You totally left off corruption at military level. The "Revolving Door" of the Pentagon where the big ones keep hiring the very people that issue them contracts and letting them go back. They get cozy six-figure jobs or other perks for issuing contracts starting in the millions. Last write-up with lots of detail I saw here was this one on SAIC:
There's also the Congress side where the contracts they're pushing bring jobs to their districts. One joke, which might be true, about the B2 was that the ridiculously-expensive project kept getting support since part of it is made in every state. I never confirmed if that one was true, though. Just remembered it as a funding strategy. ;)
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/03/spyagency200703
There's also the Congress side where the contracts they're pushing bring jobs to their districts. One joke, which might be true, about the B2 was that the ridiculously-expensive project kept getting support since part of it is made in every state. I never confirmed if that one was true, though. Just remembered it as a funding strategy. ;)