Prophets of War Lockheed Martin & the Making of the Military Industrial Complex

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his famous warning about the dangers of the military-industrial complex, he never would have dreamed that a single company could accumulate the kind of power and influence that is now wielded by Lockheed Martin. As a full-service weapons maker, Lockheed Martin receives over $29 billion a year in Pentagon contracts, or roughly one out of every ten dollars the Department of Defense doles out to private contractors. Prophets of War recounts the fascinating and often-frightening history of America's largest military contractor as well as its role in the formation of foreign policy.

The company has produced spy satellites; helped the Pentagon collect personal data on U.S. citizens; provided interrogators for employment at Guantanamo Bay; manufactured our highest-tech aircraft; and more. It has also been embroiled in numerous scandals — from bribing officials in the Netherlands, Italy, and Japan in exchange for the purchase of Lockheed airplanes in the 1970s, to the provision of $600 toilet covers and $7,000 coffee makers to the Pentagon in the 1980s.

William D. Hartung's enthralling exposé chronicles the growth of Lockheed Martin into one of the most influential corporations in the world, and examines the pivotal role the company has had in America's metastasizing military industrial complex. It asks: How has one company become the recipient of such a large portion of America's tax dollars through contracts with the Pentagon, NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy, the NSA, and even the U.S. Census and the IRS? Hartung's meticulous, hard-hitting history follows Lockheed Martin's meteoric growth and unravels how this arms industry giant has helped shape U.S. foreign policy for decades.

"Disturbing account of a weapons conglomerate's rise and undue influence on domestic politics....Hartung is a skillful researcher and persuasive journalist, yet his neutral tone has the odd effect of dulling the impact of the many outrages he unearths." Kirkus Reviews

"[Hartung] argues his case forcefully, and while the book is clearly written from a specific political point of view, it undeniably provides much food for thought." Booklist

"This book is all action and provides a compelling mix of politics, business, and technology." Library Journal

Enthralling and explosive, Prophets of War is an exposé of America's largest military contractor, Lockheed Martin. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his famous warning about the dangers of the military industrial complex, he never would have dreamed that a company could accumulate the kind of power and influence now wielded by this behemoth company.

As a full-service weapons maker, Lockheed Martin receives over $25 billion per year in Pentagon contracts. From aircraft and munitions, to the abysmal Star Wars missile defense program, to the spy satellites that the NSA has used to monitor Americans' phone calls without their knowledge, Lockheed Martin reaches into all areas of U.S. defense and American life. William Hartung's meticulously researched history follows the company's meteoric growth and explains how this arms industry giant has shaped US foreign policy for decades.

A hard-hitting exposé of the worlds largest and richest military contractor

“[Hartungs] picture of Lockheed in 'Prophets of War' reads like the stuff of 19th-century muckraker journalism…Mr. Hartung paints a portrait of a company with tentacles everywhere, from the Pentagon and Congress to agents in foreign governments, a company that feeds the forces of militarism around the world and enriches itself in the process.”—Wall Street Journal

Bill Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. He has worked for the Council on Economic Priorities and the World Policy Institute doing research and writing on the arms industry and the politics of defense spending. Hartung is the author of two books on the intersection between the arms industry and the shaping of U.S. foreign policy, And Weapons for All and How Much Are You Making on the War, Daddy? – A Quick and Dirty Guide to War Profiteering in the Bush Administration.

Hartung has written for The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and The Nation, and has been interviewed by ABC News, CBS 60 Minutes, CNN, Fox News, the Lehrer Newshour, NBC Nightly News, and National Public Radio. His writing on Lockheed Martin has appeared in the Washington Post Outlook section, The Nation, the Multinational Monitor, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He lives in New York City.