Profits of War: Top Beneficiaries of Pentagon Spending, 2020 – 2024

Paper

Policy analysts William D. Hartung (Senior Research Fellow, Quincy Institute) and Stephen Semler (Co-Founder, Security Policy Reform Institute) calculate that in five years, from 2020 to 2024, private firms received $2.4 trillion in contracts from the Pentagon, approximately 54% of the department’s discretionary spending of $4.4 trillion over that period.

Costs of War published this report in collaboration with the transpartisan think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

"From 2020-2024, 54% of the pentagon's discretionary spending of $4.4 trillion went to military contractors."

During these five years, the U.S. government invested over twice as much money in five weapons companies as in diplomacy and international assistance. Between 2020 and 2024, $771 billion in Pentagon contracts went to just five firms: Lockheed Martin ($313 billion), RTX (formerly Raytheon, $145 billion), Boeing ($115 billion), General Dynamics ($116 billion), and Northrop Grumman ($81 billion). By comparison, the total diplomacy, development, and humanitarian aid budget, excluding military aid, was $356 billion.

Annual U.S. military spending has grown significantly this century, as has the portion of the budget that goes to contractors: While 54% of the Pentagon’s average annual spending has gone to military contractors since 2020, during the 1990s, only 41% went to contractors.

U.S. military spending, including funding for the Pentagon and military activities funded by other agencies, had risen from $531 billion in 2000 to $899 billion in 2025, in constant 2025 dollars. However, legislation approved in July 2025 adds $156 billion to this total, pushing annual U.S. military spending to $1.06 trillion. Taking these supplemental funds into account, the U.S. military budget has nearly doubled this century, increasing 99% since 2000.

The report also analyzes the tools of influence used by the arms industry — lobbying, millions in campaign donations, the revolving door, and others — that are expanding. As of 2024, there were 950 lobbyists hired by the arms industry — 220 more than in 2020 – helping to shape policy and increase military spending.

About the Authors

William D. Hartung

Senior Research Fellow, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft

hartung@quincyinst.org

Website

William D. Hartung is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His work focuses on the arms industry and U.S. military budget. He was previously the director of the Arms and Security Program at the Center for International Policy and the co-director of the Center's Sustainable Defense Task Force. He is the author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex (Nation Books, 2011) and the co-editor, with Miriam Pemberton, of Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War (Paradigm Press, 2008). His previous books include And Weapons for All (HarperCollins, 1995), a critique of U.S. arms sales policies from the Nixon through Clinton administrations. From July 2007 through March 2011, Mr. Hartung was the director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. Prior to that, he served as the director of the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams. Hartung’s articles on security issues have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and the World Policy Journal. He has been a featured expert on national security issues on CBS 60 Minutes, NBC Nightly News, the PBS Newshour, CNN, Fox News, and scores of local, regional, and international radio outlets.
Stephen Semler

Co-founder of Security Policy Reform Institute

snsemler@gmail.com

Website

Stephen Semler is co-founder of Security Policy Reform Institute (SPRI), a think tank that works to align U.S. foreign policy with working-class interests. He also writes Polygraph, a data journalism newsletter. He has previously worked in the international humanitarian response to Syria, U.S. federal budget authorizations and appropriations, and policy analysis and advocacy. He is a listed expert with the Forum on the Arms Trade and Economic Hardship Reporting Project.