Follow us on social

Shutterstock_1289987359-1-scaled

Lee amendment takes on arms company price gouging

The proposal, which passed the House Appropriations Committee, would force disclosure of potential overcharging by weapons makers.

Analysis | Military Industrial Complex

Price gouging by weapons contractors large and small has been a chronic problem for decades, and by and large the Pentagon’s response has been underwhelming. With a handful of exceptions, contractors that overcharge the Pentagon usually get away with fines that they can easily treat as a cost of doing business, if they are held accountable at all. 

As Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) pointed out recently, it’s not clear that anyone in the federal government even has a handle on the scope of the problem, much less a viable plan for solving it. "DoD [the Department of Defense] can't even identify a number or a general amount that they are overpaying for items," Lee argued in a hearing last week.

But some recent developments have made the issue more difficult to ignore. An investigation by CBS’ 60 Minutes, coupled with several reports by the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General and ongoing efforts to address the problem by key members of Congress like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have underscored the fact that weapons corporations are likely overcharging the taxpayers by billions of dollars each year. 

As my colleague Julia Gledhill of the Project on Government Oversight and I have noted, in the past 15 years the Pentagon’s internal watchdog has exposed price gouging by contractors of all shapes and sizes, ranging from giants like Boeing and Lockheed Martin to lesser-known companies like TransDigm Group. As far back as 2011, Boeing made about $13 million in excess profits by overcharging the Army for 18 spare parts used in Apache and Chinook helicopters. To put that in perspective, the Army paid $1,678.61 each for a tiny helicopter part that the Pentagon already had in stock at its own warehouse for only $7.71.

In a more recent example cited in the 60 Minutes piece referenced above,former Pentagon contract negotiator Shay Assad pointed to a case in which NASA bought an oil pressure switch, an engine part, for $328. The Pentagon paid $10,000 for the very same part. Assad also revealed that Transdigm has charged the Pentagon $119 million for parts that should have cost less than one-fourth of that amount. 

Now comes Rep. Lee, who offered up an amendment that would force the Pentagon to take an important first step towards addressing this problem. The proposal earned broad support from the House Appropriations committee, which unanimously approved the amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act in a hearing last Thursday. 

The proposal would require the Pentagon to report on excess payments to weapons contractors, including any actions taken to claw back overpayments or take disciplinary action against companies engaged in price gouging as well as any cases that prompted referrals to the Justice Department for possible criminal action.

The information required by the Lee amendment is essential to any meaningful effort to reduce or eliminate routine contractor overcharges. On the face of it, it’s hard to see how any member of Congress could oppose such a measure, but we can count on the weapons industry to use its considerable lobbying clout in an attempt to sideline the proposal. 

The question is how many members of Congress will support continuing a massive waste of taxpayer dollars that undermines American defense capabilities and vacuums up cash that could be used to fund more urgent priorities, all in order to curry favor with weapons makers. There really is no acceptable reason to let arms companies raid the treasury to line their pockets at the expense of a more affordable — and effective — approach to defense.


Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald via shutterstock.com
Analysis | Military Industrial Complex
Trump tariffs Asia Japan
Top photo credit: A street monitor in Tokyo's Akihabara area shows on April 3, 2025, news that U.S. President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on all countries overnight, including one of 24 percent on Japanese imports. (Kyodo-Reuters Connect)

How Trump tariffs are affecting allies, frenemies, adversaries

Global Crises

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday — “Liberation Day” — President Trump announced the details of his “reciprocal tariff” strategy. He began with a speech that described persistent trade deficits over the last few decades as a sign that other countries were taking advantage of America through tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and currency manipulation.

In an echo of the themes that powered his victory in 2016, he blamed these practices for the deindustrialization of the American heartland and the loss of manufacturing capacity in sectors critical for national security and technological advancement.

keep readingShow less
 Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Sudan
Top image credit: Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan gestures to soldiers inside the presidential palace after the Sudanese army said it had taken control of the building, in the capital Khartoum, Sudan March 26, 2025. Sudan Transitional Sovereignty Council/Handout via REUTERS

Saudi Arabia chooses sides in Sudan's civil war

Africa

In the final days of Ramadan, before Mecca's Grand Mosque, Sudan's de facto president and army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan knelt in prayer beside Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Al-Burhan had arrived in the kingdom just two days after his troops dealt a significant blow to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), recapturing the capital Khartoum after two years of civil war. Missing from the frame was the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Gulf power that has backed al-Burhan’s rivals in Sudan’s civil war with arms, mercenaries, and political cover.

The scene captured the essence of a deepening rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE — once allies in reshaping the Arab world, now architects of competing visions for Sudan and the region.

For two years, Sudan has been enveloped in chaos. The conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed forces (SAF) and the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo "Hemedti," has inflicted immense suffering: an estimated 150,000 killed, allegations of mass atrocities staining both sides but particularly the RSF in Darfur, 12 million displaced, and over half the population facing acute food insecurity.

keep readingShow less
Steve Witkoff
Top image credit: Steve Witkoff, the special envoy to the Middle East, makes an appearance moments before President Donald J. Trump holds a joint news conference at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 4, 2025. This is Trump’s first joint news conference with a foreign leader in his second term. (Photo by Joshua Sukoff/MNS/Sipa USA) VIA REUTERS

Can Trump wait for a deal with Iran?

Middle East

While Donald Trump has repeatedly bragged that he can end international conflicts in days, he is clearly frustrated that global leaders are not bending to his will. Only last week, he said that he is “angry” that Moscow has not offered a Ukraine deal and that he might impose secondary “tariffs” on Russian oil sales. He also warned that if Iran doesn’tmake a deal, there will be bombing.”

This lashing out is not part of some grand “madman” strategy. Rather, it is a product of Trump’s apparent need to project power. The trick is to know how to reward that projection: Putin’s commissioning of a portrait of Trump — which his personal Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, claims the Russian leader asked him to deliver to the president — paints a vivid example of the nature and perhaps limits of such strategic flattery.

keep readingShow less

Trump transition

Latest

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.