Americans who build and defend this country are owed better than woke theater in corporate suits, and a new whistleblower account shows why that anger is justified. According to reporting in City Journal, an anonymous Lockheed Martin insider says year-end bonus lists in the aeronautics division were edited not for merit but to hit racial quotas, a revelation that should alarm every taxpayer whose dollars help fund this company.
The whistleblower alleges that human-resources officials instructed managers to “increase POC” on a “Comp Adder” bonus list and to remove an equal number of non-minority employees, even identifying swaps by team — swapping, the source says, eighteen white employees for eighteen minorities. That level of administrative engineering of pay and recognition is not just immoral; it is illegal and corrosive to unit cohesion and mission focus at a defense contractor that builds the tools our troops rely on.
Lockheed has pushed back, insisting it is a meritocracy and saying it is reviewing the claims, but independent fact-checkers note the reporting relies on an anonymous source and that the company’s own investigation is ongoing. No one in Washington or at a private firm gets to paper over credible whistleblower testimony by issuing bland corporate-speak; the public and Congress deserve a full, transparent accounting.
This scandal is not an isolated quirk; it’s the predictable payoff when corporate America treats diversity ideology as a higher priority than excellence. The White House executive order issued in January 2025 that sought to restore merit-based contracting underscores the new legal and political environment: federal contractors must not let DEI ideology replace objective performance standards. If the allegations are true, Lockheed broke the trust of taxpayers and service members alike.
There must be consequences beyond press releases. Federal investigators and the company’s board should demand the documents, interview witnesses under oath, and, if wrongdoing is found, compensate those robbed of earned pay and hold responsible managers accountable. Courts have already started weighing in on limits to executive action around DEI, so the legal fight will be contested — but companies that flout equal-protection principles should not be allowed to hide behind slogans while punishing merit.
Patriotic Americans who sweat for a paycheck and believe in fairness should rally behind whistleblowers who risk everything to expose corruption in our institutions. If Lockheed Martin wants to keep its reputation as America’s premier defense contractor, it will prove that competence and courage—not bureaucratic box-checking—determine who gets rewarded. The country and our armed forces deserve nothing less.
