McKinsey, who was working on US intelligence and defense contracts as well as advising a company whose engines power Russian rockets, NBC states
US consulting firm McKinsey & Co. reportedly worked on contracts for the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies while simultaneously providing services to Russian state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec, which makes some of the military hardware now being used in the Ukraine offensive, according to NBC News.
McKinsey’s work with Rostec was going on while the firm undertook sensitive national security projects for America’s Department of Defense and intelligence community, NBC reported on Saturday. The American consulting firm told the news network that its work with the Russian defense and aerospace giant didn’t relate directly to weapons systems.
The former Rostec relationship raises questions over potential conflicts of interest for a firm that advises various US government agencies, in some cases involving issues of national security, and many of the country’s leading corporations, according to NBC. McKinsey was previously subject to similar scrutiny for its relationship with China’s state-owned enterprises.
“It’s really hard to understand how an American consulting firm… would want to be involved in sensitive areas of the Russian defense or intelligence or scientific establishment,”Scott Blacklin was a former chief of the US Chamber of Commerce Russia. “And when you talk about Rostec, you’re talking about all of those mixtures.”
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Neil Grace McKinsey spokeswoman said that McKinsey has strict policies for preventing conflicts of interest and that it is committed to overseas work. “walled off”From its Washington projects. The firm’s services for Rostec concerned routine “commercial and operational topics”He said, “And…” “it would not be fair or accurate to describe this work as benefiting the Russian military.”
Rostec is Russia’s largest defense company, and one of its subsidiaries has a monopoly on Russian arms exports. This organization oversees the research and development for military hardware such as new weapons. “Checkmate”The company also produces weapons ranging from armoured fighting vehicles to attack helicopters. As NBC noted, Rostec-made engines power many of the missiles that have been used in Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine.
McKinsey has been accused of not recognizing potential conflicts of interests when it consults opioid manufacturers and the Food and Drug Administration at the peak of the US’s opioid crisis. Last year, the firm paid $573 million in settlements to resolve allegations that it assisted with opioid crisis. “turbocharge”The addiction to opioids has led to over 400,000 deaths.
US Senator Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire) suggested that McKinsey’s “pattern of behavior”The company has increased “grave concerns”Learn more about their overseas operations. “Whether it be the substance-misuse crisis or work for state-owned enterprises in places like Russia and China, I am deeply concerned by McKinsey’s choices and by the fact that the US government continues to contract with McKinsey despite those potential conflicts,”According to her, NBC.
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Many of McKinsey’s former employees have gone on to influential roles in business and government. Its former consultants include such people as US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Susan Rice, who was national security advisor under then-President Barack Obama and currently heads President Joe Biden’s Domestic Policy Council.
McKinsey has done consulting work for Russia’s largest bank, SberBank, VTB bank and state-owned energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft, NBC said, citing court documents. The firm declared in March that it would be leaving Russia and joining a wave of Western companies to condemn Moscow for the Ukraine conflict.
