Capture lane

Military-Industrial Complex

The Military-Industrial Complex capture lane traces 345 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.

345 events From Dec 22, 1807 To Apr 12, 2026 Open in filter view →
Activity over time Events per year
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DateEventLanesStatus
2017-12-14FCC Under Ajit Pai Repeals Net Neutrality in 3-2 Party-Line Vote
Ajit Pai · Donald Trump · Verizon Communications · Mignon Clyburn · +3
confirmed
2017-09-13Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Requested Military Jet for European Honeymoon, Request Denied After Scrutiny
Steve Mnuchin · Louise Linton
confirmed
2017-08-21Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Uses Military Jet for Solar Eclipse Viewing Trip to Kentucky
Steve Mnuchin · Louise Linton · Mitch McConnell
confirmed
2017-07-21Mark Esper, Former Raytheon Weapons Lobbyist, Becomes Army Secretary in Revolving Door Appointment
Mark Esper · Raytheon · Donald Trump · Elizabeth Warren
confirmed
2017-06-16Anduril Industries Founded by Palmer Luckey and Former Palantir Executives
Palmer Luckey · Peter Thiel · Trae Stephens · Brian Schimpf · +2
confirmed
2017-06-01Anduril Industries Founded by Palantir Alumni with Thiel Backing, Building Autonomous Weapons Layer
Palmer Luckey · Trae Stephens · Brian Schimpf · Matt Grimm · +4
confirmed
2017-04-19Fox News Fires Bill O'Reilly After $13 Million Sexual Harassment Settlements - Trump Had Defended Him
Bill O'Reilly · Donald Trump · Rupert Murdoch · James Murdoch · +2
confirmed
2017-04-06Trump Orders Syria Missile Strike from Mar-a-Lago During State Dinner with Xi Jinping - Military Action as Mar-a-Lago Spectacle
Donald Trump · Xi Jinping · Bashar al-Assad · Rex Tillerson · +1
confirmed
2017-02-28Trump Exploits Navy SEAL Ryan Owens' Widow at Congress Address to Deflect From Botched Yemen Raid He Approved
Donald Trump · Carryn Owens · William Owens · Ryan Owens · +1
confirmed
2017-01-29Trump Approves Botched Yemen Raid Killing Navy SEAL Owens and 23+ Civilians Including 8-Year-Old American Girl
Donald Trump · William Owens · Nawar al-Awlaki · Carryn Owens
confirmed
2016-12-08Former Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh Joins Northrop Grumman Board After B-21 Bomber Contract Award
Mark Welsh · Northrop Grumman · U.S. Air Force · Wes Bush · +1
confirmed
2016-10-08Saudi Coalition Uses US-Made Bombs to Kill 155 at Yemen Funeral Hall in Sanaa
Saudi Arabia · Mohammed bin Salman · Raytheon · Lockheed Martin · +2
confirmed
2016-09-20CEO Stumpf Testifies Before Senate, Elizabeth Warren Demands Resignation
John Stumpf · Elizabeth Warren · U.S. Senate Banking Committee
confirmed
2016-09-16Oliver Stone's "Snowden" Film Brings NSA Whistleblower Story to Mainstream Audiences
Oliver Stone · Joseph Gordon-Levitt · Edward Snowden
confirmed
2016-09-10Raytheon-Manufactured Bomb Kills 31 Civilians at Yemen Water Drilling Site in Apparent War Crime
Raytheon · Saudi Arabia · Mohammed bin Salman · Human Rights Watch
confirmed
2016-09-01Apollo Global Management Acquires Constellis Holdings (Blackwater Successor) for Approximately $1 Billion
Constellis Holdings · Apollo Global Management · Blackwater · Triple Canopy
confirmed
2016-08-15Raytheon Paveway Bomb Strikes MSF Hospital in Yemen, Killing 11 Including Healthcare Workers
Raytheon · Saudi Arabia · Mohammed bin Salman · Doctors Without Borders · +1
confirmed
2015-10-28DaVita Pays $450 Million for Drug Wastage Fraud, Largest Unjoined Whistleblower Settlement in History
DaVita · Kent Thiry · Alon J. Vainer · Daniel D. Barbir · +1
confirmed
2015-10-27Northrop Grumman Wins $80 Billion B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber Contract
Northrop Grumman · U.S. Air Force · U.S. Department of Defense · Boeing · +2
confirmed
2015-10-03U.S. Airstrike Destroys Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Kunduz, Kills 42
Barack Obama · Doctors Without Borders · U.S. Air Force · Afghanistan
confirmed
2015-06-18Northrop Grumman Pays $11.4 Million for Illegally Billing Executive Compensation to Federal Contracts
Northrop Grumman · Department of Justice · Defense Contract Management Agency · Defense Contract Audit Agency
confirmed
2015-06-02Obama Signs USA FREEDOM Act, Ending NSA Bulk Metadata Collection
Barack Obama · Mitch McConnell · Ron Wyden · Rand Paul · +1
confirmed
2015-03-26Saudi Arabia Launches Yemen Intervention Armed with Billions in Raytheon Weapons, Beginning Eight-Year Atrocity
Saudi Arabia · Mohammed bin Salman · Raytheon · Lockheed Martin · +2
confirmed
2014-12-18Congress Appropriates $120 Million for Unwanted Abrams Tanks for Third Consecutive Year Despite Army Opposition
General Dynamics · Mike Turner · Ray Odierno · Rob Portman · +1
confirmed
2014-12-09Senate Intelligence Committee Releases Torture Report - CIA Program Was Brutal and Ineffective
Dianne Feinstein · Senate Select Committee on Intelligence · Central Intelligence Agency · John Brennan · +1
confirmed
2014-12-09Senate Report Documents CIA Torture Worse Than Disclosed - Rectal Feeding, Mock Executions, Deaths
Central Intelligence Agency · Gul Rahman · Senate Select Committee on Intelligence · James Mitchell · +1
confirmed
2014-08-16Gamergate Begins: 4chan Harassment Campaign Becomes Political Mobilization Blueprint
Steve Bannon · Milo Yiannopoulos · Zoe Quinn
confirmed
2014-07-01Academi (formerly Blackwater) Merges with Triple Canopy to Form Constellis Holdings, Third Corporate Rebranding
Academi · Triple Canopy · Constellis Holdings · Blackwater
confirmed
2014-06-19Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank: Supreme Court Restricts Software Patents, Reducing Patent Troll Leverage Over Abstract Business Methods
U.S. Supreme Court · Clarence Thomas · Alice Corp · CLS Bank International · +1
confirmed
2014-01-16NSA DISHFIRE Program Collects Nearly 200 Million Text Messages Daily Worldwide
National Security Agency · GCHQ · Edward Snowden
confirmed
2013-08-21Chelsea Manning Sentenced to 35 Years for WikiLeaks Disclosures
Chelsea Manning · U.S. Army · Department of Justice · Obama Administration
confirmed
2013-06-14U.S. Charges Edward Snowden with Espionage and Theft of Government Property
Edward Snowden · Department of Justice · Eric Holder
confirmed
2013-06-06Washington Post and Guardian Reveal NSA PRISM Program for Direct Server Access
Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · Bart Gellman · National Security Agency · +5
confirmed
2012-10-23John Kiriakou Pleads Guilty - Only Person Jailed Over CIA Torture Program
John Kiriakou · Central Intelligence Agency · Obama Administration · Department of Justice
confirmed
2010-03-17Obama Authorizes CIA Signature Strikes - Killing Based on Behavior Patterns, Not Identity
Barack Obama · John Brennan · Central Intelligence Agency · Leon Panetta
confirmed
2009-04-16Obama Releases CIA Torture Memos But Promises No Prosecutions for Torturers
Barack Obama · Eric Holder · Central Intelligence Agency · John Yoo · +3
confirmed
2008-08-18General Dynamics Pays $4 Million to Settle Fraud Charges for Defective Submarine and Aircraft Parts
General Dynamics · Benton J. Campbell · Defense Criminal Investigative Service · U.S. Navy
confirmed
2007-10-02Erik Prince Testifies Before Congress Defending Blackwater Despite Evidence of 195 Shooting Incidents
Erik Prince · Blackwater · U.S. House Oversight Committee · Henry Waxman
confirmed
2005-11-28Rep. Duke Cunningham Pleads Guilty to $2.4 Million Bribery Scheme
Duke Cunningham · Mitchell Wade · Carol Lam · Donald Trump
confirmed
2004-03-31Four Blackwater Contractors Killed in Fallujah Ambush, Bodies Hung from Bridge, Triggering First Battle of Fallujah
Erik Prince · Blackwater · Scott Helvenston · Jerry Zovko · +3
confirmed
2003-10-01Christopher Poole Founds 4chan: Anonymous Imageboard Becomes Radicalization Infrastructure
Christopher Poole
confirmed
2003-06-06Oracle Launches Hostile Takeover Bid for PeopleSoft Worth $5.1 Billion
Oracle · Larry Ellison · PeopleSoft · JD Edwards
confirmed
2003-05-06Paul Bremer Begins Issuing 'CPA 100 Orders' to Restructure Iraq's Economy Under Military Occupation
Paul Bremer · Coalition Provisional Authority · George W. Bush · Donald Rumsfeld · +1
confirmed
2003-02-01In-Q-Tel Invests in Keyhole's EarthViewer During Iraq War Buildup
In-Q-Tel · Keyhole Inc. · National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency · CNN
confirmed
2002-12-01CIA Begins Systematic Use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques on Detainees
Central Intelligence Agency · Abu Zubaydah · Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri · James Mitchell · +2
confirmed
2002-09-07WHIG Executes Coordinated Media Blitz Demonstrating Crisis Template
Dick Cheney · Condoleezza Rice · George W. Bush · Andrew H. Card Jr. · +1
confirmed
2002-08-01DynCorp Bosnia Trafficking Scandal: Contractor Employees Purchase Women and Girls for Sexual Slavery, Face No Criminal Prosecution
DynCorp International · Kathryn Bolkovac · United Nations
confirmed
2001-01-01Purdue Pharma Bonus System Incentivizes Sales Reps to Target Highest Opioid Prescribers
Purdue Pharma · Sackler Family
confirmed
1999-02-12Senate Acquits President Clinton on Both Impeachment Articles
Bill Clinton · U.S. Senate · Senate Republicans · Senate Democrats
confirmed
1998-12-19House of Representatives Impeaches President Clinton on Perjury and Obstruction Charges
Bill Clinton · House Republicans · Kenneth Starr
confirmed
1998-05-01Sandline "Arms-to-Africa" Scandal: UK Parliamentary Inquiry Tests PMC Accountability and Finds It Wanting
Tim Spicer · Sandline International · Robin Cook · Tony Blair · +1
confirmed
1998-04-03American Petroleum Institute "Victory" Memo Outlines Climate Disinformation Strategy
American Petroleum Institute · Randy Randol · ExxonMobil · Chevron · +1
confirmed
1997-08-01Boeing-McDonnell Douglas Merger Approved: Defense Contractor Consolidation Creates Oligopoly
Boeing · McDonnell Douglas · Federal Trade Commission · U.S. Department of Defense · +2
confirmed
1996-08-22Welfare Reform Imposes Five-Year Lifetime Limit on Cash Assistance
Bill Clinton · Republican Congress · Poor Families
confirmed
1994-10-01Operation Gatekeeper Launches Clinton Border Militarization, Funneling Migrants to Deadly Terrain
Bill Clinton · Janet Reno · Doris Meissner · Immigration and Naturalization Service · +1
confirmed
1992-12-24Bush Pardons Six Iran-Contra Officials on Christmas Eve, Completing Cover-Up
George H.W. Bush · Caspar Weinberger · Robert McFarlane · Elliott Abrams · +1
confirmed
1991-06-05Trump Plaza Fined $200,000 for Removing Black Employees from Gaming Floor
Donald Trump · Robert LiButti · Kip Brown
confirmed
1990-02-16Reagan Testifies "I Don't Recall" Repeatedly in Iran-Contra Deposition
Ronald Reagan · John Poindexter
confirmed
1989-12-20U.S. Invades Panama to Capture Former CIA Asset Manuel Noriega
George H.W. Bush · Manuel Noriega
confirmed
1989-05-04Oliver North Convicted of Iran-Contra Felonies, Later Overturned on Immunity
Oliver North · Gerhard Gesell · Lawrence Walsh
confirmed
1989-01-01Executive Outcomes Founded in South Africa: First Modern Private Military Company Conducts Combat Operations
Eeben Barlow · Executive Outcomes · Tony Buckingham · Simon Mann · +1
confirmed
1987-05-06CIA Director William Casey Dies Before Testifying on Iran-Contra Role
William Casey · Ronald Reagan · Richard Secord
confirmed
1987-02-26Tower Commission Report Released, Criticized as Whitewash of Iran-Contra
Ronald Reagan · John Tower · Edmund Muskie · Brent Scowcroft · +1
confirmed
1986-10-27Anti-Drug Abuse Act Establishes 100-to-1 Crack-Cocaine Sentencing Disparity
Ronald Reagan · U.S. Congress
confirmed
1985-12-04NSC Running Shadow Foreign Policy Through McFarlane and Poindexter
Robert McFarlane · John Poindexter · Oliver North · Ronald Reagan
confirmed
1985-08-20First Secret Arms Shipment to Iran Initiates Iran-Contra Scandal
Ronald Reagan · Robert McFarlane · Oliver North · Manucher Ghorbanifar
confirmed
1983-12-20Donald Rumsfeld Meets Saddam Hussein as Reagan Special Envoy to Iraq
Donald Rumsfeld · Saddam Hussein · Ronald Reagan
confirmed
1982-01-01Reagan Deficit Explosion: National Debt Triples From $1T to $3T in Eight Years
Ronald Reagan · U.S. Congress · Office of Management and Budget · Department of the Treasury
confirmed
1981-08-13Reagan Signs ERTA: Massive Tax Cuts for Wealthy Begin Inequality Explosion
Ronald Reagan · U.S. Congress · Jack Kemp · William Roth
confirmed
1981-05-01Council for National Policy Founded - Secret Conservative Coordination Network
Tim LaHaye · Paul Weyrich · Nelson Bunker Hunt · Howard Phillips · +2
confirmed
1981-04-13Reagan Appoints William Baxter as Antitrust Chief, Enforcement Collapses as Chicago School Takes Control
Ronald Reagan · William F. Baxter · Department of Justice · Stanford Law School · +1
confirmed
1980-03-24U.S. Backs El Salvador Death Squad Government Through 12-Year Civil War
Ronald Reagan · Roberto D'Aubuisson · Oscar Romero
confirmed
1979-06-01Moral Majority Founded - Corporate Agenda Masked by Religious Cultural Warfare
Paul Weyrich · Jerry Falwell · Richard Viguerie · Howard Phillips · +3
confirmed
1977-01-01American Enterprise Institute Budget Surges to $10 Million - Think Tank Infrastructure Expansion
American Enterprise Institute · William Baroody Sr. · Gerald Ford · Howard Pew Freedom Trust · +2
confirmed
1976-09-30Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Requires Pre-Merger Notification, Last Major Antitrust Strengthening Before Reagan Dismantlement
Gerald Ford · Senator Philip Hart · Senator Hugh Scott · Representative Peter Rodino · +2
confirmed
1974-06-21Chuck Colson Pleads Guilty to Obstruction of Justice in Ellsberg Case, Serves Seven Months
Chuck Colson · Daniel Ellsberg · E. Howard Hunt · John Ehrlichman
confirmed
1972-11-01Eagle Forum Founded as Permanent Conservative Infrastructure for 'Pro-Family' Organizing
Phyllis Schlafly · Eagle Forum · New Right
confirmed
1971-06-13Pentagon Papers Published Revealing Systematic Government Deception About Vietnam War
Daniel Ellsberg · New York Times · Washington Post · President Richard Nixon · +3
confirmed
1971-03-29William Calley Convicted of My Lai Murders - Only Officer Prosecuted Despite Widespread Command Responsibility - Serves 3.5 Years House Arrest
Lieutenant William Calley · President Richard Nixon · Secretary of the Army Howard Callaway · Lieutenant General William Peers
confirmed
1970-09-13Milton Friedman's 'The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits' Establishes Shareholder Primacy Doctrine
Milton Friedman · Chicago School economists
confirmed
1969-12-01Draft Lottery Reform Attempts to Address Class Inequality After College Deferments Shield Wealthy from Vietnam Service
Selective Service System · U.S. Congress · Congressman Alexander Pirnie
confirmed
1969-11-12Seymour Hersh Exposes My Lai Massacre Cover-Up After Army Conceals Atrocity for 20 Months - Wins Pulitzer Prize
Journalist Seymour Hersh · Whistleblower Ronald Ridenhour · Lieutenant William Calley · U.S. Army · +1
confirmed
1969-03-18Nixon and Kissinger Launch Secret Illegal Bombing Campaign Against Cambodia - Operation Menu Kills 150,000-500,000 Civilians
President Richard Nixon · National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger · Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird · Secretary of State William Rogers · +2
confirmed
1968-03-16My Lai Massacre - U.S. Soldiers Murder Between 347 and 504 Unarmed Vietnamese Civilians in War Crime
Lieutenant William Calley · Captain Ernest Medina · Charlie Company 1st Battalion 20th Infantry Regiment · Hugh Thompson Jr. (helicopter pilot who intervened) · +1
confirmed
1967-08-01Phyllis Schlafly Launches Monthly Newsletter, Building Conservative Communications Network
Phyllis Schlafly · Eagle Forum · National Federation of Republican Women
confirmed
1967-07-28Reagan Signs Mulford Act Gun Control Law With NRA Support to Disarm Black Panthers Armed Patrols
Governor Ronald Reagan · Don Mulford · National Rifle Association · Black Panther Party · +1
confirmed
1967-01-01Vietnam War Defense Contractor Profiteering Reaches Peak as Congressional Investigations Expose Waste and Corruption
RMK-BRJ consortium · Halliburton · Lockheed · Boeing · +2
confirmed
1966-10-15Black Panther Party Formation in Oakland Triggers Immediate FBI COINTELPRO Surveillance and State Repression
Bobby Seale · Huey P. Newton · FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover · California State Legislature
confirmed
1966-06-13Miranda v. Arizona Decision Requiring Rights Warnings Sparks Law Enforcement Backlash and Conservative Law-and-Order Politics
U.S. Supreme Court · Chief Justice Earl Warren · Richard Nixon · Law enforcement organizations
confirmed
1965-01-01Bell Helicopter Profits Surge from $150 Million to $2 Billion During Vietnam War - Huey Production Defines "Helicopter War"
Bell Helicopter · U.S. Department of Defense · Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association
confirmed
1964-08-07Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Passes Based on Fabricated Second Attack Authorizing Vietnam War Escalation
President Lyndon B. Johnson · Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara · National Security Agency · U.S. Congress
confirmed
1962-01-01National Association of Manufacturers Establishes Defense Committee and Hires First Full-Time President
National Association of Manufacturers · Werner P. Gullander · National Defense Committee
confirmed
1961-01-17President Eisenhower's Farewell Address Warns Against Military-Industrial Complex
Dwight D. Eisenhower · Malcolm Moos · Ralph Williams · Milton Eisenhower
confirmed
1960-01-18Congressional Report Finds 1,400 Retired Military Officers Employed by Top Defense Contractors
F. Edward Hebert · House Armed Services Committee · General Dynamics · Frank Pace
confirmed
1959-01-01Congress Holds 25 Hearings on Pentagon Revolving Door, General Bradley Testifies Against Contractor Influence
U.S. Congress · General Omar Bradley · U.S. Department of Defense · Defense contractors
confirmed
1954-06-09Joseph Welch Confronts McCarthy with Have You No Sense of Decency in Army Hearings
Joseph Welch · Joseph McCarthy · Roy Cohn · G. David Schine
confirmed
1953-10-30Eisenhower Approves New Look Defense Policy - Cuts Military Budget by One-Third Despite Pentagon Resistance
Dwight D. Eisenhower · John Foster Dulles · Robert B. Carney · Matthew B. Ridgway · +1
confirmed
1953-01-28Charles Wilson Confirmed Defense Secretary After "Good for General Motors" Controversy Reveals Corporate-State Fusion
Charles Erwin Wilson · Dwight D. Eisenhower · General Motors · Senate Armed Services Committee · +1
confirmed
1951-08-01Electric Boat Awarded Contract for First Nuclear Submarine USS Nautilus, Launching General Dynamics
Electric Boat · General Dynamics Corporation · John Jay Hopkins · U.S. Navy · +1
confirmed
1950-09-08Defense Production Act Institutionalizes Korean War Industrial Mobilization, Defense Budget Quadruples to $50 Billion
Harry Truman · Office of Defense Mobilization · Boeing · Lockheed · +2
confirmed