A Major Whig Event

An American corporation that began operations as a manufacturer of consumer refrigeration equipment and then moved along to the electronic components of the new domestic kitchen microwave and eventually became one of the largest US military contractors with 185,000 employees worldwide has been "fined" by the US State Department for releasing confidential information to China, Russia and other potential US adversaries.

RTX, the company that has as subsidiaries aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, Collins Aerospace and Raytheon, each of whom is a major military contractor, and had revenue of $68.92 billion in 2023 admitted to violations of the US International Traffic in Arms Regulation or ITAR. In the years between 2017 and 2023 the firm was accused of committing 750 such violations. Since all these involved confidential information,  specifics regarding them are sketchy. The crucial point is that Collins Aerospace, for instance, sent technical information to Chinese contractors to use in construction of printed wiring boards for use in US military aircraft. Obviously, either Collins couldn't find American companies capable of producing those items or found that Chinese suppliers would do it for less.

Ultimately, the State Dept. and RTX agreed on a fine of $200 million, $100 million of which would be retained by RTX to spend on programs to prevent these problems from arising in the future. We don't know if any RTX management personnel or employees of their subsidiaries were disciplined or cashiered. There's no word on termination of military contracts. Nobody appears to have been sent to prison.

 

photo courtesy Collins Aerospace

 Troy Brunk, President, Collins Aerospace

 

In China or other Asian countries a failure like this would be so serious that those deemed responsible would be likely to disappear for an extended period of time, maybe forever, and never be eligible for a responsible position again. It's of note that an American who walks out of a C-store without paying for his liter of Mountain Dew and bag of Doritos will be in more trouble than an executive of RTX who might be a critical link in forwarding top secret information to a potential adversary. The leading Whigs are immune to that kind of responsibility.