In its Sunday Review section on February 21, 2016, the New York Times ran a column titled “To Keep America Safe, Embrace Drone Warfare.” The article’s thesis is summarized in its second-last sentence: “Civilians have died, but in my firm opinion, the death toll from terrorist attacks would have been much higher if we had not taken action;” and it was written by Michael V Hayden, who directed first the National Security Agency and then the Central Intelligence Agency under George W Bush. Hayden currently serves on the board of several defense industry corporations, including drone manufacturers.
Though the Times identified Hayden’s past government positions at the end of the article, the newspaper failed to disclose Hayden’s present role on the board of Motorola Solutions, a military and defense contractor that recently made an investment in CyPhy Works, which produces unmanned aerial vehicles – drones. Motorola Solutions paid Hayden $240,125 for his service on its board in 2015.
The Times also did not mention that Hayden served, until last year, on the board of Alion Sciences, a information technology firm that serves the US military. Hayden joined Alion’s board in 2010 in a term that ended in 2015. In 2012, Alion was awarded a $24 million contract to develop the US Navy’s unmanned and automatic weapons systems. From Alion’s press release:
Alion’s NSWC PCD work includes technical engineering to increase unmanned and automated weapon systems capabilities for such tasks as the implementation of unmanned systems payloads on “commercial off the shelf” or existing non-developmental unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) with limited modifications. Under the contract, this work can include UUVs, unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
In 2014, Alion issued a notice that it was suspending its filings with the SEC because it had fewer than 300 security holders, so Hayden’s compensation from that firm is not available.
It is also noteworthy that Hayden is a principal at the Chertoff Group, a consulting firm that advises defense industry clients on how to obtain government contracts, another detail that went unmentioned in the Times.
Hayden’s positions on the boards of the defense contractors whose business he advocated for in the Times can be seen in the map below:
The Times’s failure to disclose Hayden’s ties to the industry he was advocating in its pages is the latest example of a trend of media outlets running commentary by defense experts that also have a financial stake in perpetuating warfare. PAI reported on this phenomenon – and Hayden’s involvement – in 2013 with respect to President Obama’s proposed war in Syria.