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3M pitches itself as a leader in career placement initiatives for service members and veterans through public-private partnerships.
The 3M Company continues its efforts to evade responsibility for having sold defective earplugs to the U.S. military from 2006 to 2015. On March 4, 3M’s ally, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed an amicus brief in support of 3M’s appeal through the bellwether trial process in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in the ongoing litigation.
“The military approved the earplugs supplied by 3M,” the brief reads. “[T]he Army exercised its discretionary authority to purchase the earplugs based on its assessment that they were safe.” But as the Prospect reported in 2020, 3M’s earplugs were defective from the start but considered acceptable via manipulation of safety testing, leading to the largest consolidated mass tort in American history—in which nearly 300,000 veterans, current service members, and other citizens allege 3M caused them to suffer from hearing loss and tinnitus. My colleague David Dayen even reported that the Chamber had a conference named after 3M at its Washington headquarters.
3M’s greed brought about this debacle. The company filed a patent lawsuit against a competitor, Moldex, flexing its monopolistic power and delaying Moldex from entering the market. Inadvertently, 3M’s patent lawsuit revealed how the highest levels of the company knew exactly about the defective equipment they were pushing. 3M told the Prospect, “Every independent, third-party organization, including NIOSH, the U.S. CDC, and others, that has tested the product has found that it was safe and effective to use.”
However, the Prospect’s previous coverage discovered that disability payments for hearing loss and tinnitus soared by 319 percent between 2001 and 2006, meaning that the earplugs at the center of this controversy were standard-issue for some period of that time. The next year, in 2007, 3M acquired the company Aearo Technologies, which manufactured the defective earplugs for $1.2 billion. The Prospect’s reporting also revealed that the battlefield earplugs offered a paltry 10 percent of the advertised levels of protection.
Now, as litigation continues, 3M is working to offset the reputational damage with a charm initiative, wrapping itself in support for servicemen and -women. On the company’s 3M Earplugs Facts website, they tout, “3M has great respect for the brave men and women who protect us around the world, and their safety is our priority,” citing the company’s long history of supplying products to the military.
3M pitches itself as a leader in career placement initiatives for service members and veterans through public-private partnerships, such as the Department of Defense’s Secretary of Defense Executive Fellows (SDEF) program. Yet that program is open to the public and does not guarantee positions for military members, in fact. 3M told the Prospect that the SDEF program was on hiatus. However, the SDEF program has reports for the program’s 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 cohorts, none of which include 3M-sponsored fellows. The company last hosted a fellow for the 2018–2019 cohort, and a total of seven since the program was established in 1994. Through the Army’s Training With Industry (TWI) program, 3M functions as a corporate sponsor, but the latest public data for the program does not include 3M as a host site. 3M told the Prospect that it looked forward to hosting a TWI participant this summer.
3M touts “philanthropic efforts to benefit the U.S. military,” citing a laundry list of partner organizations.
In-house, 3M trumpets the Military Support Network, which provides professional development, scholarships, and other networking opportunities. One of the highlighted employees on 3M’s Military Support Network website, according to LinkedIn, left the company in 2019. Nor does 3M guarantee differential pay when service members must leave for military operations, only the “potential” to earn differential pay.
3M’s Earplug Facts website even calls the annual college football military bowl the 3M Military Bowl. But in 2021, Peraton, a technology company, presented the bowl game, not 3M. When the Prospect asked 3M about the bowl game, 3M responded, “3M was a five-star sponsor of the Military Bowl, not a named sponsor.”
3M also touts “philanthropic efforts to benefit the U.S. military,” citing a laundry list of partner organizations. One of those is the military-industrial complex trade association the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). On NDIA’s website, they say they are not a lobbying organization. Instead, NDIA “drives strategic dialogue in national security by identifying key issues and leveraging [industry] knowledge.”
Another organization listed is the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), which represents some 340 high-technology manufacturers and suppliers of the aerospace and defense industry. “Our agenda is driven directly by the CEOs and senior managers of our member companies,” AIA proudly states. “Together, we work to shape regulatory and legislative policies.” 3M is a full member of the AIA, meaning the company pays dues determined by the AIA’s Board of Governors and based on the average U.S. aerospace sales for the previous two years. 3M’s membership includes access to AIA’s professional staff and networking opportunities.
3M’s partner list also includes the Association of the United States Army, “a nonprofit educational and professional development association serving America’s Army and supporters of a strong national defense.” 3M pays $7,000 annually, receiving exhibit space at the AUSA annual meeting and domestic symposiums.
The last trade association listed on 3M’s website is The Coalition for Government Procurement (CGP), according to their website, “the single most effective voice for commercial service and product companies selling in the federal market.” As a “Premier Member,” 3M is granted the eligibility to serve on CGP’s Board of Advisors and as a committee chair, alongside increased brand exposure. CGP’s policy priorities include supporting “common-sense” acquisition policy as well as using industry knowledge to influence the General Services Administration—the federal government’s property and contracting manager—on new procurement programs and policies. For membership, 3M annually pays $9,975.
A spokesperson for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) told the Prospect that while 3M’s partnered organizations have strong reputations as industry advocates, they generally do not participate in advocating for veterans, military personnel, and their families at the legislative level.
In a statement to the Prospect, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) said, based on 3M’s Earplugs Facts website, “3M’s claims to their philanthropic support [of] veterans and service members seems exaggerated.” But that 3M could support the VFW by “sponsoring our Help-A-Hero scholarship program, Unmet Needs grant program, or Service Officer program which provided free assistance to veterans filing their VA Benefits Claim.”
3M told the Prospect that the company collaborates with the VFW through outreach to local chapters and that the company provides charitable donations to veterans-related causes through the 3M Gives team. When asked about career placement initiatives, 3M responded, “We partner with the Department of Defense in providing support for military spouses like the Department of Defense Spouse Education and Career Opportunities Program.” The company also pointed to its “Hire our Heroes” program, which has raised $1,065,000 since 2013. Comparatively, last year, 3M reported sales at $35.4 billion, as well as paying out $3.4 billion in cash dividends to shareholders and another $2.2 billion used for stock buybacks.
Both the VFW and IAVA told the Prospect that 3M had not previously contacted the headquarters offices in efforts to support advocacy for veterans.
As the IAVA spokesperson told me over the phone, “If 3M wants to serve the generation that has been serving and deploying for the last 20 years, they are very welcome to reach out to us and learn more about how to support veterans, military personnel, and their families.”
