Beltway bandits

Beltway bandit is a term for private companies located in or near Washington, D.C. whose major business is to provide consulting services to the US government. The phrase was originally a mild insult, implying that the companies preyed like bandits on the largesse of the federal government, but it has lost much of its pejorative nature and is now often used as a neutral, descriptive term.^[1]

The name comes from the Capital Beltway, the ring road that surrounds Washington. (The entire road is officially called Interstate 495, although the eastern half is cosigned with Interstate 95, which traverses most of the East Coast.) The majority of private contractors are located, or at least headquartered, at intersections along this road in order to be close to federal agencies and legislators. There is a tendency for contractors for the various civilian departments and agencies to locate along the Maryland portion of the Beltway, while defense contractors locate nearer to the Pentagon, along the Virginia section.^[2]

History

An early use of the term may have been from a description of thieves who took advantage of the newly constructed Beltway to rob houses from their back yards, which were now exposed to the highway. Neighbors would not have seen them from the front yards, and by the time the police arrived, the thieves would have used the Beltway to escape to another state, when communications between Virginia and Maryland police departments was fairly rudimentary.^[3]

Other uses

• Name of a women's competitive traveling ice-hockey program in the DC area.^[4] The team is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Women's Hockey League.
• Name of an instrumental piece of music by Frank Zappa on his "Jazz from Hell" album.

References

1. Kathleen Day, "Riding Herd on the Bad Guy Image of 'Beltway Bandits'," Washington Post, February 9, 1994; page B1. Also Paul E. Ceruzzi, Internet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner, 1945-2005 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008). ISBN 0262033747
2. Paul E. Ceruzzi, Internet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner, 1945-2005 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008). ISBN 0262033747
3. "Fairfax County Beltway Bandit Gets 30 Years". Washington Post. August 20, 1968. p. B3.
4. Bandits hockey

External links

• Institute of Mathematics, U of MN, October 6, 2011, Talk Abstract: Alton Smith Wallace Life as a Beltway Bandit, Institute for Defense Analyses "
• Washington DC Slanguage, defines beltway bandit as "Consulting company which does lots of government business."
• A Hymn Before Battle, by John Ringo. Beltway Bandit here refers explicitly to a consulting company.