"Your relationship with a defense contractor that you served for five years as a senior executive will raise concerns about the appearance of impartiality if you are confirmed in your new role," Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote in a letter urging a Raytheon executive to accept a strict ethics pledge should he join the Air Force's top space procurement office.
Warren's requested ethics commitments
In a letter sent this week and reviewed by Defense One, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked Erich Hernandez-Baquero to make a series of voluntary commitments to address what she described as appearance-of-impartiality concerns if he is confirmed. Warren asked Hernandez-Baquero to recuse himself "from all matters involving his former employer for four years" and to refrain from seeking money from a firm tied to the Defense Department for four years after he leaves the role.
Warren also urged a broader, multi-year pledge that would bar Hernandez-Baquero from returning to work for or accepting compensation from companies he engages with while serving. Her letter specifically seeks “committing not to work for or accept compensation for at least four years from any company that you engage with while serving” after exiting the position.
Hernandez-Baquero's nomination and Raytheon ties
Erich Hernandez-Baquero is Raytheon's vice president for space intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and the White House nominated him in April to serve as the Air Force's assistant secretary for space acquisition and integration. According to his LinkedIn page, Hernandez-Baquero joined Raytheon in 2021 after a 27-year career in the Air Force.
The source material notes that Hernandez-Baquero signed an ethics agreement in April in which he agreed that once confirmed he would “forfeit my unvested restricted stock units, unvested performance stock units, and unvested stock appreciation rights” after resigning from the defense contractor.
The story reports that Hernandez-Baquero "could not be reached at multiple numbers listed for him in public records," and that Raytheon spokespeople did not return a request for comment.
Federal ethics rules, Warren's critique, and the revolving door
Warren framed her request as part of a longer campaign against the so-called government-defense revolving door. She has previously sought similar commitments from other former private-sector board members and appointees. The letter cited a 2023 report from Warren's office that listed roughly 700 former high-ranking defense and government officials who were later hired by the top 20 defense contractors.
The letter also contrasted Warren's proposed four-year constraints with existing federal ethics laws. The source notes that current federal rules prohibit government employees from being involved in matters that concern their former employers for one year and bar involvement in deals from which an employee would financially benefit; Warren argued those protections "fall short" because they may still permit work on matters affecting a former employer after the one-year period and may be undermined by exemptions.
How the Air Force, Raytheon, and the public are positioned
- Air Force procurement leaders: Will inherit a nominee who faces public scrutiny over previous ties to a major contractor; the confirmation and any voluntary recusals would shape who handles program decisions affecting companies Hernandez-Baquero once worked for.
- Raytheon and similar defense firms: Stand to be affected by whatever voluntary or legally required limitations the nominee accepts; Raytheon did not provide comment to the reporting outlet, which leaves the company's public posture in this instance unvoiced.
- The general public and congressional overseers: Warren's requests—and the underlying 2023 report she cited—signal continued congressional interest in tightening post-government employment norms and in seeking pledges that extend beyond existing one-year statutory bars.
Conclusion: pending answers and the next procedural steps
Hernandez-Baquero remains a White House nominee for a senior Air Force acquisition post; Warren's letter asks him to accept voluntary four-year guards against engagement with his former employer and against later compensated work tied to companies he would oversee. The nominee's own April ethics agreement commits him to forfeit certain unvested equity upon resignation from Raytheon, but he and Raytheon did not respond to requests for comment in the piece. Whether Hernandez-Baquero will adopt Warren's wider four-year commitments, and how that choice will influence his confirmation, remains an open question.
