INSIDEDEFENSE
Multiple defense contractors pause political giving following last week's insurrection
By Marjorie Censer
Many of the largest defense contractors said this week they have paused their political action committee giving while assessing the insurrection at the Capitol last week.
In a statement, Roger Krone, Leidos' chief executive, said the company was "shocked and appalled by the behavior that took place on Capitol Hill last week."
"Democracy thrives on passionate debate and different opinions but dies in anarchy and violence," he added. "The actions of this small minority do not represent the majority of Americans across the political spectrum who strive for the good but who may differ on how that good is accomplished."
As a result, he said Leidos' political action committee "has decided to temporarily pause all political donations."
Boeing and Lockheed Martin both confirmed today their political action committee contributions are on hold.
"Boeing strongly condemns the violence, lawlessness and destruction that took place in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021," Boeing said in a statement. "Given the current environment, we are not making political contributions at this time. We will continue to carefully evaluate future contributions to ensure that we support those who not only support our company, but also uphold our country's most fundamental principles."
Lockheed Martin said in a statement it "routinely evaluates and updates our political action committee contribution strategy to reflect our core values and the constantly changing political landscape and priorities."
"As we enter a new political cycle, we are not making political contributions as we continue this evaluation to ensure our political donation and engagement program remains aligned with our business priorities," the company added.
A Northrop Grumman spokesman told Inside Defense the company is "pausing political action committee giving and evaluating the way forward," while a BAE Systems spokeswoman said that in "response to the deeply disturbing violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, our U.S. political action committee has suspended all donations while we assess the path forward."
Raytheon Technologies told Inside Defense it too has paused "all political action committee contributions to reflect on the current environment and determine appropriate next steps."
Huntington Ingalls Industries said the company's employee PAC is "currently paused" but did not specify whether that was a result of the Jan. 6 attack. A company spokeswoman said the PAC is on hold "while they review the budget and any governance changes to possibly implement in the new cycle."
In a statement, a Science Applications International Corp. spokesman said the company is "in the midst of its regular annual review and approval process for PAC budgets and contribution decisions."
SAIC "will carefully weigh the events of January 6 as part of that review," he added.
Both General Dynamics and L3Harris Technologies declined to comment.
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