Bryan Bender, “From the Pentagon to the private sector,” 26 December 2010, The Boston Globe
Tag Archives: Defence contractors
National Security Iron Triangle
Franklin C. Spinney, “The Best Government Money Can Buy,” 11 February 2014, CounterPunch
MoD’s secret cyberwarfare programme
Ben Quinn, “Revealed: the MoD’s secret cyberwarfare programme,” 16 March 2014, Guardian
The Ministry of Defence is developing a secret, multimillion-pound research programme into the future of cyberwarfare, including how emerging technologies such as social media and psychological techniques can be harnessed by the military to influence people’s beliefs.
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The Sorry State of Corporate Taxes
“The Sorry State of Corporate Taxes,” February 2014, Citizens for Tax Justice
Profitable corporations are supposed to pay a 35 percent federal income tax rate on their U.S. profits. But many corporations pay far less, or nothing at all, because of the many tax loopholes and special breaks they enjoy. This report documents just how successful many Fortune 500 corporations have been at using these loopholes and special breaks over the past five years. …
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Gates Foundation’s Investments
Alex Park and Jaeah Lee, “The Gates Foundation’s Hypocritical Investments,” Mother Jones, 6 December 2013
Defense Contractors Profit Despite Sequestration And Shutdown
Hayes Brown, “Defense Contractors Profit Despite Sequestration And Shutdown,” Think Progress, 24 October 2013
Defense contractors have managed to not only stay afloat but also thrive in a climate of government closure and massive cuts to the Pentagon’s budget, continuing to rake in billions upon billions of dollars in profits. Continue reading
Army lets air out of battlefield spyship project
W.J. Hennigan, “Army lets air out of battlefield spyship project,” Los Angeles Times, 23 October 2013
After spending $297 million to develop a craft that could hover over an area as long as three weeks, the Pentagon quietly sold it for $301,000 to its maker. Continue reading
MoD study sets out how to sell wars to the public
Ben Quinn, “MoD study sets out how to sell wars to the public,” The Guardian, 26 September 2013
The armed forces should seek to make British involvement in future wars more palatable to the public by reducing the public profile of repatriation ceremonies for casualties, according to a Ministry of Defence unit that formulates strategy.
Other suggestions made by the MoD thinktank in a discussion paper examining how to assuage “casualty averse” public opinion include the greater use of mercenaries and unmanned vehicles, as well as the SAS and other special forces, because it says losses sustained by the elite soldiers do not have the same impact on the public and press.
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Defense Contractor: Climate Change Could Create “Business Opportunities”
Jeremy Schulman, “Defense Contractor: Climate Change Could Create ‘Business Opportunities‘,” Mother Jones, 14 August 2013
Of all the business opportunities presented by global warming, Raytheon Company may have found one of the most alarming. The Massachusetts-based defense contractor—which makes everything from communications systems to Tomahawk missiles—thinks that future “security concerns” caused by climate change could mean expanded sales of its military products. …
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Sharing science is a crime
Charles Davis, “Sharing science is a crime,” Al Jazeera, 03 Aug 2013
The more one shares, the more one undermines a future patent application and a system that encourages privatisation.
It doesn’t matter if you start out working for a university. Scientists are given two choices for getting their research funded, academia or not: go to work for the Pentagon or start making something you can patent. And the government and its corporations want it that way.
Of the $140bn in research and development funding requested by President Barack Obama for 2013, according to the Congressional Research Service, more than half goes through the Department of Defense; less than $30bn through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). That invariably leads to a shift in resources, with scientists going to where the money is: instead of finding ways to cure, finding high-tech ways to kill or otherwise aid the war effort. Researchers at the University of Arizona, for instance, received a $1.5m grant to “adapt their breast cancer imaging research for detection of embedded explosives”, which speaks rather well to the US government’s priorities and the toll it takes on research that has the general public in mind. …
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Tipping Point North South 