Reassessing Ike’s Warning: The Acquisition of Unwarranted Influence
Justin Gorkowski | January 19, 2017
Reassessing Ike’s Warning: The Acquisition of Unwarranted Influence
The link between US foreign policy and the domestic economy is stronger than ever. As an example, Israel—the largest recipient of US foreign military assistance, is required to spend a certain percentage of these assistance funds on US companies. This seems like a good thing—unless domestic economic concerns begin to influence foreign policy decisions. This risk may be more of a reality than we think.
The defense contracting industry has provided the US government options for every type of warfare imaginable since the development of the War Industries Board during World War I —from intelligence analysis to nuclear warhead components. Lobbyists for the defense industry work tirelessly to inform Congress of scalable effects they can provide to influence actions abroad and policy at home. After all, business for the defense industry at some point equates to jobs in a congressional district. The 9/11 attacks served as a catalyst to the outsourcing of defense contracts like never before. From 2002 to 2012, the combined revenue of the five largest US defense contractors grew from $2.4 billion to $13.4 billion when adjusted for inflation. For many members of Congress, domestic concerns such as employment are often more important than foreign policy. This is especially true for the 64 percent of Congress not currently serving on defense authorization, appropriations, state and foreign operations, intelligence, or foreign relations committees.
http://mwi.usma.edu/reassessing-ikes-warning-acquisition-unwarranted-influence/
