Dozens of American Flag Officers Linked to Defense Industry Shill for Pro-Israel Outfit, Endorse War Against Iran

More than six dozen retired U.S. military flag officers have signed multiple letters endorsing U.S. and Israeli aggression against Iran.

But many of the former high-ranking officers, some of whom wore three or four stars, signed the letter not as individuals, or even as an independent group of like-minded experts. Rather, they wrote as a group on behalf of a “national security” outfit that’s part of the Israel lobby.

That group is “General and Admirals,” a project of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), Responsible Statecraft reported this week. And those officers, RS’s Harrison Berger observed, are in bed with the U.S. defense industry, which reaps huge profits from arms “sales” to Israel.

JINSA 

JINSA, Berger explained, was behind the dangerous provision in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would inextricably entwine the U.S. and Israeli militaries.

In August, the outfit “publicly took credit for shaping ‘multiple provisions’ now in this year’s defense policy bill, stating that many were ‘impacted by prior JINSA policy recommendations,’ including ‘proposals to strengthen U.S.-Israel defense industrial base integration’ and ‘renew pre-existing joint U.S.-Israel programs,’” Berger wrote:

Among the provisions JINSA takes credit for is the controversial Section 219. In the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), this section mandates the creation of a single executive agent tasked with “synchronizing cooperative efforts” between the U.S. and Israel across nine basket categories, including AI, quantum technology, biotechnology, and virtually every category of weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued that such provisions would transition the U.S.-Israel security relationship from aid to partnership. But pro-Israel advocates have emphasized the leverage it would provide over Washington’s military policy.

Indeed, as The New American reported in July, the plan for the U.S.-Israel merger came straight from Netanyahu.

“I was glad to receive your proposed Congressional resolution endorsing my plan to shift the framework for US-Israel defense cooperation from aid to partnership,” the Israeli head of state wrote to Israel-First GOP Representative Marlin Stutzman of Indiana:

As I said in our meeting in Jerusalem on May 27, 2026, Israel deeply appreciates the financial component of the military aid the United States has generously provided us over the years. The time has now arrived for us to move from aid recipient to partner.

GOP senators pushed a similar provision.

Berger also explained that “other initiatives JINSA has advocated for likewise read like an Israeli government wishlist.”

“Generals and Admirals”

But the group’s major influencers here are the American members of its “Generals and Admirals” program, Berger disclosed. Few Americans know about the 45-year-old program, which “involves flying recently retired U.S. military officials to Israel,” Berger reported:

Many of the trip’s participants were already sitting on defense-industry boards when they went, while others joined soon afterward. At least 55 of the 83 alumni from the 2019-2026 G&A program cohorts (about 66%) have held or currently hold positions in the defense industry spanning board seats, executive jobs or advisory roles at defense contractors and defense-tech firms, or posts at defense-focused investment funds, consultancies and lobbying shops.

JINSA hopes that … they will use their credentials and defense industry power to become Israel’s advocates.

While in Israel, the retired officers meet with the prime and defense ministers, the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, and the director of Mossad, Israel’s spy agency. 

Founded in 1981, the program was “designed to ensure that the delegation is well briefed on the security concerns of Israel, as well as the key role Israel plays as a friend and ally of the United States,” JINSA says. 

Continued Berger:

JINSA CEO Michael Makovsky highlighted the program’s influence in 2014, calling U.S. generals and admirals “America’s most admired leaders, who remain very influential even after retirement.” The JINSA program trains retired military leaders, many of whom go on to work in the defense industry, to be advocates for Israeli interests, both in their public writing and in their work behind the scenes.

In 2023, the Quincy Institute, which publishes Responsible Statecraft, learned that a whopping “80 percent of four-star officers who retired between June 2018 and July 2023 went on to work for the defense industry. Of the 32 officers tracked in the report, nine appear on JINSA’s participant lists, and seven of those nine retired officers hold industry lobbying or defense-tech roles.”

Big Influence

And wouldn’t you know, those officers lobby on behalf of Israel, although not officially, on Capitol Hill.

Sixteen years ago, then-U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services committee that anti-American sentiment in the Middle East was growing out of a “perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel.” JINSA’s regiment of flag officers manned the barricades. Thirty of them “put out an ad claiming that “a strong, secure Israel is an asset.”

On October 7 this year, the group defended Israel’s action in Gaza.

War Support

Aside from appearing on television to offer pro-Israel opinions, sometimes without disclosing an affiliation with JINSA, the officers have thrice published letters endorsing U.S. and/or Israeli aggression against Iran.

American “support for Israeli action to prevent a nuclear Iran should be a top priority,” they wrote in March 2025. And “what Israel seeks from the United States is support to ensure the maximum effectiveness of its actions and manage the risk of Iranian retaliation”:

We should provide it expeditiously. With Iran capable of producing weapons-grade uranium in just days, working toward a nuclear weapon, and building ever-deeper underground facilities, time is running out to stop its march to the bomb. …

We believe the United States should provide Israel with the vital munitions, weapons systems, defenses, and support needed to ensure the effectiveness of its operations against this common threat. We should also be prepared to deter any attempted Iranian retaliation or effort to widen the conflict.

Sixty-six of the 79 officials who signed the letter — 83 percent — are in the Generals and Admirals program, Berger reported.

In June 2025, they backed Israel’s strike on Iran’s supposed nuclear facilities and encouraged more U.S. support.

And finally, on March 3 this year, 75 flag officers cheered Trump’s attack on Iran, again to stop its nuclear program.

Iran “has been developing the missile and nuclear capability to threaten the eastern seaboard of the United States,” the officers wrote. And despite Operation Midnight Hammer — which top U.S. officials, including then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said “destroyed” and “obliterated” that program — Iran continued to “rebuild elements of its destroyed nuclear infrastructure.”

But Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 18 that Iran was not trying to rebuild its nuclear program. “As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated,” she said:

There has been no efforts [sic] since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability. The entrances to the underground facilities that were bombed have been buried and shuttered with cement. We continue to monitor for any early indicators on what position the current or any new leadership in Iran will take with regard to authorizing a nuclear weapons program.

She repeated that assessment under questioning from Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia.