Follow us on social

Screen-shot-2021-09-14-at-1.55.25-pm

Lockheed Martin ads resurface on Politico foreign policy newsletter

The promotions were removed for about a month after the internet mocked the clear appearance of a conflict of interest.

Reporting | Media

Weapons industry giant Lockheed Martin is once again advertising in Politico’s daily foreign policy newsletter, after taking a brief, unexplained hiatus last month. 

On August 16, after the sponsorship was the subject of widespread mockery on the internet, Lockheed’s ads were not only scrubbed from the following editions of the National Security Daily, but they also disappeared from all previous editions. 

But during Lockheed’s advertising hiatus, Politico ran a puff piece about one of its weapons research and development facilities, which the author described as akin to visiting Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. 

Meanwhile, the September 3 edition of Politico’s paid subscription newsletter Morning Defense ran a blurb touting how many jobs Lockheed Martin would be bringing to Johnstown, Pa. “for F-16 manufacturing work.”

Screen-shot-2021-09-07-at-1.10.34-pm-1024x815

Indeed, those opposing cuts to the Pentagon’s budget or promoting increases in defense spending often claim (however dubious) that taxpayer dollars going to weapons firms creates jobs. In fact, it’s part of Lockheed Martin’s self-promotional material

Responsible Statecraft asked Politico whether Lockheed Martin paid for that blurb, why the ads disappeared and then resurfaced, and about the more general optics of the weapons industry giant’s sponsorship.

"There is a strong firewall between POLITICO’s newsroom and business teams," a Politico spokesperson said, adding that the outlet's sales team "has no influence whatsoever on editorial content and does not share client information with reporters and editors. Advertisements are plainly visible and demarcated in our newsletters and across our platforms."

Regarding Lockheed Martin advertising on Politico’s foreign policy newsletter, Mandy Smithberger, director of the Center for Defense Information at the Project on Government Oversight, said “it obviously creates the appearance of a conflict of interest.” 

POGO’s weekly newsletter, the Bunker, actually derides the practice of these kinds of corporate sponsorships, noting that it’s not funded by the likes of Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman.

“There is, at least, the benefit of some transparency so that the public can judge whether advertisers are exercising undue influence over content,” she said, adding, “I'm more concerned by those publications including more sponsored content, which is much less clear to readers about what is news and what's a paid ad.”


Reporting | Media
Kim Jong Un
Top photo credit: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the construction site of the Ragwon County Offshore Farm, North Korea July 13, 2025. KCNA via REUTERS

Kim Jong Un is nuking up and playing hard to get

Asia-Pacific

President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been a series of “shock and awe” campaigns both at home and abroad. But so far has left North Korea untouched even as it arms for the future.

The president dramatically broke with precedent during his first term, holding two summits as well as a brief meeting at the Demilitarized Zone with the North’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Unfortunately, engagement crashed and burned in Hanoi. The DPRK then pulled back, essentially severing contact with both the U.S. and South Korea.

keep readingShow less
Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one
Top photo credit: U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper speaks to guests at the IISS Manama Dialogue in Manama, Bahrain, November 17, 2023. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

Why new CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is as wrong as the old one

Middle East

If accounts of President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear facilities this past month are to be believed, the president’s initial impulse to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict failed to survive the prodding of hawkish advisers, chiefly U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Michael Kurilla.

With Kurilla, an Iran hawk and staunch ally of both the Israeli government and erstwhile national security adviser Mike Waltz, set to leave office this summer, advocates of a more restrained foreign policy may understandably feel like they are out of the woods.

keep readingShow less
Putin Trump
Top photo credit: Vladimir Putin (Office of the President of the Russian Federation) and Donald Trump (US Southern Command photo)

How Trump's 50-day deadline threat against Putin will backfire

Europe

In the first six months of his second term, President Donald Trump has demonstrated his love for three things: deals, tariffs, and ultimatums.

He got to combine these passions during his Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday. Only moments after the two leaders announced a new plan to get military aid to Ukraine, Trump issued an ominous 50-day deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire. “We're going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don't have a deal within 50 days,” Trump told the assembled reporters.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.