Hold be Damned: Top DoD Contractors Keep Supporting Sen. Tuberville
Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s hold on military nominations is “putting our national security at risk,” according to the U.S. Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and it has received bipartisan condemnation. But an examination of political donations shows that the Senator’s actions appear to be of little concern for many companies that are being paid to protect America’s national security.
Six of the world’s largest defense contractors - BAE Systems, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Technologies, Leidos, and Parsons Corporation – have given political donations to Tuberville since he stated his intention to implement the hold. That announcement, on February 17, 2023, drew immediate bipartisan criticism, and the hold has been widely rebuked by current and former military leaders and veterans’ groups.
FEC data is current through June 30th - more contributions may have been made since then.
The fact that Tuberville can continue to rely on the support of these powerful companies, even as he blatantly defies the will of the military community, undoubtedly emboldens him and may be contributing to his unwavering commitment to the hold. To be sure, these companies wield significant influence. According to Defense News, they are all ranked among the top 100 largest military contractors in the world, and Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and L3Harris Technologies are among the top 10.
And while these six companies stand out among Tuberville’s donors for their size, they are not the only contractors standing by Tuberville during his hold.
Our research found that the Senator received political donations after February 17th from top executives at 15 other companies that do national security work: Altec, Avion Solutions, Axient (and subsidiary Quantitech), Colsa Corporation, Griffon Aerospace, Iron Mountain Solutions, Onyx Aerospace, PeopleTec, Radiance, S3 Inc., Sigmatech, SimTech, Trideum, Verity Systems, and Yulista Integrated Solutions. These companies all have contracts with U.S. defense agencies, according to information available on their websites.
Defense contractors are paid by American taxpayers to protect national security and support military service members and defense departments, yet their support for Tuberville is arguably having exactly the opposite effect. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said his nominations hold is “undermining America's military readiness” and “hindering our ability to retain our very best officers.”
And the damage being done could last much longer than the hold itself – according to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, it “has consequences up and down the active-duty force that will take years to fix.”