{"id":7572,"date":"2026-08-24T04:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T04:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/7572\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T04:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T04:18:09","slug":"31-ex-lawmakers-staffers-joined-military-firms-in-past-10-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/7572\/","title":{"rendered":"31 ex-lawmakers, staffers joined military firms in past 10 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the last decade, 31 former members of Congress and top staff have left Capitol Hill and joined the military-industrial complex as lobbyists or contractors, according to a new report<\/a> from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.<\/p>\n

The 21 lawmakers named in the report served on either the House or Senate Armed Services Committee, the legislative bodies that set the Pentagon\u2019s annual policies through the annual National Defense Authorization Act. In addition, the report names 10 former senior committee staffers who transitioned to working as weapons industry government liaisons or lobbyists. <\/p>\n

These 31 former officials represent a snapshot of the military-industrial complex\u2019s \u201crevolving door,\u201d through which ex-policymakers transition from setting the Pentagon\u2019s agenda in Congress to cashing in on those same policies in the private sector. \u201cThat report we published is the most direct explanation we\u2019ve ever seen of why the defense budget always goes up,\u201d said John Mecklin, the author of the report and former editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.<\/p>\n

The report highlighted a variety of potential ethics conflicts, focusing in particular on the growing path between Congress and Silicon Valley defense tech startups.<\/p>\n

Chris Vieson, the former staff director of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), was appointed<\/a> earlier this year to the National Commission on the Future of the Navy, established to advise Congress on everything \u201cfrom shipbuilding and acquisition to maintenance and repair, workforce, training, and modernization.\u201d Vieson is also an active registered lobbyist for two defense<\/a> startups<\/a>: Saronic Inc., a manufacturer of unmanned maritime vehicles; and watercraft builder Whiskey Project Group. Previously, Vieson worked<\/a> as a lobbyist for Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm gaining influence<\/a> in the Pentagon and pushing<\/a> AI integration.<\/p>\n

According to its executive director<\/a>, the National Commission on the Future of the Navy aims to modernize the Navy to prepare for conflict with China<\/a> and Iran<\/a>. As part of this goal, the Commission will \u201ctest emerging ideas such as a hybrid fleet and expanded use of unmanned systems.\u201d Vieson\u2019s lobbying client, Saronic Inc., is one manufacturer of such unmanned systems.<\/p>\n

While the revolving-door phenomenon is not new, the report captures the increasing influence of a new generation of Silicon Valley military firms. Former HASC member Mike Gallagher and staffer Jeff Miller have taken up jobs as an executive and a lobbyist, respectively, for Palantir. Former Republican staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Christian D. Brose is now the Chief Strategy Officer for Anduril, an autonomous weapons startup valued at $61 billion in its latest round of fundraising. <\/p>\n

According to Mecklin, Congress is eager to let Silicon Valley officials into their bureaucracy. \u201cIt takes the Pentagon many, many years to acquire a new defense system like a fighter plane. With a high-tech system, you just can\u2019t wait that long,\u201d he said. \u201cSo they found a way around the complicated acquisition processes of the Defense Department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likewise, Silicon Valley weapons startups that wish to challenge prime contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin are desperate to hire former politicians. \u201cIf you\u2019re a company that wants to get into defense contracting, it\u2019s highly beneficial to hire people that understand the process of federal appropriations in the defense sector,\u201d Mecklin explained.<\/p>\n

The Bulletin\u2019s revolving-door report also details a who\u2019s-who of top congressional stock traders. Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), who has served on HASC since 2015, has been trading GE Aerospace stock via his spouse since 2023. Scott\u2019s trades this year violated the STOCK Act, a bill passed in 2012 to curb insider trading. That makes Scott one of seven Armed Services Committee members to violate<\/a> the STOCK Act this year, generally for failing to disclose trades within 45 days, as the law mandates.<\/p>\n

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) is another HASC member who has benefited from military contractor stocks. In December 2025, she disclosed her husband\u2019s $100,000-$250,000 purchase of stock in Elon Musk\u2019s xAI, which merged with SpaceX soon after in February. McClain\u2019s husband\u2019s xAI shares were converted into SpaceX shares months before the company’s historic IPO in June. McClain previously violated the STOCK Act for her delayed disclosure of a trade worth up to $450,000 in Palantir stock.<\/p>\n

The report also makes note of Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) trading stock for prime defense contractor Lockheed Martin and aerospace manufacturer Honeywell. Tuberville, one of the most active<\/a> stock traders in Congress, has served on SASC since 2021. When President Donald Trump faced criticism this spring for his own portfolio<\/a> of weapons stocks, Tuberville told<\/a> a reporter for MeidasTouch, \u201cI do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mecklin believes that laws like the STOCK Act are insufficient to curb members of Congress cashing in on defense spending. \u201cThe way you really stem this kind of behavior is to have inspectors general and law enforcement agencies that are on the lookout for them. Occasionally, take up one of these egregious cases and just prosecute it,\u201d said Mecklin.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless you have a system that actually scares these people so they cut it out, it\u2019s going to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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