Defense campaign contributors, start lining up, hands out. President George W. Bush announced in a speech last week that the U.S. should “move beyond the constraints of the 30-year-old [Antiballistic Missile] treaty” and establish a missile defense shield to protect citizens from attacks by “rogue nations.” Defense experts debate vigorously how big a threat foreign missiles pose to Americans. There is no debate at all, however, over the fact that revving up the missile defense program means a great deal of money for the defense industry, which has undergone consolidation and shrinking profits since the end of the Cold War.
Among the companies that stand to benefit the most are Lockheed Martin, the top defense contributor to federal candidates and parties in the 2000 elections, giving $2.4 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The defense contractor was also the source of $225,000 for the Bush-Cheney inaugural. Defense Daily reported last week that Lockheed Martin plans to expand its role in the missile defense program to include more work on the booster portion of the system.
Another political donor with much to gain is Raytheon, which contributed $914,000 to federal candidates and parties during the 2000 elections and $100,000 to the Bush-Cheney Inaugural fund. Raytheon reportedly announced that sufficient funding would allow it to produce a Navy Theater Wide (NTW)system by 2004. NTW is a system designed to target medium and long-range missiles, which, like other missile shield technology, has been plagued by technological problems.
Boeing, the source of $219,000 for the 2000 elections, plus $100,000 for the inaugural committee, is also poised to cash in. Boeing is the manufacturer of a rocket that carries interceptors for missiles, but is experiencing problems with the system.
Overall, the defense industry gave $13.6 million in the 2000 elections, one-third of it in “soft money” contributions to the political parties; two-thirds in the form of “hard money” contributions from executives and their families or Political Action Committees (PACs). Two-thirds of the industry's campaign cash went to GOP candidates and parties.
The return on this investment could be huge. Though the president did not detail how much a missile shield program would cost, estimates have varied anywhere between $60 billion or $100 billion or more. To put these amounts in perspective, consider that the entire education budget proposed by the resident this year was $44.5 billion; National Institutes of Health was put at $23.1 billion, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, $30.4 billion. Sixty billion dollars could buy 20 million computers for classrooms at $3,000 a pop, or pay the salaries for 1.2 million teachers earning $50,000 a year, or provide every single person living in the United States with a check for $211.
The debate over the nation’s defenses in a post-Cold War era is complex. Money in politics should have no place in determining what is best to do.
