To promote ethics and prevent corruption in Department of Defense contracting and other activities, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This legislation tightens ethics rules for Department of Defense officials and defense contractors. It extends the 'revolving door' cooling-off period from 2 to 4 years before former DoD officials can work for defense contractors they oversaw. It bans large defense contractors from hiring any senior DoD officials for 4 years after they leave government. It also prohibits DoD officials from owning or trading stock in companies receiving over $100 million annually from DoD contracts.
Who Benefits and How
Taxpayers benefit from reduced conflicts of interest and more transparent defense spending. Government watchdog groups gain new disclosure requirements. Smaller defense contractors face a more level playing field as large contractors lose their advantage in recruiting former officials. The general public gains access to contractor financial data, lobbying records, and general/flag officer information.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Large defense contractors (receiving $1+ billion annually from DoD) face significant new restrictions on hiring former officials and must disclose lobbying activities, former official employment, and financial statements publicly. Senior DoD officials face new stock trading prohibitions with civil penalties up to $50,000 and criminal liability. All contractors with $10+ million contracts must submit annual reports on former officials and lobbying activities.
Key Provisions
- Extends revolving door cooling-off period from 2 to 4 years for former DoD officials
- Bans 'giant defense contractors' ($1B+ annually) from hiring senior DoD officials for 4 years
- Prohibits DoD officials from trading stocks in companies receiving $100M+ from DoD
- Requires contractors to publicly disclose former official hires, lobbying, and financials
- Mandates public posting of general/flag officer financial disclosures and IG reports
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Strengthens ethics and anti-corruption rules for Department of Defense contracting by extending revolving door cooling-off periods, banning stock trading in defense companies, requiring disclosure of former officials employed by contractors, and increasing transparency requirements.
Key Policy Areas
Defense, Government Ethics, Procurement, Transparency
Primary Purpose
Strengthens ethics and anti-corruption rules for Department of Defense contracting by extending revolving door cooling-off periods, banning stock trading in defense companies, requiring disclosure of former officials employed by contractors, and increasing transparency requirements.
Policy Domains
Title I - Revolving Door and Hiring Restrictions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Taxpayers
- Smaller defense contractors
- Government ethics advocates
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Large defense contractors
- Senior DoD officials
- Defense industry executives
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Title III - Transparency and Disclosure
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Taxpayers
- Government watchdog organizations
- Media and researchers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Defense contractors
- General and flag officers
- DoD procurement offices
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Kim of New Jersey introduced the following bill; which …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Defense contractor executives, Defense contractors, Defense contractors with \M+ contracts
Positive-direction: Smaller defense contractors
Negative-direction: Defense contractor executives, Defense contractors, Defense contractors with \M+ contracts, Giant defense contractors (\B+ annual DoD revenue), Large defense contractors
Department of Defense, DoD Standards of Conduct Office, DoD officials
General public and media, Taxpayers, Taxpayers and transparency advocates
Government transparency advocates, Government watchdog organizations
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Defense
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Defense
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A contractor (other than an institution of higher education) that received more than $1,000,000,000 in annual revenue from DoD contracts in any of the previous three fiscal years
Contractor receiving $10M+ annually from federal contracts or earning 20%+ of revenue from federal contracts
Former DoD officer/employee or retired member serving in Executive Schedule, Senior Executive Service, grade O-6 or above, or supervisory GS-15 or higher
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology