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Profiles

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) is an executive branch department of the federal government of the United States.

History

In June 2007, the DoD issued a memorandum titled “Policy for Department of Defense (DoD) Interactive Internet Activities” to “provide information to the public, shape the security environment, and support military operations.”[1]

COVID-19

Hundreds of contracts for COVID-19 countermeasures became available via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosures in redacted form.[2] A review of these contracts indicates a high degree of control by the United States Government (particularly the DoD and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) and specifies the scope of deliverables as “demonstrations” and “prototypes” only. In order to shield the pharmaceutical companies, the contracts include the removal of all liability for the manufacturers and any contractors along the supply and distribution chain under the 2005 PREP Act and related federal legislation.[3]

All COVID-19 countermeasures, including the products marketed as COVID-19 vaccines, were ordered by the DoD as a “large scale manufacturing demonstration” via Other Transaction Authority contracts.[4]

As described in an OTA overview document published by AcqNotes: “Other Transactions (OTs) are legally binding instruments that may be used to engage industry and academia for a broad range of research and prototyping activities. OTs are typically defined by what they are not: they are not standard procurement contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements. As such, they are generally not subject to the federal laws and regulations that apply to government procurement contracts.”[5]

Subsidiaries

Activities

The DOD has provided notable funding to:

Film and TV

The DoD collaborates with film and television projects through Production Assistance Agreements, which grant productions access to “military personnel, vehicles, technology, and expert advice” in exchange for “the right to influence how [the military] is portrayed by editing scripts, altering narratives, and trying to paint the armed forces in the best possible light.”[7] Productions that have received this in-kind support include:[7:1]

  • America's Got Talent
  • Downey's Dream Cars
  • Guy's All-American Road Trip
  • The Jennifer Hudson Show
  • The Kelly Clarkson Show
  • The Price is Right
  • Top Gun

  1. England, G. R. (2007, June 8). Directive-type Memorandum DTM-08-037. FAS Project on Government Secrecy. https://web.archive.org/web/20221212220521/https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/dod/dod060807.pdf ↩︎

  2. COVID-19 Contracts. Knowledge Ecology International. Retrieved December 27, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221227072301/https://www.keionline.org/covid-contracts ↩︎

  3. Latypova, S. (2022, December 28). The role of the US DoD (and their co-investors) in “covid countermeasures” enterprise. Substack. http://archive.today/2022.12.28-191438/https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/the-role-of-the-us-dod-and-their ↩︎

  4. Ardizzone, K., & Love, J. (2020). Other Transaction Agreements: Government Contracts that Eliminate Protections for the Public on Pricing, Access and Competition, Including in Connection with COVID-19 Vaccines and Treatments. Knowledge Ecology International. https://web.archive.org/web/20221228192143/https://www.keionline.org/wp-content/uploads/KEI-Briefing-OTA-29june2020.pdf ↩︎

  5. Other Transaction Authority (OTA) Overview (p. 1). (2014). AcqNotes. https://web.archive.org/web/20221228204836/https://acqnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Other-Transaction-Authority-Overview.pdf ↩︎

  6. Funders and Partners. Aeras. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from http://archive.today/2018.07.24-024017/http://www.aeras.org/pages/funders ↩︎

  7. Boguslaw, D. (2024, December 31). Pentagon Approved Funds for MrBeast, Kelly Clarkson, Guy Fieri in 2023. Rolling Stone. https://archive.vn/2024.12.31-151113/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/pentagon-support-mrbeast-kelly-clarkson-guy-fieri-1235221946/ ↩︎ ↩︎