Lockheed Article

7/30/2019 Lockheed Article

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Published on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 byTomDispatch.comBig 'Corporate' Brother: Is Lockheed Martin Shadowing You?

How a Giant Weapons Maker Became the New Big Brother

by William Hartung

Have you noticed that Lockheed Martin, the giant weapons corporation, is shadowingyou? No? Then you haven't been paying much attention. Let me put it this way: If youhave a life, Lockheed Martin is likely a part of it.

True, Lockheed Martin doesn't actually run the U.S. government, but sometimes itseems as if it might as well. After all, it received $36 billion in government contracts in2008 alone, more than any company in history. It now does work formore than twodozen government agencies from the Department of Defense and the Department ofEnergy to the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. It'sinvolved in surveillance and information processing for the CIA, the FBI, the InternalRevenue Service (IRS), the National Security Agency (NSA), the Pentagon, the CensusBureau, and the Postal Service.

Oh, and Lockheed Martin has even helped train those friendly Transportation SecurityAdministration agents who pat you down at the airport. Naturally, the company producescluster bombs, designsnuclear weapons, and makes the F-35 Lightning (an overpriced,behind-schedule, underperforming combat aircraft that is slated to be bought bycustomers in more than a dozen countries) -- and when it comes to weaponry, that's justthe start of a long list. In recent times, though, it's moved beyond anything usuallyassociated with a weapons corporation and has been virtually running its own foreignpolicy, doing everything from hiring interrogators for U.S. overseas prisons (including atGuantanamo Bay in Cuba and Abu Ghraib in Iraq) to managing a private intelligencenetwork in Pakistan and helping write the Afghan constitution.

A For-Profit Government-in-the-Making

If you want to feel a tad more intimidated, consider Lockheed Martin's sheer size for amoment. After all, the company receives one of every 14 dollars doled out by thePentagon. In fact, its government contracts, thought about another way, amount to a"Lockheed Martin tax" of $260 per taxpaying household in the United States, and noweapons contractor has more power or money to wield to defend its turf. It spent $12million on congressional lobbying and campaign contributions in 2009 alone. Notsurprisingly, it's the top contributorto the incoming House Armed Services Committeechairman, Republican Howard P. "Buck" McKeon of California, giving more than $50,000in the most recent election cycle. It also tops the list of donors to Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), the powerful chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the self-described"#1 earmarks guy in the U.S. Congress."

Add to all that its 140,000 employees and its claim to have facilities in 46 states, and thescale of its clout starts to become clearer. While the bulk of its influence-peddlingactivities may be perfectly legal, the company also has quite a track record when itcomes to law-breaking: it ranks number one on the "contractor misconduct" database
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175339/tomgram%3A_william_hartung%2C_lockheed_martin's_shadow_government/#morehttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/business/yourmoney/28lock.htmlhttp://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?reptype=r&detail=-1&sortp=f&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&database=fpds&parent_id=209295&fiscal_year=2008&record_num=f500http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?reptype=r&detail=-1&sortp=f&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&database=fpds&parent_id=209295&fiscal_year=2008&record_num=f500&sum_expand=Ahttp://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?reptype=r&detail=-1&sortp=f&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&database=fpds&parent_id=209295&fiscal_year=2008&record_num=f500&sum_expand=Ahttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/specialized-security-training/index.htmlhttp://www.military.com/news/article/us-not-part-of-cluster-bomb-ban-.htmlhttp://www.sandia.gov/http://www.sandia.gov/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/business/02plane.html?ref=f35airplanehttp://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12757http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/world/16contractors.html?ref=michaeldfurlong&pagewanted=printhttp://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?lname=D01&year=ahttp://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00303024http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00006882&cycle=2010http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00001762&cycle=2010http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2794/?utm_source=publicintegrity&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_feedshttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/aboutus/index.htmlhttp://www.contractormisconduct.org/http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175339/tomgram%3A_william_hartung%2C_lockheed_martin's_shadow_government/#morehttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/business/yourmoney/28lock.htmlhttp://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?reptype=r&detail=-1&sortp=f&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&database=fpds&parent_id=209295&fiscal_year=2008&record_num=f500http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?reptype=r&detail=-1&sortp=f&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&database=fpds&parent_id=209295&fiscal_year=2008&record_num=f500&sum_expand=Ahttp://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?reptype=r&detail=-1&sortp=f&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&database=fpds&parent_id=209295&fiscal_year=2008&record_num=f500&sum_expand=Ahttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/specialized-security-training/index.htmlhttp://www.military.com/news/article/us-not-part-of-cluster-bomb-ban-.htmlhttp://www.sandia.gov/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/business/02plane.html?ref=f35airplanehttp://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12757http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/world/16contractors.html?ref=michaeldfurlong&pagewanted=printhttp://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?lname=D01&year=ahttp://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00303024http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00006882&cycle=2010http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00001762&cycle=2010http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2794/?utm_source=publicintegrity&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_feedshttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/aboutus/index.htmlhttp://www.contractormisconduct.org/


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maintained by the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-DC-basedwatchdog group.

How in the world did Lockheed Martin become more than just a military contractor?Its first significant foray outside the world of weaponry came in the early 1990s whenplain old Lockheed (not yet merged with Martin Marietta) bought Datacom Inc., a

company specializing in providing services for state and city governments, and turnedit into the foundation for a new business unit called Lockheed InformationManagement Services (IMS). In turn, IMS managed to win contracts in 44 states andseveral foreign countries for tasks ranging from collecting parking fines and tolls to

tracking down "deadbeat dads" and running "welfare to work" job-training programs. Theresult was a number of high profile failures, but hey, you can't do everything right, canyou?

Under pressure from Wall Street to concentrate on its core business -- implements ofdestruction -- Lockheed Martin sold IMS in 2001. By then, however, it had developed ataste for non-weapons work, especially when it came to data collection and processing.So it turned to the federal government where it promptly racked up deals with the IRS,

the Census Bureau, and the U.S. Postal Service, among other agencies.

As a result, Lockheed Martin is now involved in nearly every interaction you have withthe government. Paying your taxes? Lockheed Martin is all over it. The company iseven creating a system that provides comprehensive data on every contact taxpayershave with the IRS from phone calls to face-to-face meetings.

Want to stand up and be counted by the U.S. Census? Lockheed Martin will take careof it. The companyruns three centers -- in Baltimore, Phoenix, and Jeffersonville,Indiana -- that processed up to 18 tractor-trailers full of mail per day at the height of the2010 Census count. For $500 million it is developing the Decennial ResponseInformation Service (DRIS), which will collect and analyze information gathered from anysource, from phone calls or the Internet to personal visits.According to Preston Waite,associate director of the Census, the DRIS will be a "big catch net, catching all the datathat comes in no matter where it comes from."

Need to get a package across the country? Lockheed Martin cameras will scan barcodes and recognize addresses, so your package can be sorted "without humanintervention," as the company's web site puts it.

Plan on committing a crime? Think twice. Lockheed Martin isin charge ofthe FBI'sIntegrated Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), a database of 55 millionsets of fingerprints. The company also producesbiometric identification devices that will

know who you are by scanning your iris, recognizing your face, or coming up with novelways of collecting your fingerprints or DNA. As the company likes to say, it's in thebusiness of making everyone's lives (and so personal data) an "open book," which is, ofcourse, of great benefit to us all. "Thanks to biometric technology," the companyproclaims, "people don't have to worry about forgetting a password or bringing multipleforms of identification. Things just got a little easier."

Are you a New York City resident concerned about a "suspicious package" finding itsway onto the subway platform? Lockheed Martin tried to do something about that, too,
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/805341/Lockheed-Martin-Sells-IMS-Unit-for-825-Million.htmhttp://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/805341/Lockheed-Martin-Sells-IMS-Unit-for-825-Million.htmhttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/irs-solutions/index.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/16/AR2010041604203.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/16/AR2010041604203.htmlhttp://gcn.com/articles/2005/10/07/census-counts-on-getting-better-data-from-new-system-for-the-2010-tally.aspxhttp://gcn.com/articles/2006/05/25/usps-taps-lockheed-martin-for-processing-system.aspxhttp://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fingerprint-system-developed-by-lockheed-martin-helps-fbi-reach-milestone-of-100-million-print-searches-54975147.htmlhttp://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fingerprint-system-developed-by-lockheed-martin-helps-fbi-reach-milestone-of-100-million-print-searches-54975147.htmlhttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/biometrics/index.htmlhttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/biometrics/index.htmlhttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/biometrics/index.htmlhttp://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/apr/23/the-mtas-tortured-path-to-subway-security/http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/805341/Lockheed-Martin-Sells-IMS-Unit-for-825-Million.htmhttp://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/805341/Lockheed-Martin-Sells-IMS-Unit-for-825-Million.htmhttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/irs-solutions/index.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/16/AR2010041604203.htmlhttp://gcn.com/articles/2005/10/07/census-counts-on-getting-better-data-from-new-system-for-the-2010-tally.aspxhttp://gcn.com/articles/2006/05/25/usps-taps-lockheed-martin-for-processing-system.aspxhttp://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fingerprint-system-developed-by-lockheed-martin-helps-fbi-reach-milestone-of-100-million-print-searches-54975147.htmlhttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/biometrics/index.htmlhttp://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/biometrics/index.htmlhttp://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2010/apr/23/the-mtas-tortured-path-to-subway-security/


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thanks to a contract from the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to install3,000 security cameras and motion sensors that would spot such packages, as well asthe people carrying them, and notify the authorities. Only problem: the cameras didn'twork as advertised and the MTA axed Lockheed Martin andcancelled the $212 millioncontract.

Collecting Intelligence on You

If it seems a little creepy to you that the same company making ballistic missiles is alsoprocessing your taxes, accessing your fingerprints, scanning your packages, ensuringthat it's easier than ever to collect your DNA, and counting you for the census, restassured: Lockheed Martin's interest in getting inside your private life via intelligencecollection and surveillance has remained remarkably undiminished in the twenty-firstcentury.

Tim Shorrock, author of the seminal book Spies for Hire, has described Lockheed Martinas "the largest defense contractor and private intelligence force in the world." As far backas 2002, the company plunged intothe "Total Information Awareness" (TIA) programthat was former National Security Advisor Admiral John Poindexter's pet project. A giantdatabase to collect telephone numbers, credit cards, and reams of other personal datafrom U.S. citizens in the name of fighting terrorism, the program was de-funded byCongress the following year, but concerns remain that the National Security Agency isnow running a similar secret program.

In the meantime, since at least 2004, Lockheed Martin has been involved in thePentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), which collected personal data on

American citizens for storage in a database known as "Threat and Local ObservationNotice" (and far more dramatically by the acronym TALON). While Congress shut downthe domestic spying aspect of the program in 2007 (assuming, that is, that the Pentagonfollowed orders), CIFA itself continues to operate. In 2005, Washington Postmilitary andintelligence expert William Arkin revealed that, while the database was theoreticallybeing used to track anyone suspected of terrorism, drug trafficking, or espionage, "somemilitary gumshoe or overzealous commander just has to decide someone is a threat tothe military'" for it to be brought into play. Among the "threatening" citizens actuallytracked by CIFA were members of antiwar groups. As part of its role in CIFA, LockheedMartin was not only monitoring intelligence, but also "estimating future threats." (Notexactly inconvenient for a giant weapons outfit that might see antiwar activism as athreat!)

Lockheed Martin is also intimately bound up in the workings of the National SecurityAgency, America's largest spy outfit. In addition to producing spy satellites for the NSA,the company is in charge of"Project Groundbreaker," a $5 billion, 10-year effort toupgrade the agency's internal telephone and computer networks.

While Lockheed Martin may well be watching you at home -- it's my personal nomineefor twenty-first-century "Big Brother" -- it has also been involved in questionable activitiesabroad that go well beyond supplying weapons to regions in conflict. There were, ofcourse, those interrogators it recruited for America's offshore prison system fromGuantanamo Bay to Afghanistan (and the charges of abuses that so naturally went withthem), but the real scandal the company has been embroiled in involves overseeing an
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assassination program in Pakistan. Initially, it was billed as an information gatheringoperation using private companies to generate data the CIA and other U.S. intelligenceagencies allegedly could not get on their own. Instead, the companies turned out to besupplying targeting information used by U.S. Army Special Forces troops to locate andkill suspected Taliban leaders.

The private firms involved were managed by Lockheed Martin under a $22 millioncontract from the U.S. Army. As Mark Mazetti of the New York Times has reported,there were just two small problems with the effort: "The American military is largelyprohibited from operating in Pakistan. And under Pentagon rules, the army is notallowed to hire contractors for spying." Much as in the Iran/Contra scandal of the 1980s,when Oliver North set up a network of shell companies to evade the laws against armingright-wing paramilitaries in Nicaragua, the Army used Lockheed Martin to do an end runaround rules limiting U.S. military and intelligence activities in Pakistan. It should not,then, be too surprising that one of the people involved in the Lockheed-Martin-managednetwork was Duane "Dewey" Claridge, an ex-CIA man who had once been knee deep inthe Iran/Contra affair.

A Twenty-First Century Big Brother

There has also been a softer side to Lockheed Martin's foreign policy efforts. It hasinvolved contracts for services that range from recruiting election monitors for Bosniaand the Ukraine and attempting to reform Liberia's justice system to providing personnelinvolved in drafting the Afghan constitution. Most of these projects have been carriedout by the company's PAE unit, the successor to a formerly independent firm, Pacific

Architects and Engineers, that made its fortune building and maintaining military basesduring the Vietnam War.

However, the "soft power" side of Lockheed Martin's operations (as described on its website) may soon diminish substantially as the company has put PAEup for sale. Still, therevenues garnered from these activities will undoubtedly be more than offset by a new$5 billion, multi-year contract awarded by the U.S. Army to provide logistics support forU.S. Special Forces in dozens of countries.

Consider all this but a Lockheed Martin prcis. A full accounting of its "shadowgovernment" would fill volumes. After all, it's the number-one contractor not only for thePentagon, but also for the Department of Energy. It ranks number two for theDepartment of State, number three for the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration, and number four for the Departments of Justice and Housing and UrbanDevelopment. Even listing the government and quasi-governmental agencies thecompany has contracts with is a daunting task, but here's just a partial run-down: theDepartment of Agriculture, the Bureau of Land Management, the Census Bureau, theCoast Guard, the Department of Defense (including the Army, the Navy, the Marines,the Air Force and the Missile Defense Agency), the Department of Education, theDepartment of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation

Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal TechnologyDepartment, the Food and Drug Administration, the General Services Administration, theGeological Survey, the Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Indian Affairs,the Internal Revenue Service, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, theNational Institutes of Health, the Department of State, the Social Security Administration,
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the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Postal Service, the Department of Transportation,the Transportation Security Agency, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

When President Eisenhowerwarned 50 years ago this month of the dangers of"unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,"he could never have dreamed that one for-profit weapons outfit would so fully insinuate

itself into so many aspects of American life. Lockheed Martin has helped turnEisenhower's dismal mid-twentieth-century vision into a for-profit military-industrial-surveillance complex fit for the twenty-first century, one in which no governmentalactivity is now beyond its reach.

I feel safer already.

2011 William Hartung

William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New AmericaFoundation and the author ofProphets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of theMilitary-Industrial Complex(Nation Books, January 2011). To listen to TimothyMacBain's latest TomCast audio interview in which Hartung discusses the unsettlingreach of Lockheed Martin, click here or, to download it to your iPod,here.
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