Caspar Weinberger (Bechtel → Reagan SecDef)
playerNations & Geopolitics
The same man ran a giant construction firm and then, as Defense Secretary, steered a 40 percent surge in military spending.
Who they are
Caspar Weinberger, a top lawyer and executive at Bechtel Corporation who became Reagan's Secretary of Defense.
What they do
The engine holds him up as the clearest example of a person moving straight from the Bechtel construction empire into running the Pentagon.
How it works
He was Bechtel's general counsel and an executive from 1975 to 1981, then Defense Secretary from January 1981 to November 1987. He drove the Reagan military buildup, was the architect of the roughly $30 billion 'Star Wars' missile-defense program, was indicted in the Iran-Contra affair in 1992, and was pardoned that same year by President George H.W. Bush.
Why it matters
He is the model case for how the Bechtel family and firm kept a revolving door into the top of the U.S. defense system, and how the Iran-Contra players escaped punishment.
The engine's record — word for word
Report #87. **Bechtel Corporation general counsel + executive 1975-1981** → Reagan Secretary of Defense **Jan 1981 - Nov 1987.** Drove the Reagan-era 40%+ real-dollar defense buildup. Direct architect of the SDI Strategic Defense Initiative (~$30B). Iran-Contra implicated (indicted 1992, pardoned by GHW Bush 1992 — the pardon being part of the Iran-Contra impunity sequence engine tracks). Weinberger represents the canonical Bechtel→SecDef pipeline that the Bechtel-family persistence pattern centers on.
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