Universities in Service of Warfare

whole issue available @ http://www.corporateswine.net/escrache or http://www.antiwarnetwork.org/fiat_pax/eintro.html

Institutional and Interpersonal Links

The militarization of universities is not exclusively pursued by forces outside the boundaries of campuses. Many members of the university community have intimate connections to the military industrial complex, as do university finances. Universities, like any other institutions in our society, are enmeshed in the economic, social, and political realms. They are affected by political decision making, and governmental needs, and they are inseparable from the corporations and businesses that fund them and feed from them. The scale to which universities are tied into businesses, and political power is beyond measure. All that may suffice here is a qualitative explanation of the links.
Much of work that universities provide for the production of war is also to their own financial benefit, and to the benefit of many within the university including, faculty, administrators, especially members of the board of trustees, or regents. Universities are like any other institution within the framework of our competitive society, they seek to grow by expanding their power, prestige, and size. Under the militarized form of society, universities seek out and ally themselves with the institutions and people who can provide the funds and resources for expansion.
These structures are what will be referred to here as institutional links - (those between the university and another institution: i.e. corporation, government, or NGO), and personal links (individuals who are active within the university, who also belong(ed) to another institution(s) making the individual an informal link between the two).

Institutional links
Literally any official and cooperative link between a university and another organization fulfills the criteria of being an institutional link. When the Department of Energy funds the University of California to manage the labs and provide the scientists who research and design new nuclear weapons, this is an institutional link. When a corporation, or the Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security sponsor research, or provide general funds for the support of activities on any university campus, this is an institutional link. When recruiters access a college campus through job fairs or events it is an institutional link. However, there is an important category of militarized support that the concept of institutional linkage lends itself to in an explanative and expository way.

Financial Incorporation
The financial incorporation of universities and military-industrial corporations is an institutional link that marries the well being of the university with that of the business. Financial incorporation goes beyond the tendency for universities to cultivate military priorities on campus in hopes of increasing the university's prestige, and power. Financial incorporation chronically binds the money of both, with the advantage and decision making power still firm in the hands of the corporation.
A basic example of the financial integration of the university and military-industrial corporation is to be found when analyzing most university foundations. Nearly every college and university has a foundation that provides funding support for academic programs, scholarships, capital improvements, and general costs. Foundations are typically non-profit, public benefit corporations managed by university administrators and trustees.
The UC Santa Cruz Foundation, founded in 1974 has provided $75 million dollars in support to the campus through private gifts, corporate donations, and other foundations and non-profits. The trustees of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation for the most part have no military-industrial connections. The sole UCSC trustee connected with the military-industrial complex is Donald Worn, "a retired aerospace industry executive and design engineer. During his career, he worked for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, Sperry Gyroscope, Convair, and Pratt and Whitney Aircraft."1. & 2. It is not the interpersonal connections that make the UC Santa Cruz Foundation worthy of scrutiny. Rather it is the Foundations institutional links to weapons manufacturing corporations that consistently donate and support the university and the programs they benefit from in the form of future employees, and access to research rusults.
Table 1. lists the military-industrial-research corporations which donated funds to the UC Santa Cruz Foundation in 2000-2001. Monsanto Corp. the St. Louis based agribusiness giant responsible for the toxic defoliants used in Colombia gave UCSC over $100,000 dollars in 2001. Other big contributors were Lockheed Martin whose missile and space facility is located only miles away from UCSC's campus up Empire Grade road. In addition to the scandalous funds from weapons manufacturers, UCSC also received gifts from Phillip Morris the tobacco giant, and the GAP corporation which has been doubly irresponsible for its use of sweatshop labor and role in the clear-cutting of old growth forests in Northern California. Military-industrial, and exploitative corporations donate money to many public and private colleges and universities throughout the US.
The University of California's system wide finances are incredibly entangled with weapons manufacturers. The UC's retirement plan portfolio is invested in dozens of military-industrial contractors through stock purchases. At least five corporations within the UC retirement portfolio conduct virtually no business other than weapons manufacturing and military subcontracting, these are: General Dynamics with a UC investment of $21,471,120, Northrop Grumman for $16,125,200, Raytheon for $ 16,818,200, TRW for $8,327,650, and Lockheed Martin for a staggering $33,046,370. 3.

Interpersonal Links
Interpersonal links are usually more subtle because they are informal social relationships which can be hard to uncover, but they still facilitate a great deal of militarization and dominance over the university by corporate-military power.
There is a gray area between interpersonal and institutional links when dealing with the university-military relationship. Some ties exhibit characteristics of both categories. One example is evident in a close look at University of California Regent Richard C. Blum. This connection is best categorized as interpersonal because it is ultimately the individual that creates the link between university and military-corporation entities.

Case Study: Richard Blum
UC Regent Richard C. Blum appointed March 2002 will serve as Regent until 2014. Blum sits on the Investments, and DOE (Department of Energy) Lab Oversight committees. Outside of his official position as UC regent he is the Chairman of Blum Capital Management, Co-Chairman of Newbridge Capital, and sits on the boards of Northwest Airlines, Playtex Products, serves as the Co-Chairman of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, and a board Member of the World Wildlife Fund. It is Blum's business holdings that make him a bridge from the military-industrial complex to the UC.
According to Blum Capital Management's website,

"Rigorous research serves as the foundation of Blum Capital’s investment strategy." "Blum Capital views itself as owning a piece of a business, rather than just its stock. We take an 'own the whole business' approach into the public market, but with the support and cooperation of management and the Board." Other investment and business management claims made by Blum include that he seeks, “An opportunity to implement financial and/or business strategies that can materially improve the intrinsic value of the company” And that determinantly, “A close working relationship can be established with management in order to implement these strategies.”

Rigorous research is what probably led Regent Blum to invest heavily in URS Corporation, a global construction, engineering, management and services company. Blum's, "own the whole business" approach, and close "support, and cooperation" implies more than just financial support. Blum’s corporation seems to promote ethical, even philosophic support for the firms he invests in.
URS Corporation is a leading contractor with the Department of Defense. Its work with the military mostly involves construction, infrastructure management, and services at the corporate level, but the corporation’s subsidiaries support much more specialized military activities. One project carried out by URS corp. for the military includes a massive overhaul and reconstruction of the Pentagon basement to facilitate war planning and operations. A URS press release describes the project;

"Planning, architecture and engineering are URS’ responsibilities in converting the formerly uninhabitable Pentagon basement into office space, without disrupting building or military operations. The newly renovated 1.1-million-square-foot space will house the National Military Command and Control Center, operations centers for all branches of the Armed Forces, and Department of Defense computer installations."4.

Other projects carried out by URS for the US military include: A $40 million contract providing environmental services at Air Force Bases worldwide, a $15 million contract for construction management at Air Force Bases worldwide, another Air Force contract to construct a maintenance facility at Hill AFB valued at $32.7 million, and an April 3, 2003 contract with the US Navy to;

“provide technical support on two major Navy Joint Surface Warfare programs – the Cooperative Engagement Capability and Standard Display/Processor System initiatives – as well as several Navy navigation system programs. This five-year contract has a potential value to URS of $53 million.”5.

The Department of Defense is not the only federal customer of URS corp. The Department of Energy hired URS in 2000 to be part of a team to provide engineering, design, and construction services at the UC administered Los Alamos National Laboratory. According to URS the contract has a value of $25 million a year, and is part of a $1.5 billion dollar refurbishment plan to modernize the nation’s premier nuclear weapons research and design facility. Regent Blum’s investments in URS stand to benefit him from any contracts awarded by the DOE regarding the UC managed nuclear weapons labs, and it doesn’t hurt that Blum sits on the DOE Oversight Committee of the UC.
Further down the chain of Blum’s investments are two corporations, EG&G, and Siegler Services Inc. Both companies are subsidiaries of URS corp. EG&G was acquired by URS in 2002 in a transaction valued at $500 million dollars. According to URS Chairman Martin Koffel, “...the acquisition of EG&G catapults URS to the forefront as a leading provider in the rapidly growing area of outsourced operations and maintenance services for the federal government, particularly in national and homeland defense”6. URS bought EG&G and Siegler Services from the Carlyle group, a capital investment firm similar to Blum Capital, but investing solely in military corporations and weapons manufacturers.
EG&G’s business activities include:

“engineering and technology services focused on defense-related aviation and ground systems, command, control and electronics systems, global threat reduction and homeland defense. We also provide mission-critical technical services including maintenance, modification, overhaul and service life extension for military aircraft and ground vehicles, logistics support services, systems engineering and military training.”7.

EG&G and its subsidiary Lear Siegler Services are responsible for not only the infrastructure of US military installations and operations, but also warfare systems, and their maintenance. Lear Siegler specializes in aircraft maintenance, and training serving not only the US military, but also its allies worldwide like the Royal Saudi Air Force.

Other UC Regents with connections to the military-industrial complex include Tom Sayles, appointed 1994 and serving until 2006. Outside of his UC position, Sayles is an executive at Sempra Energy Corp. of San Diego. From 1982 to 1991 he served as the senior legal council to TRW Inc., a weapons manufacturer involved heavily in missile, and aerospace technologies.
Regent Sherry Lansing, appointed until 2010, sits on the Board of Governors of the RAND Graduate School.11. RGS is a branch of the RAND corporation, a non-profit organization which runs the National Defense Research Institute, and Project Air Force,:
“Project AIR FORCE (PAF) is the product of visionary thinking that led to a RAND-Air Force partnership now approaching its sixth decade. Originally known as Project RAND (an acronym for research and development), PAF was established in 1946 by General H. H. "Hap" Arnold as a way of retaining for the United States Air Force (USAF) the considerable benefits of civilian scientific thinking that had been demonstrated during World WarI.”12.
In this way the RAND corp. acts as a bridge between US universities and the military. The RAND Graduate School based in Santa Monica trains the next generations of technocrats and policy makers in topics ranging from welfare to warfare, but RAND’s main focus is military and political analysis. Classes offered in 2003 include, “Military Technology and Its Non-military Connections” & “Policy Analysis and Planning in the Defense Department” among others.

Case Study #2 Professor Benjamin Friedlander of UC Santa Cruz
The interpersonal links of professors and research faculty sometimes serves an even more ingrained and functional purpose than do Regent or Trustee connections. Faculty connected with the military-research complex not only conduct research, but also direct students and university resources toward the production of war.
Benjamin Friedlander, a professor of electrical engineering in the Jack Baskin School at UCSC is one example. Friedlander’s research background is essentially a career of service for the military-industrial complex. 42 of the past 51 research projects Friedlander has acted as principal investigator on have been sponsored by a military office, these include; US Army Missile Command, Ballistics Missiles Office – Norton AFB, US Army Strategic Defense Command, and the Naval Surface Weapons Center. Much of professor Friedlander’s research concerns “target tracking,” using advanced electronics for missiles, or airplanes.13. In 1987 and 1988, long before Friedlander joined the Baskin School at Santa Cruz he worked as a consultant for a computer company in Sunnyvale named Saxpy. His research included projects like, “Systolic Processor for Real-Time Target Classification” all facilitated by the Small Business Innovative Research program (SBIR) of the Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency.14. The SBIR funds research at small businesses that provide services not often found in the larger military contractors.
Prior to his work for the US military, Friedlander worked for the Israeli Military as an engineer. After exiting military employment, he worked for Israeli Aircraft Corporation, a defense contractor with arms sales to over 85 nations, producer of combat vehicles, ground penetrating radar, the Harpy Loitering Weapon System (a missile which hovers over its target until the opportune moment to strike), NIMROD laser guided missiles, and dozens of other weapons systems.15.
Friedlander also serves on the steering committee of the Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers held annually in Monterey California.16. The conference is sponsored by the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Mission Research Corporation. Mission Research Corp. is based in Santa Barbara with 450 employees at over a dozen locations and sales of $90 million a year. Mission Research Corporation’s client list is strictly military, DARPA, Army, Air Force, and Navy Research Labs, as well as the nuclear weapons complex of LLNL, LANL, SNL, and the DOE. Other universities represented by faculty on the organizing committees of the 2003 Asilomar Conference are; San Diego State, Penn State, Oklahoma State, Rice, U. of Texas, U. of Washington, and U. of Wisconson, in addition to their Navy and Mission Research Corp. counterparts.16.

It is through these informal personal, formal institutional, and financial exchanges that universities serve the warfare state and its corporate allies. Personal relationships connect military, corporate, and university personnel while bridging the divide between these institutions. Formal institutional links establish cooperation and coordination across the military-industrial-academic complex. Be they research institutes, labs, and centers, or personal relationships spanning industry-university-military, the web of connections far exceeds any attempts to quantify.





1. UC Santa Cruz. "UCSC Foundation." http://www.ucsc.edu/administration/ur/foundation/

2. Tyler, Francine. "UCSC Foundation reelects current president; five new trustees named to board." Currents Magazine. October 1996.

3. UC Office of the Treasurer. "University of California Retirement Plan Common Stock." 12/30/02. http://www.ucop.edu/treasurer/

4. URS. "Press Release: Massive overhaul of American Landmark." http://www.urs.com

5. URS. “Press Release: URS Awarded Navy Contract Potentially Valued at $53 Million.” April, 2003.

6. URS Acquisition Information. “URS COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF EG&G TECHNICAL SERVICES.” 2002. http://urs.acquisitioninformation.com/

7. EG&G. “EG&G Organization.” http://www.egginc.com/html/divisions.htm

8. US EPA. "NPL Site Narrative for TRW, Inc. (Minerva Plant)." http://www.epa.gov/superfund

9. State of California: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. "PUBIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT TRW MICROWAVE, INC. (BUILDING 825) SUNNYVALE, SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA."
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/

10. Broad, William J. " Missile-Defense Critic's Suit Is Dismissed" New York Times, March 8, 2003. and " U.S. Seeks Dismissal of Suit By Critic of Missile Defense" New York Times. February 2, 2003.

11. RAND Graduate School. “I Want to Change the World.” Informational Brochure. RAND, Santa Monica, 2003.

12. RAND Project Air Force. “About Project Air Force.” http://www.rand.org/paf/about.html

13. Friedlander, Benjamin. “Homepage.” http://www.cse.ucsc.edu/~friedlan/homepage.html

14. Missile Defense Agency SBIR. http://www.winbmdo.com/scripts/main.asp

15. Isreal Aircraft Industries. http://www.iai.co.il

16. US Navy. “Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers.” http://web.nps.navy.mil/~asilomar/