Defense contractors spent $89 billion rewarding shareholders while America ran out of missiles.
Now the Iran war has exposed that failure – and even Elizabeth Warren is telling Trump he got it right.
What she said to Pete Hegseth about it has Republicans doing a double take.
The $89 Billion Problem Nobody Wanted to Fix
While American soldiers were burning through THAAD interceptors and Tomahawk missiles over Iran, the companies being paid to build those weapons were doing something else with their money.
Between 2021 and 2026, the top four defense contractors – Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Boeing – spent $89 billion on stock buybacks and dividends.
Not on factories. Not on production lines. Not on missiles.
On shareholders.
The U.S. hit more than 13,000 targets in 39 days of combat over Iran.
Analysts now estimate it could take between one and four years to replenish the most critical munitions stockpiles – and China is watching every day of that window.
https://twitter.com/foxnewspolitics/status/2087185747061407865?s=20
Trump signed an executive order in January 2026 directing the Pentagon to restrict stock buybacks and cap executive pay for underperforming contractors.
His Pentagon spokesman put it plainly: the Department of War's obligation is to "warfighters, not Wall Street."
Now Trump wants Hegseth to make it permanent – and the last person you'd expect just agreed with him.
When Warren Tells You Trump Was Right
Elizabeth Warren sent Pete Hegseth a letter this week.
She and Sen. Mike Lee – a Utah Republican who rarely agrees with Warren on anything – are urging Hegseth to codify Trump's executive order into law through the Prioritizing the Warfighter in Defense Contracting Act.
Warren's office reviewed earnings calls and financial reports from the top 20 publicly traded defense contractors and found that Trump's pressure is already working.
Buybacks and dividends fell by $2 billion in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier.
Capital spending – the money that goes toward factories, equipment, and new production lines – rose by $1.2 billion over the same stretch.
Among the top four contractors alone, shareholder payouts dropped from $4.2 billion to $2.7 billion in a single year.
That is $1.5 billion redirected toward ramping up production instead of enriching investors.
https://twitter.com/trumptruthsbot/status/2086972490031698124?s=20
Warren still found a problem.
GE Aerospace – run by CEO Larry Culp – actually increased its stock buybacks, and RTX posted a slight rise in payouts as well, even as most of the industry pulled back.
America is rationing missiles and some of these executives are still enriching themselves on the taxpayer's dime, with nothing the Pentagon can legally do to stop them.
That is exactly why Warren and Lee want the law changed.
The War That Proved Trump Right Before Anyone Would Listen
When Elizabeth Warren credits a Republican president for getting something right, write it down.
She did not do it because she likes Trump.
She did it because the Iran war made the stakes impossible to spin.
Every Tomahawk fired at Tehran was one fewer available to stop a Chinese move on Taiwan.
Heritage Foundation defense researcher Jim Fein said it plainly: the missile shortage "was entirely foreseeable" – the result of defense companies pocketing taxpayer money for years while production lines sat idle.
Trump called it before a single shot was fired.
https://twitter.com/mayegun1805/status/2087221918709473579?s=20
He told Raytheon on Truth Social that it was "the most aggressive" at "spending on their Shareholders rather than the needs and demands of the United States Military" – and threatened to cut off Pentagon business unless the company invested in actual production.
The legislation Warren and Lee want would tie executive bonuses to on-time delivery instead of quarterly earnings, give the Pentagon authority to cap base salaries at underperforming contractors, and make the buyback restrictions stick regardless of who wins the next election.
This is what happens when America learns the hard way that the weapons have to actually exist before the war starts.
Sources:
- Morgan Phillips, "Progressive praise for Trump as Warren backs push to curb defense contractor CEO payouts," Fox News, August 11, 2026.
- "Warren, Hawley Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Limit Stock Buybacks in Defense Contracting Following President Trump's Executive Order," Warren Senate Press Release, March 26, 2026.
- "Pentagon races to buy 10X more missiles as Iran war dwindles arsenal, threatens readiness for China aggression," Fox News, August 11, 2026.
- "President Trump Issues Executive Order Limiting Stock Buybacks and Dividends for Defense Contractors," K&L Gates, January 12, 2026.
- Jim Fein, "Last Rounds? Status of Key Munitions at the Iran War Ceasefire," Heritage Foundation / CSIS, May 27, 2026.
