State Department Report Reveals Trump Administration Ignored Civilian Casualty Risks in Raytheon Saudi Arms Sales

On August 5, 2020, the State Department released a report revealing that the Trump administration failed to properly assess risks of civilian casualties when approving the May 2019 $8.1 billion emergency arms sale to Saudi Arabia, including major Raytheon weapons contracts. The report—prepared by the State Department Inspector General’s office—found that despite laws requiring assessment of civilian casualty risks before approving arms transfers, the Trump administration prioritized speed in approving Saudi sales over compliance with legal safeguards designed to prevent US weapons from enabling war crimes. Investigators found evidence that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “reverse-engineered” justifications for the emergency declaration after deciding to proceed with sales, manufacturing an Iranian threat rationale to bypass congressional oversight rather than responding to genuine emergency conditions. The report vindicated congressional critics who had argued the emergency declaration was a pretext to avoid democratic accountability for controversial Raytheon weapons sales to a regime committing documented Yemen atrocities.

Failure to Assess Civilian Casualty Risks

The Arms Export Control Act and related regulations require the State Department to assess whether proposed arms transfers pose risks of being used to commit human rights violations or cause civilian casualties before approving sales. However, the Inspector General investigation found that the Trump administration conducted minimal or no assessment of civilian casualty risks for the May 2019 Saudi emergency sale, despite extensive documentation of coalition war crimes using US weapons. By May 2019, human rights organizations had documented dozens of apparently unlawful coalition attacks involving US weapons, including the August 2018 school bus massacre that had generated international outrage. Yet the Trump administration approved $8.1 billion in additional weapons including Raytheon Paveway munitions—the same weapon type documented in multiple civilian-casualty incidents—without conducting legally-required risk assessments. The failure to assess risks demonstrated that the administration prioritized contractor revenues and Saudi strategic relationships over legal compliance and civilian protection, treating mandatory safeguards as bureaucratic obstacles to be circumvented rather than substantive protections.

Pompeo “Reverse-Engineered” Emergency Justification

State Department Inspector General Steve Linick’s investigation uncovered evidence that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered officials to “reverse-engineer” justifications for the emergency declaration after deciding to proceed with Saudi arms sales. Internal communications showed officials working backward from the predetermined outcome (approving sales) to manufacture Iranian threat rationales that could legally justify invoking emergency authorities to bypass Congress. This process inverted the intended logic of emergency provisions—rather than genuine emergencies prompting extraordinary measures, the administration wanted to avoid congressional scrutiny of controversial Saudi sales and manufactured “emergency” justifications as legal cover. Pompeo’s May 24, 2019 emergency certification claimed Iranian threats necessitated immediate weapons transfers, but investigators found this determination was crafted to serve predetermined arms sale decisions rather than responding to actual threat assessments. The reverse-engineering process demonstrated contempt for congressional oversight and legal constraints, with the administration treating emergency provisions as tools to circumvent democratic accountability when convenient.

Inspector General Firing and Investigation

Steve Linick, the Inspector General who conducted the investigation, was controversially fired by President Trump in May 2020 while his inquiry into the Saudi arms sales was ongoing. Congressional Democrats alleged that Pompeo recommended Linick’s firing specifically to obstruct the arms sale investigation and protect the administration from accountability for circumventing legal safeguards. The timing—firing the inspector general investigating your conduct—created clear appearance of retaliation and obstruction. The eventual release of the investigation’s findings in August 2020 vindicated concerns that the firing was intended to suppress damaging revelations about the administration’s arms sale practices. The episode demonstrated how Trump administration officials protected defense contractor interests by removing oversight officials investigating their conduct, with Pompeo’s alleged role in firing Linick suggesting he prioritized shielding controversial Raytheon sales from scrutiny over permitting independent accountability.

Significance

The August 5, 2020 State Department Inspector General report documenting that the Trump administration ignored civilian casualty risks and “reverse-engineered” justifications for the May 2019 Raytheon Saudi arms sale provided official confirmation that emergency authorities were abused to serve defense contractor commercial interests while circumventing democratic oversight and legal safeguards. The finding that mandatory civilian casualty risk assessments were not conducted despite extensive documentation of Saudi coalition war crimes using US weapons established that the administration treated legal protections as obstacles to contractor profits rather than substantive constraints. Pompeo’s “reverse-engineering” of emergency justifications demonstrated that the Iranian threat rationale was manufactured to provide legal cover for predetermined arms sale decisions, not that genuine emergencies necessitated bypassing Congress. The report vindicated congressional critics who had argued from the outset that the emergency declaration was a pretext, yet this vindication came too late to prevent the sales from proceeding—by August 2020, Raytheon had delivered weapons and collected revenues, demonstrating that accountability investigations moved too slowly to provide practical constraints on controversial arms transfers. The Inspector General firing while investigation was ongoing suggested Trump and Pompeo viewed oversight as a threat to be neutralized rather than a legitimate check on executive authority, with the attempted suppression of the investigation indicating consciousness that the arms sale process would not withstand scrutiny. For Raytheon, the report documented that the company’s $8.1 billion in Saudi contracts were approved through processes that deliberately circumvented legal safeguards and congressional oversight, yet this documentation produced no contract cancellations, disgorgement of profits, or legal consequences—validating that contractor revenues remained protected even when official investigations confirmed abuse of authorities and legal violations. The report revealed the military-industrial complex operating at its most corrupt: defense contractors sought controversial weapons sales, executive branch officials manufactured justifications to bypass democratic accountability, oversight officials investigating the misconduct were fired in apparent retaliation, and contractors ultimately retained profits from sales approved through processes official investigations characterized as unlawful, with no meaningful consequences for any participants beyond negative press coverage.