Follow us on social

Screen-shot-2021-07-27-at-5.06.17-pm

Bloomberg doesn't disclose potential conflict in op-ed promoting Israel arms deal

The author happens to advise Biden-linked consulting firm WestExec, whose client makes the weapons in question.

Reporting | Media

Last Friday, Bloomberg published an op-ed by former U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross, making the evergreen Iran hawk argument that now is the time to provide Israel with the GBU-57 “mountain buster” bomb and the aircraft to carry the ordinance, the B-2 bomber. The move, according to Ross, would  “send a powerful message” that while “[t]he Iranians may doubt whether the U.S. would follow through on its threats; they won’t have any trouble believing the Israelis will.”

Ross and Bloomberg neglected to disclose that the former diplomat may have a financial conflict of interest in advocating for the export of these specific weapons to destroy Iranian nuclear sites: Ross is a senior adviser at WestExec Advisers, a firm whose client list includes Boeing, the manufacturer of the GBU-57 bomb and the B-2 bomber.

Ross justifies his advocacy for handing over powerful weapons to a foreign country as “the best inducement for Iran to negotiate a ‘longer and stronger’ deal” instead of focusing on getting Iran and the United States back into compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a nuclear deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program, that the Trump administration unilaterally abrogated from.

Handing Israel the tools to start a war with Iran, a war that would likely drag the United States into another war in the Middle East as the Biden administration works to end two-decades of U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, is high stakes, something Ross acknowledges. “Of course, the White House would need to reach a firm understanding with the Israelis about triggers for the bomb’s use,” said Ross, while offering no details on how the United States might enforce such an “understanding” after handing over control of a potentially regionally destabilizing bomb and the never-before-exported B-2 bomber.

Bloomberg didn’t disclose that Ross may have another incentive to press for these seemingly extreme measures: money. Ross works as a senior adviser at WestExec, a firm that maintains exceptionally close ties to the Biden White House. Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was one of WestExec’s founders and the firm is largely staffed by national security officials from the Obama administration.

During the Trump years, WestExec signed up a client list of prominent companies, including Boeing.

The size of that contract and the work undertaken is opaque. Executive Branch financial disclosures filed by Biden appointees who worked at WestExec offer little information. Blinken’s disclosure, for example, simply reveals that the now-secretary of state worked on the Boeing account for WestExec, providing “advisory service” to the weapons firm, and received more than $5,000 for the work.

Ross hasn’t been appointed to any position in the Biden administration and isn’t required to file a financial disclosure, so the details of his work at WestExec are unknown.

A 2018 press release, announcing Ross’s hiring by WestExec, marketed him as “support[ing] WestExec’s growing list of clients, providing insight and advice to those with business interests across the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and Asia.”

WestExec did not respond to questions about whether Ross worked directly on the Boeing account but Ross told Responsible Statecraft, “I do policy assessment and risk analyst [sic] from time to time as a consultant to WestExec Advisers, typically to respond to questions from its clients.”

Ross said he was unaware that Boeing produced the B-2 and the GBU-57.

“Prior to receiving your note I did not even know who produced either the bomb or the plane — I was focused on how to change the Iranian calculus, how to enhance deterrence, and what it could take to do so,” said Ross. “Readers should consider the weight of the argument not an issue that I was not even aware of.”

Bloomberg Opinion did not respond to questions about whether Ross’s work at a firm that conducted work for Boeing posed a conflict of interest for Ross advocating for the export of sensitive Boeing manufactured weapons to Israel.


Images: Piotr Swat and VDB Photos via shutterstock.com
Reporting | Media
Stars are aligned for Trump's troop withdrawal from Syria
Top photo credit: U.S. military forces walk toward their next coordination along the demarcation line outside Manbij, Syria, July 18, 2018. The U.S. and Turkish militaries conducted these patrols to help reinforce the safety and stability in Manbij. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Timothy R. Koster)

Stars are aligned for Trump's troop withdrawal from Syria

Middle East

The blitzkrieg offensive which ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 has sparked an explosive political and military reaction across the country.

Al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized Damascus, Israel extended its occupation in southern Syria, and Turkey launched fresh military operations targeting the secular, multi-ethnic, Kurdish-led federation in North and East Syria (NES), where the U.S. has long maintained a military presence with boots on the ground, justified by its anti-ISIS mission.

keep readingShow less
Donald Trump
Top image credit: President Donald Trump speaks to the media following the White House Easter Egg Roll in Washington, D.C., on April 21, 2025. President Trump speaks about Secretary of Defense Hegseth, the Pope's death, and the situation in Ukraine and Iran. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto) VIA REUTERS

Ukraine and Europe can't afford to refuse Trump's peace plan

Europe

Most of the peace plan for Ukraine now sketched out by the Trump administration is not new, is based on common sense, and has indeed already been tacitly accepted by Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that its army has no chance in the foreseeable future of reconquering the territories now occupied by Russia. Vice President J.D. Vance’s statement that the U.S. plan would “freeze the territorial lines…close to where they are today” simply acknowledges an obvious fact.

keep readingShow less
Michael O'Hanlon, Jack Keane, Michele Flournoy
Top photo credit: Michael O’Hanlon (DoD Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. James K. McCann), Ret. General Jack Keane (White House photo) and Michele Flournoy (CNAS/Flickr)

Could a Blobby enclave be sowing chaos at DoD?

Military Industrial Complex

UPDATE 4/24, 5:15 PM: The Defense Policy Board website has been scrubbed, as reported by The Intercept. The list of DPB members can still be viewed on an archived version of the website.


Discussing alleged Pentagon leaks with Tucker Carlson on Monday, recently ousted DoD official and Iraq war veteran Dan Caldwell charged that there are a number of career staff in the Pentagon who oppose the current administration’s policies. He then took particular aim at the the Defense Policy Board as a potential source of ongoing leaks to the press.

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.