As the annual U.S. defense budget creeps closer to $1 trillion, an explosive interview with a former top Pentagon official has exposed private defense contractors' brazen plot to price gouge the government on weapons and equipment — and reap billions upon billions of dollars of profits from taxpayers' pockets in the process.
On Sunday, 60 Minutes aired an interview with Shay Assad, a former executive vice president and top contract negotiator for defense contractor Raytheon and former top Pentagon contract negotiator under several presidential administrations. Assad revealed that defense contractors, especially in recent decades, have been massively overcharging the government for nearly everything that it buys.
