Bankers are pressing other multi-industry companies with big defense holdings like Textron to make a similar move, although the Providence-based conglomerate shows little evidence of being interested.
Make no mistake, this order is not limited to big corporations getting multi-billion dollar contracts from the defense department or other government agencies.
U.S. taxpayers are likely to encounter a multi-billion dollar annual cost in additional defense and foreign assistance spending should the next Administration fail to secure alliance cooperation in these policy areas.
Earlier Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the US was engaged in "a large multi-headed effort that probably spans 60 countries, including the United States".