USBlog: Cruz's Military Industrial Complex

Cruz's anti-establishment message belies his embeddedness in the military industrial complex - take a look at his most senior foreign policy and nationa security advisors:

Ted Cruz's Foreign Policy Advisors

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist."

- President Dwight D. Eisenhower


Chad Sweet
Victoria Coates
James Woolsey
Elliot Abrams
John Bolton

Chad Sweet - Chairman

Bio

With a diverse background, starting as Director of the CIA, Chad Sweet went into the world of big banks - from Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley to VP with Goldman Sachs. He would then work for the Department of Homeland Security in the Bush Administration. Currently he is the Co-Founder of Chertoff Group.

NSA - Phone Records

After Edward Snowden leaked details about the NSA, Steel came to the defense of the agency, defending the NSA practice. The Chertoff Group, which he co-founded with a former DHS official, advocates for expanding NSA metadata collection while operating a private collection database mirroring NSA practices.

TSA - Body Scanners

In 2010, Sweet was exposed for calling for body scanners in airports while neglecting to reveal that that he stood to profit from the sale of back scatter scanners. The manufacturer of the scanners was Rapiscan, a client of The Chertoff Group.

"If You think about a haystack, in order for you to search a haystack, you have to have hay"

Chad Steele, Defending NSA Bulk Data Collection

Victoria Coates - National Security Advisor

Bio

Having served as director of research for former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and as an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Coates has a track record of supporting a neoconservative foreign policy. In 2012, she was an advisor to Rick Perry’s, whose campaign was in support of sending troops back into Iraq.

Neoconservatism

Coates has a notable history of supporting neoconservative foreign policy. She has been noted for her support of using American military power to spread democracy as well as her support of intervention in Syria. She has also called in the past for a no fly zone over Libya in 2011, and comparing Gadahfi to Saddam Hussein. She is on record as having supported the Iraq War.

Reading List

Coates has endorsed a pair of very controversial books which have what some would describe as an inhumane view of foreign policy. The Daily Beast reported she requires her interns to read “Dictatorships and Double Standards”, a book which argued that supporting anti communist dictators amounted to support for human rights. She also recommended the book “The World America Made”, an essay which argues that American military power had been essential to the proliferation of democracy in the 20th century.

James Woolsey - Foreign Policy Advisor

Bio

Woolsey was a national security specialist and former Director of the CIA under the Clinton administration. He heads up many Neoconservative groups including being the Chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Founding Member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Edward Snowden

While being interviewed by Fox News, Woolsey called for the hanging of Edward Snowden after the contractor leaked information about the NSA collection of bulk metadata.

Iraq

Woolsey was famous for quickly tying Iraq to the September 11th attacks, hours after the planes hit. He would then later try and tie Iraq to other bombings, including the first World Trade Center Bombing. In 2005 he was called out by a senior fellow for profiting off wars he advocated for due to his many national security firms, investment funds, and other national security related activities.

"I think giving him amnesty is idiotic, He should be prosecuted for treason. If convicted by a jury of his peers, he should be hanged by his neck until he is dead"

James Woolsey, On Edward Snowden

Elliot Abrams - Foreign Policy Advisor

Bio

Abrams served in the George W Bush administration as a deputy national security adviser for Global Democratic Strategy. He accompanied Condoleezza Rice as an adviser on her visits to the Middle East in July 2006 during discussions regarding the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Iran-Contra

Elliot Abrams is most notable for his involvement in the Iran Contra scandal, where he was convicted of withholding information from congress as part of a plea deal to avoid more serious charges. He was than pardoned by George HW Bush, but subsequently publicly censured for giving false testimony on three occasions before congressional committees by the DC Court of Appeals.

Think Tanks

Abrams has served on a number of neoconservative think tanks, including the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Center for Security Policy, Hudson Institute, National Endowment for Democracy and several others. He has written several articles for the CFR, including this celebration of the neoconservative tone of every candidate in the first Republican debate.

"If we only strike one side, we are just defining Syria as a safe haven"

Elliot Abrams, On bombing Syria as well as Iraq

John Bolton - Foreign Policy Advisor

Bio

Bolton has served several Republican administrations and served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton is Senior fellow at Neoconservative groups like American Enterprise Institute and Senior advisor to Freedom Capital Investment Management. He also serves as Chairman of Gatestone Institute.

Spinning Intelligence

On many occasions John Bolton has been accused of spinning intelligence to support his views, going as far keeping information from Secretary of State Colin Powell many times, and Condoleezza Rice at least once. In 2003, Congressman Henry Waxman alleged that Bolton was the one who had convinced George W. Bush to include a statement about Iraq obtaining Yellowcake from Niger in his State of the Union Address, The source for which was later found to be forged.

Attacking Liberty

In an interview with Fox News, Bolton would attack Congressman Ron Paul stating that Paul's foreign policy is worse than Obama. Later in 2015, a foundation Bolton is the Chairman of, Foundation for American Security and Freedom, spent a million dollars in ads against Senator Rand Paul in which a family was abruptly blown up by nuclear bomb. A fear inducing campaign ad run in all early voting primary states.

"I would of done this five or six years ago, because the earlier you strike the more damage you can do"

- John Bolton, On bombing Iran

Sources:

Sweet - How Private Contractors Have Created a Shadow NSA

Sweet - US Safer 12 years after 9/11, but threat has evolved

Sweet - Ted Cruz's Campaign Chairman Profited from TSA

Coates - A Box is in the Eye of the Beholder

Coates - It's a Wonderful Country

Coates - A Risk of Contagion: The Growing Threat of Syria's WMD

Woolsey - Snowden should be "hanged"

Woolsey - Woolsly needs to choose between Pundit or Profiteer

Abrams - Pressure Points Blog