No Ethics In Big Tech — Fact Sheet

Boeing (Defense, Space & Security)

About Boeing (Defense, Space & Security)

A Public-Interest Research Document · Published by NoEthicsInBigTech.com · Companion to the book No Ethics in Big Tech by Vahid Razavi · Living document — facts verified as of August 7, 2026

1. Who They Are

Boeing is America's aerospace giant — and through Boeing Defense, Space & Security, the maker of the JDAM guided-bomb kit, the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb, fighters, tankers and munitions used across the conflicts this project documents. The book: "What Boeing Defense calls expanded market share, I call the ruins of universities that will not reopen." This sheet covers the defense record and the corporate accountability record that frames it — including the deadliest corporate crime case in US history.

2. What the Book Documents

  • Boeing appears in the book's central argument as one of the three legacy pillars of the military industrial complex around which the new one — Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir — has grown; in the European rearmament chapter ("Boeing munitions" among the American systems Europe must buy, price-taker style); and in the Gaza arithmetic: bombs manufactured by American companies, purchased with American taxpayer money, guided by American AI, from the server farm to the crater.

3. The Gaza Munitions Record — Documented Internationally

  • Amnesty International's weapons investigators have repeatedly identified Boeing munitions in strikes that killed civilians in Gaza, in findings published to the world: October 22, 2023 — a Boeing JDAM kit on a bomb of at least 1,000 lb in the strike that killed 19 people of the Mu'eileq family and a neighbor near Deir al-Balah; January 9, 2024 — a Boeing GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb in the strike on the Nofal family building in Tal al-Sultan, Rafah, killing 18 civilians including 10 children; May 26, 2024 — two GBU-39s in the strike on the Kuwaiti Peace Camp for displaced people in Rafah, killing at least 36 including six children, which Amnesty said should be investigated as war crimes as likely indiscriminate and disproportionate. Munitions researchers and CNN-consulted experts also identified GBU-39 fragments after the August 10, 2024 strike on the al-Tabin school compound sheltering displaced people, in which local officials reported some 93 killed. The American Friends Service Committee documents that immediately after October 7, Boeing expedited delivery of 1,000 Small Diameter Bombs and 1,800 JDAM kits to Israel. Per the full-record rule: Boeing manufactures and lawfully sells these weapons to the US government and allied states under US-approved transfers; no court has adjudicated any claim against Boeing over these strikes; the Israeli military stated the May 26 strike targeted Hamas commanders using "the smallest munitions" its jets can launch. Sources: Amnesty International USA — the documented strikes · Amnesty International — the May 26, 2024 Rafah investigation · Open Source Munitions Portal — GBU-39 guide · American Friends Service Committee — expedited deliveries

4. Verified US Enforcement Record — the 737 MAX Case, Reported in Full

Date Proceeding Outcome Basis Status
Jan 2021 US DOJ — deferred prosecution agreement $2.5 billion Conspiracy to defraud the FAA about the MCAS flight-control system implicated in the Lion Air (Oct 2018) and Ethiopian Airlines (Mar 2019) crashes that killed 346 people — including a $243.6M fine, $500M victims' fund, $1.77B to airline customers In May 2024 the DOJ found Boeing BREACHED the agreement by failing to implement the required compliance program
Jul 2024 – Dec 2024 Same case Guilty plea agreed — then REJECTED Boeing agreed to plead guilty to the felony; Judge Reed O'Connor — who had earlier written that Boeing's conduct "may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history" — rejected the plea over the monitor-selection terms Plea never entered
May 23, 2025 – Nov 6, 2025 Same case — non-prosecution agreement and dismissal $1.1 billion+ (new $243.6M fine credit structure, $444.5M additional victims' fund, $455M+ compliance investment) Under the new administration, the DOJ dropped the guilty plea entirely and moved to dismiss; roughly 30 victims' families fought it — their counsel called the deal "unprecedented and obviously wrong for the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history" and "morally repugnant"; Senators Warren and Blumenthal urged the DOJ not to deal Judge O'Connor dismissed the case November 6, 2025, while questioning the government's rationale that Boeing "can be trusted" to pick its own compliance consultant; no trial, no conviction, no individual prosecuted — 346 deaths, zero criminal liability

Sources: CNBC — the dismissal and O'Connor's skepticism · CNBC — the families' final plea · CNN — the $1.1B non-prosecution agreement · NPR — the families' opposition

  • Also on the defense-side record: Boeing paid a $51 million State Department settlement in early 2024 for ITAR export violations, including unauthorized exports involving China (US Department of State consent agreement — named source; reported by Compliance Week and trade press). And in 2024 two prominent Boeing quality whistleblowers — John Barnett and Joshua Dean — died within months of each other, deaths ruled a suicide and a sudden illness respectively; no foul play was established, and both men's documented safety warnings remain part of the public record (widely reported, 2024).

5. Honest Accounting

Boeing's ledger, stated plainly: 346 people killed by a defect the company concealed from its regulator, a breached deferred-prosecution deal, an agreed felony plea withdrawn, and a final dismissal over the objections of the victims' families — billions paid, no conviction, no individual prosecuted. On the defense side: its munitions identified by international investigators in strike after strike that killed civilians in Gaza, all of it lawful commerce under US arms-transfer approvals, with no enforcement action anywhere. The two halves of this sheet are the same finding — in this system, the price of catastrophe is a number, and the number is always payable. Developments will be added as verified.

6. Associations Noted in the Book

Lockheed Martin and RTX/Raytheon (peer primes — profiled separately), the Big Tech complex the book maps around them, and the US and Israeli governments as customer and end user are noted for context. Every company and person is documented on its own record.

This document is published as journalism and commentary in the public interest, protected as free speech and freedom of the press under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It compiles information from public records, court filings, government announcements, parliamentary and congressional investigations, and reporting by established news organizations, together with the documented first-person accounts and analysis published in the books No Ethics in Big Tech and Ethics in Tech and Lack Thereof by Vahid Razavi.

Where a fine, judgment, or settlement is described, its status (paid, under appeal, overturned, or pending) is stated as reported by the issuing authority or by reputable press as of the verification date above. Allegations in open lawsuits and investigations are exactly that — allegations — and every party is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until a competent court rules otherwise. Where a company or executive has prevailed in court, denied an allegation, or had a claim dismissed, that outcome is reported here as well, because the credibility of this project rests on stating the record in full. Opinions and characterizations drawn from the books are the protected opinion of the author. Corrections supported by documentation are welcome via NoEthicsInBigTech.com/contact.

Research Credit

Deep research, source verification, and document preparation for this fact sheet were performed by Claude, the AI assistant built by Anthropic, working under the direction of author Vahid Razavi. Every fine amount, case citation, and status line above was checked against the primary or press source listed beside it on the verification date. This is a living document; new rulings, fines, and investigations will be added as they are verified.

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