William J. Lynn to serve Raytheon as Deputy Secretary of Defense

Congratulations are in order to defense contractor Raytheon. The company's former Sr VP, Govt Ops & Strategy, will be brought on to help the defense industry run the Pentagon for the next four years.

It was not altogether clear to some naive observers that this day would come.

After all, as ABC News reports:

President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be deputy secretary of defense, William Lynn, violates his campaign pledge that no lobbyists will be allowed on his team working on subjects they've recently lobbied on, Transition officials acknowledged Friday.

Officials say they were aware that Lynn had lobbied for defense giant Raytheon as recently as last summer, but they defended their pick.

[Obama spokesman's justification for the hire printed here. Rest assured is the most qualified person available to serve the defense industry.]

Lynn, a former undersecretary of defense in the Clinton administration, currently serves as senior vice president of government operations and strategy at Raytheon, a military contractor. The deputy defense secretary traditionally supervises hiring such contractors.

It's lucky for Raytheon that Obama did not allow prior promises to voters to muddle the priorities of the defense industry. After all, not only the next big defense procurement, but the whole trajectory of US defense policy might have been been put in unfamiliar hands.

Charts: Open Secrets