Defense” contractors. The correct name is “Attack & Defense” or simply War contractors. Throwing grenades, planting landmines, firing bullets, dropping bombs, launching rockets and torpedoes, is an activity meant to kill and destroy. It defends NOTHING and NOBODY, except the contractors themselves and their partners (politicians, Bank managers, oil and Media barons)

    No ‘defense’ is possible without attack. “Attack”, in military games people call ‘War’, is simply the word use for the army that starts the game. All agreed in advance, by politicians, their representatives (diplomats) and their slaves (the military) it means the two fighting sides agreed to it.

    As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: “Wars are never an accident. If there is war it means the fighting sides agreed to it”

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