Universities chase big defence dollars

Some of America’s most elite universities are deep into defence lobbying, often hiring Washington-based firms to press Congress and the Pentagon to fund their science projects. It’s all about Big Research and Big Money, writes Austin Wright for Politico.

“When it comes to lobbying on the Hill, most universities have a large footprint,” said high-powered defence lobbyist Michael Herson, who runs American Defense International and now has seven university clients: Drexel University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rowan University, Temple University, University at Albany – SUNY, Clemson University and Florida Atlantic University.

Herson also represents big name defence contractors like General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. “In the defence space, it’s been our experience that it’s a lot of the engineering schools that lobby,” he said, noting that technology, cybersecurity and munitions were also big fields for colleges. “It raises their stature to be able to say they’re doing this kind of work for the Department of Defence,” he said.
Full report on the Politico site