Whether it’s providing internet to storm-ravaged communities or supporting American troops at war, Craig Garriott has long believed the satellites he builds for Boeing helped protect lives.

Now, Garriott, 53, says, it’s the lives of hundreds of technicians at the Boeing facility where he has worked for nearly three decades that need protecting from company management. 

“They’ve taken the focus off quality, the focus off the people on the floor, and they’ve put it completely on profit and going fast,” Garriott said in an exclusive interview with CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave. “I’m afraid with Boeing in the hands that it’s in now down here, they’re not gonna listen to me until somebody dies.”

He said efforts by Boeing executives to boost production at the company’s Los Angeles-area military and commercial satellite plant have led to a “toxic culture” that has put workers there in danger. Garriott recalled how a four-ton satellite estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars crashed to the factory floor after it wasn’t properly secured – an incident so catastrophic he compared it to “a plane falling out of the sky.” 

“One person was underneath that satellite and they barely got out,” said Garriott, who also represents 600 hourly workers as the head of the local carpenters union. “It’s the worst thing that can possibly happen on a site.”

A Boeing spokesperson did not respond to specific questions about the incident. In a statement to CBS News, the spokesperson said, “Boeing is dedicated to the safety of its employees, and all employees are empowered and encouraged to report any safety concerns.” 

Garriott’s allegations echo concerns raised by multiple whistleblowers who have worked on Boeing’s commercial airliners, including the troubled 737 MAX. And they add to struggles already facing Boeing’s space division.

The most high-profile Boeing space failure occurred in September, when the company’s Starliner spacecraft experienced a cascade of technical troubles on a manned test flight to the International Space Station. NASA considered the return flight too risky, and sent it back to earth without the two astronauts it had planned to shuttle home. Those astronauts will instead travel back next year in a capsule built by rival SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk. 

Tapped by President-elect Trump to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, Musk is set to potentially wield enormous influence over lucrative space and defense contracts, which could put Boeing at a further disadvantage. 

Boeing, the company that helped put a man on the moon, is now exploring a new course – indicating it may sell off parts of its space business, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal. During Boeing’s October earnings call, new CEO Kelly Ortberg suggested he was reevaluating the company’s portfolio.

“We’re better off doing less and doing it well than doing more and not doing it well,” Ortberg said. 

The Boeing spokesperson did not respond to questions about how the company views competition from SpaceX or about steps it is taking to prepare for the incoming administration. 

Garriott estimates he’s raised 300-400 safety violations over past year

Acquired by Boeing in 2000, the satellite manufacturing facility has long been considered one of Boeing’s more stable business units. It relies in part on a union workforce that Garriott said is responsible for constructing and testing satellites and their component parts.   

“This is perhaps the most technical group of hourly people that you’ll probably find on this planet,” said Garriott, who estimated he’s raised between 300 and 400 safety violations over the past year. Those complaints, he said, range from obstructed fire extinguishers and fire alarms to concerns over heavy machinery blocking exits and trapping workers in certain parts of the factory.

In October, union workers filed a complaint with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration that, according to Garriott, highlighted unsafe conditions on the factory floor. 

Another technician at the facility, who spoke to CBS News on the condition he remain anonymous to protect his job, said safety had become “an afterthought” and quality had “degraded” over the past five to six years.

“You speak up now, you’re a troublemaker”

Garriott sued Boeing in April alleging company management retaliated against him for raising safety issues. He said he’s been harassed by leadership at the facility and has been the target of dozens of corporate investigations that he says turned up nothing and were only meant to intimidate him. 

“When I first started at Boeing, the guys that spoke up and said, ‘Hey, this doesn’t feel right,’ those guys were revered,” Garriott said. “You speak up now, you’re a troublemaker.”

In a statement, Boeing said it investigated Garriott’s claims and disputed the allegations he made in his lawsuit. 

‘We have strict policies prohibiting retaliation toward employees who raise concerns, and Boeing did not retaliate against Mr. Garriott,” the Boeing spokesperson said. 

Garriott is the latest whistleblower claiming the company retaliated against him after raising safety concerns. John Barnett, a former quality manager at the company’s 787 Dreamliner factory, died by suicide in March while in Charleston, South Carolina, giving testimony in his whistleblower retaliation case. 

Barnett’s mother, Vicky Stokes, told CBS News in April she holds the aircraft manufacturing giant responsible for the grinding treatment that ultimately left her son despondent.  

“If this hadn’t gone on so long, I’d still have my son, and my sons would have their brother and we wouldn’t be sitting here. So in that respect, I do,” Stokes said when asked if she places some of the blame for her son’s death on Boeing.

In June, former Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told lawmakers on the Senate investigations subcommittee that Boeing’s culture is “far from perfect,” but said the company is “committed to making sure every employee feels empowered to speak up if there is a problem.” He also said Boeing is working on improving “transparency and accountability, while elevating employee engagement.” 

Garriott said although his family fears he will endure further reprisals from Boeing, he’s now speaking out publicly in an effort to improve conditions for workers he said he took an oath as union head to protect. 

“I’m not gonna stop till I know that Boeing understands that these people mean something, they matter,” Garriott said, urging company executives to open up a dialogue with workers on the factory floor. “Make ’em feel like they matter. Make ’em feel like their safety matters.”

Kris Van Cleave

Emmy Award-winning journalist Kris Van Cleave is the senior transportation correspondent for CBS News based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he also serves as a national correspondent reporting for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled pick for secretary of defense, received a six-figure severance payment and signed a non-disclosure agreement when he exited the organization Concerned Veterans of America. The payment came amid allegations of financial mismanagement, repeated incidents of intoxication and sexual impropriety, as well as dissension among its leaders over Hegseth’s foreign policy views.

The Army veteran turned Fox News host signed a non-disclosure agreement when he stepped down as CEO in January 2016, two sources associated with Concerned Veterans of America told CBS News, with one source saying the agreement included a financial payout. The CVA sources spoke to CBS News under conditions of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss legally-binding contracts, while also fearing professional reprisal. 

Public tax filings reviewed by CBS News confirm that Hegseth was paid more than $172,000 between October 2016 and September 2017 – well after Hegseth’s formal departure from his role as CEO of Concerned Veterans from America in January 2016. 

Hegseth remained listed on tax filings as a former CEO working 50 hours a week between 2016 and 2017. An archived 2016 biography on Hegseth’s website described him as a Fox News contributor and host, and did not list an ongoing role with Concerned Veterans for America. 

In a statement to the Military Times at the time of his departure, Hegseth said he was leaving the organization to focus on releasing a book and other advocacy work, while CVA said it wished him well “in all future endeavors.”

Contacted by CBS News, Hegseth’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore, did not return a response before publication. 

Experts consulted by CBS News said severance payments and non-disclosure agreements for outgoing CEOs are common. Such payments are issued for a number of reasons, including to maintain professional relationships, to work as an adviser to an incoming CEO, or to provide a soft landing for departing leaders, they said.

Hegseth has contested the allegation that he was forced out of his CEO position. On Dec. 4 he retweeted a letter obtained by the New York Post on X, saying: “Read for yourself. You’ll see the truth is on our side.” 

The letter, written on Concerned Veterans of American letterhead in January 2016, was authorized by Randy Lair, a trustee of the veterans’ advocacy group. 

“The truth is Pete resigned his position as CEO of Concerned Veterans of America as a result of a difference of opinion as to the future of the organization and so that he could focus on other endeavors, including, his relationship with Fox News,” Lair wrote in part. 

He added: “Pete was not terminated by the organization and, in fact, we at CVA worked with him though this difficult decision and mutually agreed the end of 2015 was the best timing for both parties…The bottom line is that Pete Hegseth voluntarily resigned his position and CVA recognizes and appreciates his accomplishments as CEO.” 

Sources affiliated with Concerned Veterans of America at the time of Hegseth’s tenure told CBS News that there was a “difference of opinion” over Hegseth steering the organization toward advocacy for foreign policy views that championed military intervention. Senior leaders of the organization strongly opposed Hegseth’s foreign policy advocacy over its historical mission of backing conservative fixes to the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

However, the sources also highlighted what Lair’s letter did not mention, specifically internal assessments of Hegseth’s handling of the organization’s finances and the alleged incidents of intoxication and sexual misconduct, which Hegseth and Parlatore, his attorney, have denied. 

Hegseth’s financial record at Concerned Veterans for America 

Hegseth led Vets for Economic Freedom Trust, operating as Concerned Veterans for America, from 2012 to 2016. Tax records show that, during three of the five years of his leadership, the organization spent more money than it raised from donations and other means. 

Filings for October 2012 to September 2013 show the organization brought in $3.8 million but spent $3.9 million, representing a shortfall of $130,000. Hegseth’s CEO compensation is listed as $67,500. 

Filings for October 2013 to September 2014 show revenue swelled $15.7 million but the organization spent $16.1 million — including $8.6 million on advertising and promotion — resulting in a shortfall of $428,000. Hegseth’s salary is listed as $144,894. 

Filings for October 2014 to September 2015 show Hegseth’s salary grew to $182,549 and the organization ran a surplus for the first time since 2011, with revenue of $14.1 million and expenses of just under $14 million. 

However, the organization again spent more than it raised the following year, when Hegseth was listed as the outgoing CEO. Filings for October 2015 to September 2016 show the organization raised just under $16 million but spent $16.4 million, resulting in a shortfall of $437,000. 

The filings show expenses at the organization were slashed after Hegseth’s departure. From October 2016 to September 2017, compensation, salaries and wages were reduced to $2 million, down from almost $7 million the previous year. Spending on travel was reduced to $416,000, down from almost $2.4 million, and spending on conferences, conventions and meetings amounted to $124,000, down from $2.4 million.

Hegseth has denied allegations of financial mismanagement, repeated incidents of intoxication and sexual impropriety at the organization. In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal published Dec. 4, Hegseth said, “We had hundreds of employees and thousands of volunteers — yet based on the anonymous accusations of a few disgruntled employees, the legacy media has made it sound as if we ran a college frat house. That’s just untrue.”

Allegations at Vets for Freedom 

Prior to joining Concerned Veterans for America, Hegseth led Vets for Freedom (VFF) from 2007 to 2010, where he also faced allegations of financial mismanagement. 

In 2008, the organization raised $8.7 million, but spent $9.1 million. Filings show it received a loan of $20,000 to “provide additional liquidity to the organization.” 

The New Yorker reported that donors were concerned their money was being wasted and arranged for VFF to be merged with another organization, Military Families United, which took over most of its management. 

Revenue at VFF dwindled to $268,000 by 2010 and by 2011, the organization’s revenue was listed as $22,000. Hegseth joined Concerned Veterans for America the following year. 

Margaret Hoover, host of the PBS program “Firing Line” and a former adviser to Vets for Freedom, said in an interview on CNN that Hegseth had managed the organization “very poorly.” Hoover expressed doubt about his ability to run the sprawling Defense Department when he had struggled with a staff of less than 10 people, and a budget of under $10 million. 

“I don’t know how he’s going to run an organization with an $857 billion budget, and 3 million individuals, based on what I saw in those years,” she said.