Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who introduced sweeping anti-corruption legislation prior to her presidential run, has a new plan to target corporate influence at the Pentagon. Part of it has to do with cutting the budget of the Defense Department by limiting the influence of big contractors. “It is time to identify which programs actually benefit American security in the 21st century, and which programs merely line the pockets of defense contractors — then pull out a sharp knife and make some cuts,” she wrote in a Medium post announcing the plan. “And while the defense industry will inevitably have a seat at the table, they shouldn’t get to own the table itself.” Warren seeks to address this problem by creating a four-year ban on major defense contractors from hiring senior DOD officials, banning DOD officials from owning contractor stock, limiting foreign government hiring of American national-security officials, and making private defense contractors subject to federal open-records laws. “All three of my brothers went off to join the military because, like tens of thousands of uniformed and civilian employees and officers at the Defense Department, they wanted to serve their country,” Warren writes. “We should all be grateful for that kind of service and sacrifice. If we want to demonstrate that gratitude, we can start by making sure that national-security decisions are driven only by what best keeps Americans safe.”
