Death Sciences versus Life Sciences

From Marc Korman: A few weeks ago, I heard District 18 Senator Rich Madaleno refer to the difference between Maryland’s and Virginia’s reliance on federal government spending as the difference between life sciences and death sciences. Maryland benefits when the government is investing in healthcare and scientific research, while Virginia benefits when the government invests in war and defense.

I thought it was an astute, and somewhat humorous observation. The question is, is it true?
Broadly speaking, it’s easy to look around and say yes. After all, Virginia has the Pentagon and we have the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institute of Science and Technology. Looking at non-defense science more broadly, Maryland is also home to the Goddard Space Center. But how about if we take a closer look at some other measures of Maryland versus Virginia. Below are three categories to help us examine the issue.

First, we look at the value of government procurement contracts for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, and NASA.

Second, we look at the location of the corporate headquarters for the top government contractors for those same government agencies.

Third, we examine how many military installations there are in Maryland and Virginia.

2006 Government Procurement Contract Dollars

Agency Maryland Virginia
Department of Defense 21,803,858 41,915,022
Homeland Security 1,000,833 3,002,026
Department of Health and
Human Services 3,634,797 556,061
NASA 1,314,526 79,506

Government Contractors

Of the top five defense contractors in 2007, one was based in Maryland and two were based in Virginia.

Defense Contractor Corporate Headquarters
Lockheed Martin Maryland
Boeing Illinois
Northrop Grumman California
General Dynamics Virginia
Raytheon Massachusetts

Of the top five homeland security contractors in 2007, one is located in Virginia and none are located in Maryland.

Homeland Security Contractor Corporate Headquarters
Integrated Coast Guard Systems Virginia (Note, this is a Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman Partnership)
IBM New York
L-3 Communications Holdings New York
Unisys Pennsylvania
SAIC California

Of the top five Department of Health and Human Services contractors in 2007, none were based in Maryland or Virginia.

Health and Human Services Contractor Corporate Headquarters
Merck New Jersey
Sanofi Pasteur Pennsylvania
GlaxoSmithKline Pennsylvania (US HQ)
Wyeth Pennsylvania
Bavarian Nordic No US HQ Listed

Of the top five NASA contractors in 2007, one is in Maryland and none are in Virginia.

NASA Contractor Corporate Headquarters
California Institute of Technology California
United Space Alliance Texas (Note, this is a Lockheed Martin and Boeing Partnership)
Lockheed Martin Maryland
Boeing Illinois
Jacobs Engineering Group California


Military Installations

There are seven active military bases in Maryland:

Bethesda Naval Center
Naval Station Annapolis
Naval Air Station Patuxent River
US Naval Academy
Andrews Air Force Base
Fort Meade
Fort Detrick
Aberdeen Proving Ground

There are fifteen active military bases in Virginia (does not include the Pentgon):

Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Norfolk Naval Station
Oceana Naval Air Station
Portsmouth Naval Medical Center
Yorktown Naval Weapons Station
Langley Air Force Base

Fort A.P. Hill
Fort Belvoir
Fort Eustis
Fort Lee
Fort Monroe
Fort Myer
Fort Story
Quantico Marine Base
Coast Guard Atlantic Area – Portsmouth
Cost Guard Integrated Support Center – Portsmouth
Coast Guard Reserve Training Center Yorktown
Cape Henry Inn and Beach Club


So what do these categories demonstrate? That the facts back up Senator Madaleno’s observation. Virginia receives far more in defense contract dollars than Maryland, and that category far outweighs other federal spending. Virginia also has more military installations, beginning with the Pentagon. However, Maryland does receive some benefit from increased security dollars, including the contribution from Lockheed Martin, one of the state’s largest employers with almost 10,000 people.

Overall, Maryland would benefit much more from increased investment in science, which will hopefully come with a Democratic Administration, while Virginia benefits far more from the military-industrial complex.