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Private Organization | The Lockheed Aircraft Company is a U.S. aerospace manufacturer that built the U-2, named in Ari Ben-Menashe's account of a bribe in Israeli politics and in 1970s SEC disclosures of questionable overseas payments. | 2026-10-12 | 1926 | 1995 | Burbank, California, USA |
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The Lockheed Aircraft Company is an United States aerospace manufacturer that developed advanced military aircraft and is named in Ari Ben-Menashe's account of a bribe affecting Israel politics.
U-2 Spy Plane Development
Lockheed built the revolutionary U-2 Spy Plane under cover in Burbank, California. This aircraft was capable of flying and gliding for almost eleven hours at heights greater than 65,000 feet, covering more than five thousand miles, while utilizing only one thousand gallons of fuel. Special lenses, cameras, and thin film were developed for the U-2, enabling it to photograph a path from Moscow to Tashkent in one take.1
Israeli Bribery Scandal
Ari Ben-Menashe wrote that in 1976 he intercepted, as a duty officer in Unit 8200, a telegram that revealed details of bribes paid by a Lockheed representative in Israel to Defense Minister Shimon Peres. He wrote that the sum involved was $3.5 million, deposited in one of Peres's brother's business accounts in Europe, and that the information was subsequently covered up by Israeli military intelligence superiors, including Yoel Ben-Porat and Sasson Yishaek.2
Disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission, 1975 to 1977
In testimony to the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Finance in April 1977, Gordon Adams of the Council on Economic Priorities said that Lockheed had disclosed about 25 million dollars in questionable overseas payments, while the Securities and Exchange Commission had raised questions about nearly 200 million dollars in Lockheed sales commissions.3
The subcommittee's record also contains a statement by Representative Michael J. Harrington, who wrote: "One day it is Lockheed. Another day it is Gulf. A third day it is General Tire." He wrote that allegations that Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands had received 1.1 million dollars in Lockheed payments had led to his resignation from his official posts.3
The commission's May 12, 1976 report to the Senate Banking Committee on questionable and illegal corporate payments and practices summarized its enforcement action against Lockheed: it alleged secret payments of at least 25 million dollars to foreign government officials, at least 750,000 dollars deposited in a secret Swiss bank account, and over 200 million dollars disbursed to consultants and commission agents without adequate records.4
Footnotes
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Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. Random House, 1991. Chapter 4. ↩︎
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Ben-Menashe, Ari. Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015). ↩︎
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Unlawful Corporate Payments Act of 1977, Hearings on H.R. 3815 and H.R. 1602 before the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Finance of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, 95th Congress, 1st session, April 20 and 21, 1977 (Serial No. 95-11). Statement of Gordon Adams (beginning p. 26); statement of Rep. Michael J. Harrington (pp. 168-173). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-95hhrg91391O/pdf/CHRG-95hhrg91391O.pdf ↩︎
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Report of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Questionable and Illegal Corporate Payments and Practices to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, May 12, 1976, Securities Regulation and Law Report No. 353 (BNA), May 19, 1976, Special Supplement, Exhibit B (Lockheed Aircraft Corporation). https://sechistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/1976_0512_SECQuestionable.pdf ↩︎