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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Did the new Defense Secretary extend his recusal from matters involving Raytheon?

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

By Stevie Rosignol-Cortez

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YES

Lloyd Austin, the retired general who is now Secretary of Defense under President Biden, was previously on the board of Raytheon Technologies, a major defense contractor. In his confirmation hearing, he pledged to recuse himself from all matters involving the company for four years, going beyond legal requirements that he do so for one year. He also in his ethics disclosure outlined plans to divest holdings in the company and related entities.

Raytheon has been a military contractor since World War II, and became the second-largest last year in a merger with United Technologies (where Austin became a board member in 2016).

“Recusal isn’t a panacea,” a watchdog group cautions, given Raytheon’s share of both sales to the Pentagon and to foreign governments requiring U.S. approval. “Current ethics laws and executive orders are far from sufficient” to avoid conflicts of interest, it contends.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

C-SPAN: Lloyd Austin recusal commitment at Senate confirmation hearing

Inside Defense: Austin extends Raytheon recusal to four years

Raytheon Technologies: Board of directors—Lloyd Austin (Archived Nov. 29, 2020)

US Office of Government Ethics US Office of Government Ethics: Lloyd Austin financial disclosure

Air Force Magazine Air Force Magazine: Raytheon merger creates second largest defense company

Project on Government Oversight: In search of Pentagon officials not captured by industry

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.