Invistigate / American Friends Service Committee – 2019-01-15 01:00:21
http://investigate.afsc.org/company/general-dynamics
General Dynamics: Profiting Off
War, Surveillance, and Suppression of Migrants
Investigate / American Friends Service Committee
(January 7, 2019) — One of the largest military contractors in the world provides weapons and munitions used by the Israeli air force against Palestinian civilians and is involved in monitoring the US-Mexico border and surveilling immigrant communities inside the United States.
General Dynamics is a multinational defense and aerospace conglomerate based in Virginia. In 2018, the company was listed as the world’s sixth largest arms-producing company by the Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (SIPRI) and Defense News.
General Dynamics brought in $31 billion in revenue in 2017. Of this total revenue, 61 percent came from the US government, including $676 million in Foreign Military Sales. The company’s primary customer is the US Department of Defense. In 2018, General Dynamics was the largest government contractor in the United States.
General Dynamics is made up of four business groups: Aerospace, Combat Systems, Marine Systems, and Information Systems and Technology. Combat Systems produces wheeled armored vehicles, battle tanks, tracked combat vehicles, weapons systems, armament and munitions, and support services.
Information Systems and Technology provides the US army with computing and communications equipment and supplies the US Navy with fire control system modification for ballistic-missile submarines. Marine Systems builds ships, including nuclear-powered submarines, for the US Navy.
MILITARY SALES TO ISRAEL AND COLLABORATION WITH THE ISRAELI MILITARY INDUSTRIES
USE OF GENERAL DYNAMICS SYSTEMS IN ATTACKS ON PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS
PROVIDING SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE US-MEXICO BORDER
FACILITATING CHILD IMMIGRANT DETENTION
CSRA OPERATIONS IN IMMIGRANT SURVEILLANCE, DETENTION AND BORDER MILITARIZATION
ADDITIONAL CONTROVERSIES
ECONOMIC ACTIVISM HIGHLIGHTS
FURTHER INFORMATION
ORDER SURVEILLANCE AND MONITORING
This section of the database focuses on the main companies that support the militarization of the US-Mexico border through the supply of surveillance and monitoring technologies, tools or services.
The entire length of the US-Mexico border is monitored by the US Border Patrol, using a host of border security technologies, including 32 permanent checkpoints and 182 tactical deployable checkpoints, about 8,000 cameras, 12,000 underground sensors, fixed towers, mobile surveillance systems, remote video surveillance systems, thermal imaging systems, radiation portal monitors, ground sensors and license plate readers.
Beyond fixed surveillance systems, the the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deploys a fleet of about 260 surveillance vehicles, 300 vessels, 240 aircraft, including 9 Predator B unmanned aerial drones.
Over the last two decades, a series of federal projects have dramatically increased the militarization of the border, installing ever-more surveillance technologies, and increasing the number of Border Patrol agents from about 5,000 to almost 20,000.
As of 2017, about 16,605 agents are stationed in the Southwest border region, almost twice as many than in 2000. Over the same years, Congress has almost quadrupled the Border Patrol’s budget, from about $1 billion to nearly $3.8 billion.
The US-Mexico border is militarized through the use of military weapons and surveillance systems as well as military training and tactics to Border Patrol personnel. Both have a direct effect on their treatment of the civilian population on both sides of the border.
Reports of dehumanization and abuses of human rights and civil rights have increased over the last few years. These include sexual and physical assaults of migrants, denying their basic rights to medical care, water, with a long history of separating families, peaking with the 2018 Trump administration’s zero tolerance policies.
The main copmanies involved in this sector are:
* Lockheed Martin, of Bethesda, MD (NYSE: LMT)
* Northrop Grumman, of Falls Church, VA (NYSE: NOC)
* Boeing Co, of Chicago, IL (NYSE: BA)
* OSI Systems, of Hawthorne, CA (NASDAQ: OSIS)
* Raytheon Company, of Waltham, MA (NYSE: RTN)
* General Dynamics, of West Falls Church, VA (NYSE: GD)
* L3 Technologies, of New York City, NY (NYSE: LLL)
* Leidos Holdings Inc, of Reston, VA (NYSE: LDOS)
* Elbit Systems Ltd, of Haifa, Israel (NASDAQ: ESLT)
* FLIR Systems Inc, of Wilsonville, OR (NASDAQ: FLIR)
* Smiths Group plc, of London, UK (LON: SMIN)
<* Griffon Corporation, of New York City, NY (NYSE: GFF)
* Unisys Corporation, of Blue Bell, PA (NYSE: UIS)
* Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN)
* Harris Corp (NYSE: HRS)
* General Atomics, of San Diego, CA
* Physical Sciences Inc., of Andover, MA
* AeroVironment Inc., of Monrovia, CA
INCREASING THE NUMBER OF BORDER PATROL AGENTS
ATTEMPTS TO BUILD A VIRTUAL SURVEILLANCE FENCE
THE USE OF UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UAS OR DRONES)
MAJOR SUPPLIERS IN ONGOING PROJECTS
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HIGH-TECH SURVEILLANCE OF IMMIGRANTS
This section focuses on companies that supply the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the technologies that undergird its high-tech surveillance apparatus, including the database and case management tools that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses to identify and track targets, the cloud infrastructure that powers these data systems, biometric collection and matching technologies, and the data brokerage services that mine public and digital records and sell personally identifiable information to DHS.
These technologies expand the reach of immigration enforcement by enabling ICE to accumulate, query, and mine large amounts of biographic, biometric, and personal data for the purposes of identifying, monitoring, and targeting immigrants for deportation and removal.
This section of the database relies extensively on an August 2018 report published by Mijente, the National Immigration Project, and the Immigrant Defense Project and researched by Empower LLC titled, “Who’s Behind ICE? The Tech Companies Fueling Deportation.”
A distinguishing feature of high-tech surveillance is what the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has described as a “growing network of interconnected databases that together are drawing in more and more information.”
As a result of information-sharing agreements, ICE has access to data collected and stored by other federal and sub-federal law enforcement agencies, which it can then use to identify targets and initiate deportation proceedings.
For example, under the Secure Communities program — which President Trump reactivated by Executive Order in January 2017 — when an individual is arrested and booked by a state or local law enforcement agency, his or her fingerprints are automatically sent to the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) database, which then shares this information with the central DHS biometric database.
By making any immigrant who interfaces with the criminal justice system — including those who are wrongfully arrested, arrested but never charged, low-level offenders, and crime victims or witnesses — automatically visible to ICE, information-sharing initiatives like Secure Communities vastly expand the deportation dragnet.
As a result of information-sharing agreements, ICE has access to the records of thousands of local, state, and regional law enforcement agencies. Many sanctuary jurisdictions that prohibit municipal employees and law enforcement from aiding federal immigration officials may still be feeding mission-critical information to ICE.
In fact, regional and local data systems often contain granular data points such as alleged gang affiliations, tattoos, associates, and hangout spots that do not make it into federal databases and that help ICE carry out raids and build cases for prosecution.
The main companies involved in this sector are:
* General Dynamics Corp, of Falls Church, VA (NYSE: GD)
* Northrop Grumman, of Falls Church, VA (NYSE: NOC)
* Accenture plc, of Dublin, Ireland (NYSE: ACN)
* NEC Corp, of Tokyo, Japan (TYO: 6701)
* Gemalto, of Amsterdam, Netherlands (Euronext: GTO)
* Unisys Corp, of Blue Bell, PA (NYSE: UIS)
* Thomson Reuters, of Eagan, MN (NYSE: TRI)
* Amazon.com Inc, of Seattle, WA (NASDAQ: AMZN)
* IDEMIA, of Paris, France (private)
* Giant Oak, of Arlington, VA (private)
* Vigilant Solutions, of Livermore, CA (private)
* Pen-Link, of Lincoln, NE (private)
DATABASES
CASE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
CLOUD AND DATA CENTER SERVICES
BIOMETRICS COLLECTION & MATCHING TECHNOLOGIES
DATA BROKERS
FURTHER INFORMATION
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WEAPONS AND MILITARY EQUIPMENT
Between 2000-2018, the Israeli military and other security forces have killed more than 9,517 Palestinians. At least 4,562 of them did not participate in hostilities. At least 2,016 were children.*
This section of Investigate includes companies that provide military and security forces in Palestine/Israel with weapons and tools consistently used in war crimes or attacks on civilians in violation of international law.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) investment policy precludes investment in any company that provides products or services to military bodies, organizations, or groups that are used to facilitate or undertake violent acts against civilians or violations of international law.
Hence, AFSC policy responds to human rights violations by both Israelis and Palestinians. However, this list contains only companies involvement in Israeli violations.
This apparent asymmetry is a consequence of the asymmetry of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The provision of any form of support to a Palestinian armed group or political party is illegal under US anti-terrorism laws. In other words, existing legal structures enforce strict sanctions and prevent meaningful involvement of public corporations in Palestinian violations of international law, while not imposing comparable restrictions on Israel.
The companies included in this section are:
* Companies that supply the military with the main weapons platforms consistently used in attacks of the a civilian population.
* Companies that provide security forces with equipment and services specifically used in illegal collective punishment of the civilian population under military occupation, such as home demolitions.
This list is limited to companies with significant, ongoing contracts, and focuses on cases with a proven direct link to war crimes, violations of international humanitarian law or human rights law. It is not intended as a general list of all weapons manufacturers or military contractors.
The American Friends Service Committee supports disarmament processes and the cessation of military sales and assistance to all parties. In 2012, AFSC joined 14 other church groups in calling on the US Congress to condition the provision of US military aid to Israel on Israel’s respect for human rights.
Related databases and resources
* Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) — databases of the top arms-producing and military services companies in the world and of international transfers of major conventional arms
* Defense News — annual ranking of the top 100 global defense companies
* Don’t Bank on the Bomb — database of publicly traded companies involved in the manufacturing of nuclear weapons
* Divest from the War Machine — a Code Pink campaign
*Based on B’tselem definitions and data collected between September 29, 2000 and March 29, 2018. At the same time period, Palestinians have killed 428 Israeli soldiers and 818 Israeli civilians.
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