Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission.
Readers here have heard of Ray McGovern’s MICIMATT, the military-industrial-congressional-intelligence-media-academe-think-tank complex. It’s gargantuan and lubricated with enormous sums of money.
Consider think tanks. Go to thinktankfundingtracker.org and you’ll see useful information like this:
Top 10 Think Tanks That Receive Funding from Pentagon Contractors
- Atlantic Council $10,270,001
- Center for a New American Security $6,665,000
- Center for Strategic and International Studies $4,115,000
- Brookings Institution $3,475,000
- Hudson Institute $2,240,000
- Council on Foreign Relations $2,095,000
- Stimson Center $1,555,763
- Aspen Institute $1,125,000
- German Marshall Fund $871,010
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace $620,008
I wonder why these think tanks tend to favor the agendas and interests of America’s various weapons makers? Hard to offer “neutral” or “balanced” advice when so much of your funding is coming from the merchants of death.
Military Contractors’ Political Contributions (2023-2024)
According to OpenSecrets, the top defense contractors contributed significantly to political campaigns in the current election cycle:
- Lockheed Martin – $4,470,698 total ($2,393,034 to Democrats, $2,021,283 to Republicans)
- Northrop Grumman – $3,354,889 total ($1,903,884 to Democrats, $1,385,924 to Republicans)
- RTX Corp (Raytheon) – $2,805,535 total ($1,472,920 to Democrats, $1,258,511 to Republicans)
- General Atomics – $2,507,912 total ($595,947 to Democrats, $1,660,970 to Republicans)
- L3Harris Technologies – $2,475,712 total ($1,126,096 to Democrats, $1,331,975 to Republicans)
In the presidential race, defense contractors have donated:
- Kamala Harris – $4,440,605
- Donald Trump – $1,787,259
In total, the defense sector has contributed over $41.4 million in the 2023-2024 election cycle. For every $1 contributed to political campaigns, these companies receive $10,000 in government contracts – a return on investment most businesses could only dream of.
As weapons makers like Lockheed Martin and RTX throw around millions of dollars to influence Congress, presidential elections, and think tanks, peace organizations that I’m familiar with operate on shoestring budgets where a donation of $1000 is considered large.
My dad taught me the saying, He who pays the piper calls the tune. The weapons makers are paying the piper (think tanks, Congress, the media), and the tunes they’re calling are military marches.
America, we truly get what they pay for, which is war and more war.
A Coda: So far, Bracing Views has received $0.00 from weapons makers. :-)
William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF), professor of history, and a senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network (EMN), an organization of critical veteran military and national security professionals. His personal substack is Bracing Views.
