Over 700 members of National Security Leaders for America (NSL4A) signed a letter endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris last week, but many of the officials are aligned with defense contractors and organizations pushing for U.S. involvement in foreign conflict.
Some of the officials voted for the U.S. invasion of Iraq – including former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Hillary Clinton – which amounted to a nearly $140 billion boon to private contractors, according to CNN. In addition to bureaucrats and veterans of the intelligence community, the list features numerous individuals affiliated with defense contractors, government-funded think tanks, and organizations partnered with arms manufacturers.
The letter asserts Harris will defend democracy while former President Donald Trump will enable authoritarianism, touting her support for Ukraine. Harris recently toured a munitions factory in Pennsylvania with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The letter does not mention that Russia invaded Ukraine during the Biden-Harris administration. (RELATED: “Many People Died, And What For?”: Ukrainians Increasingly Willing To Make Peace With Russia As War Rages On)
“America’s national security requires a serious and capable Commander-in-Chief. That is why 741 National Security Leaders proudly endorse @KamalaHarris for President of the United States.” #nationalsecurity #Election2024 #HarrisWalz2024 #DefeatTrumphttps://t.co/ySwJYA29ZI pic.twitter.com/DiMUn0xqMF
— National Security Leaders for America (@NSLforAmerica) September 22, 2024
The NSL4A list includes officials that are formerly or presently involved with the arms industry. For example, former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson serves on the board of directors of Lockheed Martin, according to the company’s site.
NSL4A member Rear Admiral John D. Butler spent a decade at Lockheed Martin, including as Vice President for Naval Strategic Systems, according to his bio at University of Texas at Austin. Former Acting Secretary of the Navy, Buddie J. Penn, worked for Loral Federal Systems, which was acquired by Lockheed Martin in the late nineties, the Naval Historical Foundation states in his biography.
In a world of rising conflicts, we need a leader who stands up to dictators, not one who offers praise.
Read more of the op-ed written by Ambassador Gordon Gray (Ret) by clicking this link: https://t.co/P7tqgQ0mQT#nationalsecurity #LeadershipMatters #NSL4A #ukraine #Russia pic.twitter.com/eXwaUq6R3C
— National Security Leaders for America (@NSLforAmerica) September 20, 2024
Lockheed Martin, which has seen tens of billions of dollars in new orders since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, isn’t the only big name on the list – Raytheon and Northrop Grumman also have alumni.
Former CIA director and Deputy Secretary of Defense, John Deutch, served as director of Raytheon, according to the EFI Foundation. Former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director, Letitia A. Long, was elected to Raytheon’s Board of Directors in 2015, according to PR Newswire (although she is not presently listed on Raytheon’s site).
Brett B. Lambert, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, served as Vice President of Corporate Strategy for the defense contractor from 2015-2019, according to Stimson. (RELATED: Biden Pentagon Rolls Out $1.7 Billion Arms Package To Ukraine)
If the endorsers are not directly tied to the arms industry, some are involved in organizations supported by major defense contractors. — notably, think tanks that influence U.S. national security and foreign policy.
Over 50 of those who signed the letter are members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), which publishes Foreign Affairs and is a heavyweight in the D.C. influence industry. CFR is partnered with various companies, from Blackrock to defense contractors. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are listed as Bronze level members of the Council. A Bronze corporate membership is at least $50,000, according to CFR.
Members include former Secretary of Homeland Security and Democratic Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, as well as former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, Catherine Bertini.
The next president will face serious foreign policy challenges.
CFR offers a full suite of resources to keep track of developments on critical issues and the U.S. role in the world: https://t.co/72dyjTXpdW pic.twitter.com/Yla27la9Sr
— Council on Foreign Relations (@CFR_org) September 27, 2024
More than a dozen of the officials are members of the Atlantic Council, which partnered with Lockheed Martin in 2022. NSL4A member and former Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat is listed as a lifetime director for the Council, according to its website.
In 2022, Lockheed Martin Corporation and General Atomics both contributed at least $250,000, according to its 2022-2023 annual report. The Council also received over $1 million in contributions each from the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of State in 2022.
Notably, the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center “directly shaped key US and allied strategy documents, including through private meetings with senior officials on the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and NATO’s Strategic Concept,” according to its report.
Multiple members of NSL4A – including John Kerry – are also affiliated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. That group received funding from The Boeing Company, according to its 2023 annual report.
Additionally, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Open Society Foundations – the latter founded by left-wing billionaire George Soros – contributed to the organization. (RELATED: Trump Pledges To ‘Bring Peace To The World’ After ‘Very Good’ Phone Call With Zelensky)
Around a dozen officials are connected to the military think tank the RAND corporation. RAND is funded by the U.S. government, according to USA spending. Over half of its nearly $200 million in government funding this past year came from the DOD, according to the database.
Former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig is listed as a member of RAND’s Board of Trustees, along with Chuck Hagel, according to RAND’s site. A member of NSL4A’s steering committee, former Ambassador Jeff Bleich, serves on the board of RAND Australia, according to RAND.
Last year, RAND published a report detailing the potential consequences of prolonging the Ukraine-Russia conflict. However, two RAND directors later wrote an article in Foreign Policy advising against a peace deal with Russia.
BREAKING: DC Think Tank RAND Corp urges US to AVOID Protracted War in Ukraine https://t.co/xmMIYXmDmM pic.twitter.com/kd4VjN69It
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 28, 2023
A number of NSL4A members are also connected to Democratic causes.
The group’s president, Rear Admiral Michael E. Smith, founded National Security Leaders for Biden, according to the NSL4A site. Obama administration officials including former Ambassador Susan Rice and former national security advisor and speechwriter Ben Rhodes also signed the letter.
There are at least 68 members who served in the intelligence community. Democrats overwhelmingly have a positive view of intelligence agencies while Republicans are increasingly skeptical, according to a Gallup poll.
Just look at what complete authoritarians today’s liberals are: they revere CIA, FBI, the Pentagon and even the Homeland Security: the once-controversial creation of Bush/Cheney in 2002 for the War on Terror.
Dick Cheney and Bill Kristol’s support for Dems makes perfect sense. pic.twitter.com/xJT9KPjy7s
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 25, 2024
Various high-ranking intelligence officials were present, including former CIA Director John Brennan. Notably, Brennan previously signed a letter that characterized the New York Post story on Hunter Biden’s laptop as “Russian disinformation.” The Post’s story was verifiably true, as the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed.
Former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper and Senior Counselor at Palantir Technologies Wendy R. Anderson are listed among the members. Palantir is partly funded by the CIA, according to Reuters.
Former Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, although not on the list, also endorsed Harris. Cheney has criticized Republican Vice-Presidential nominee JD Vance for his foreign policy views. (RELATED: Pentagon Says $62 Million In Ukraine Weapons Aid Was ‘Lost Or Destroyed’ — But It Doesn’t Know Which)
JD Vance has pledged he would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t – overturn an election and illegally seize power. He says the president can ignore the rulings of our courts. He would capitulate to Russia and sacrifice the freedom of our allies in Ukraine. The Trump GOP is no longer the… https://t.co/l0O64J3pSj
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) July 16, 2024
.@JDVance annihilates Liz Cheney after she endorsed Kamala earlier today: “The next presidency of Donald Trump will make sure people like Liz Cheney are laughed out of the Oval Office instead of rewarded. This is a person whose entire career has been about sending other peoples’… pic.twitter.com/GrpHg3uJ4a
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 5, 2024
The Biden-Harris administration has overseen a tumultuous time in global affairs. Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022 under Biden’s watch, Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 of last year, and 13 American service members were killed during the administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Harris was widely excoriated for lying during the her first presidential debate when she claimed that no Americans were currently in active war zones.