In the past 20 years, the defense industry has spent $2.5 billion on lobbying and contributed nearly $300 million to various political campaigns, according to financial disclosures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The defense industry maintains strong ties with the executive branch and Congress. According to the Project on Government Oversight, there were nearly 650 instances of the top 20 defense contractors hiring former senior government officials, military officers and legislators as lobbyists or executives just during 2016. Some then may return to government—such as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the retired general who left the board of Raytheon to join the Biden administration.
Raytheon, a top defense contractor, says it participates in “the U.S. political process to ensure that the company’s interests ... are appropriately represented.”