Military–Industrial Complex, Organization and History

The military–industrial complex (MIC) has never been a neutral term. Dwight Eisenhower coined the term MIC in 1961 during his farewell address to warn the nation of a looming danger. The threat to democracy has been a recurrent theme in many studies of the MIC since Eisenhower’s warning, including works by Gordon Adams, Sydney Lens, Ann Markusen and Joel Yudken, and Seymour Melman. At a descriptive level, the MIC refers to military agencies and firms that produce military goods. In addition a number of political and economic actors are also dependent on the defense program and are included in the MIC including legislators, workers, and businesses that serve and depend upon the military market. Although the term was coined with specific reference to the United States it has been extended to identify industrialized military establishments in other times and places. This article will describe the firms, agencies, and institutions that comprise the MIC and will consider the dangers posed by this concentration of economic and military power.