Nuclear Weapons Lobbyists Win Contracts that Buy More Lobbying

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2021

In June, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) published “Complicit: 2020 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending,” and its details will help abolitionists demonstrate how the nuclear weapons industry protects its government contracts. Last year the United States spent $37.4 billion on nuclear weapons and just the 21 major nuclear weapons producers profiled in the report spent $117 million in lobbying Congress. For every $1 they spent lobbying, an average of $236 in nuclear-weapons-contract money came back. For example:

•Boeing spent $15.6 million lobbying and was awarded $105 million for nuclear weapons work.

•Lockheed Martin, spent $15 million lobbying, and was awarded $2.1 billion for nuclear weapons work.

•Northrop Grumman spent $13.3 million lobbying, and was awarded $13.7 billion for nuclear weapons work.

•Raytheon Technologies spent $15.2 million lobbying, and was awarded $450 million for nuclear weapons work.

ICAN’s 73-page report details $5-to-$10 million in donations that the nuclear weapons contractors made to “think tanks” whose writers promote weapons programs, manufacture fear, and discourage disarmament, enabling lawmakers to con their constituents and to vote for more weapons. 

— ICANw.org, “Complicit: 2020 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending,” June 2020