{"id":5119,"date":"2018-03-17T16:39:25","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T21:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carnaghan.com\/?p=5119"},"modified":"2018-03-17T16:41:38","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T21:41:38","slug":"united-states-defense-contractors-and-cybersecurity-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnaghan.com\/united-states-defense-contractors-and-cybersecurity-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"United States Defense Contractors and Cybersecurity Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"
In the United States, a sizable amount of the overall federal budget is allocated to defense spending. The 2018 Defense Budget was signed into law on December 12, 2017, by President Trump, which authorized just under $700 billion in defense spending\u00a0(Blankenstein, 2017)<\/span>. In contrast to just a few years ago where the fiscal year defense spending was set at $593 billion, the amount of money set aside for defense continues to grow. Traditionally a lot of this budget has gone into supporting the military, purchasing equipment, machinery, and paying salaries. In recent years, more money has been set-aside for defense contractors, who in turn provide products and services to the Federal Government. In 2016, nearly half of the defense budget was allocated to defense contractors. The biggest beneficiaries included Lockheed Martin- $36.2 billion, Boeing- $24.3 billion, Raytheon- $12.8 billion, General Dynamics- $12.7 billion, and Northrop Grumman- $10.7 billion\u00a0(Hartung, 2017)<\/span>. A more detailed table of the defense sector follows.<\/p>\n There are many defense organizations within the United States that provide services to the Federal Government and military institutions. A concentrated amount of the budget each year is typically reserved for the major players, which include large established organizations in this sector. In 2016, Business Insider wrote an article that highlighted the top nine largest defense contractors in the United States. This came from data published by the U.S. General Services Administration that lists, in addition to federal contractors, allocations to agriculture, commerce, interior, justice, labor, navy, state, and treasury. The table that follows lists the top nine defense contractors along with the amount of funds obligated, contracts awarded, employees, and a summary of the current work carried out\u00a0(Choi, 2016)<\/span>.<\/p>\n Table 1: Top 9 biggest defense contractors in 2016<\/p>\nMajor Players<\/h2>\n