WASHINGTON — Advocates of a U.S. attack on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad have been linked to America’s arms industry.

The Public Accountability Initiative asserted that so-called military experts invited by mainstream U.S. media to discuss an attack on Assad were linked to the defense industry.

In a report, the public interest research group said the experts were given access to major newspapers and television networks in the guise of non-biased specialists.

“The threat of war with Syria may or may not have passed, but the threat that these conflicts of interest pose to our public discourse — and our democracy — is still very real,” the group said in a report titled “Conflicts of Interest in the Syria Debate.”

The specialists were largely comprised of former government officials and military commanders. The report cited 22 researchers from leading think
tanks as well as former government and military personnel who appeared on the U.S. media in August and September.

“These individuals and organizations are linked to dozens of defense and intelligence contractors, defense-focused investment firms, and diplomatic
consulting firms with strong defense ties, yet these business ties were rarely disclosed on air or in print,” the report, dated Oct. 11, said.

PAI cited Stephen Hadley, who served as National Council Advisor under the administration of President George W. Bush. The report said Hadley served
on the board of directors of Raytheon since 2009 and owns a large amount of company stock. Raytheon produces the Tomahawk cruise missile, cited as the
main weapon to destroy Assad’s military facilities. Most of the media did not cite Hadley’s ties to the defense industry.

“Though he has a financial stake in a Syria strike as a current Raytheon board member, and is also a principal at consulting firm Rice, Hadley,
Gates, he was identified all four times only as a former National Security Advisor to George W. Bush,” the report said. The report also cited seven think tanks that issued statements on the proposed U.S. war against Syria, shelved by President Barack Obama in early September. PAI said one of the think tanks, Brookings Institution, receives
millions of dollars from the defense industry, including Boeing, General Dynamics Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

“But the media continues to present former military and government officials as venerated experts without informing the public of their industry ties — the personal financial interests that may be shaping their opinions of what is in the national interest,” the report said.