Joe Kent, former counterterrorism chief under President Donald Trump, accused defense contractors of profiting from endless war on Saturday after Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT) CEO Jim Taiclet described Iran War-related demand as “permanent.”
Kent Targets Defense Industry’s ‘Business Model’
In a post on X, Kent said defense contractors and their lobby “will never be satisfied” with simply helping build a strong military. He called war “their business model,” arguing that continuous conflict ensures continuous demand for their products.
“Stop spilling American blood for profit,” Kent wrote. He opened the post with a line from George Orwell’s ‘1984’, “The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous.”
Kent’s remarks were in response to Taiclet’s comments on the Iran War’s effect on defense stocks.
Earlier this week, Taiclet and Michael Duffey, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, appeared on CNBC. Taiclet said, “Investors need to know and understand that this demand is not fleeting — it’s permanent.”
Taiclet said long-term agreements with the government will add to Lockheed’s backlog, and he sees room for margin expansion “if we perform.” Duffey said funding is the “missing piece” needed to turn those agreements into contracts.
War-Driven Profits Under Scrutiny
Taiclet’s remarks suggest Lockheed expects elevated defense demand to persist beyond the immediate Iran conflict, while Kent argues that the defense industry has an incentive to perpetuate war. Kent, a former Trump appointee, argues the industry benefits from continuous conflict.
The exchange puts war-driven profits at the center of the defense-spending debate.
Kent Broke With Trump Over Iran War
Kent served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center under Trump. He resigned in March, saying in a letter on X that he could not “in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.” Kent also wrote that Iran “posed no imminent threat” to the U.S.
Trump welcomed Kent’s exit and said he viewed him as “weak on security.”
In August, Kent urged the U.S. to “just leave” Iran, warning in an X post that it risked getting “sucked back in” to the war.
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