The Boston Globe highlights McCain’s history in overseeing defense spending and industry contracts. While forever championing a strong national defense, the article points out the Senator’s “legendary” battles with the Pentagon and some of its more controversial projects:

WASHINGTON – In more than two decades in Congress, Senator John McCain has earned a reputation as a leading defense hawk, using his perch on the powerful Armed Services Committee and his war-hero status to advocate for a stronger military.

But in the plush office towers of some of America’s leading defense companies, the recipients of billions of dollars of Pentagon contracts each year, the presumptive Republican nominee for president has another label: persona non grata.

For even as McCain has railed against cuts in defense spending and sought to increase soldier benefits and operating funds, he has been equally dogged in his efforts to cancel some of the industry’s most prized weapons contracts and micromanage others that he believes are wasteful and come at the expense of more pressing needs, according to a Globe review of his Senate record.

The result: Despite McCain’s national security credentials and staunch support for continuing the war in Iraq, he has only slightly exceeded presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama in campaign contributions from the defense industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The latest figures released by the Federal Election Commission show that McCain has raised $301,284 and Obama has raised $300,403 from employees who gave more than $200 and, in McCain’s case, contributions from political action committees.

Industry officials and defense analysts said McCain’s low level of financial support reflects deep anxiety among arms manufacturers at the prospect of a President McCain with the power to upend the Pentagon procurement budget. Some leading Wall Street analysts have recently cautioned clients that a McCain presidency could eat into some of their profits from big-ticket weapon systems.

Government watchdog groups and both Republicans and Democrats in Congress credit McCain for helping to save taxpayer dollars and redirect funds to more pressing concerns. But others say his desire to play the role of maverick has also led him to overreach, at times seeking to apply contract changes or reforms to numerous programs without a full assessment of the impact. His abrasive personal style has also alienated many in the arms industry, according to several executives who recalled meetings with McCain in which he browbeat them.

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McCain’s weapons oversight efforts appear to stem from a deep-seated suspicion of the power wielded by large arms manufacturers and their lobbyists. To justify his scrutiny, he has cited the farewell address of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1961, in which he warned about the influence of the “military-industrial complex.”

“Eisenhower is rolling over in his grave,” McCain told a 2003 meeting with representatives from government watchdog groups and staff members to discuss the Air Force’s leasing deal with Boeing, according to two participants in the meeting.

Over the years, McCain has taken on ships, aircraft, and other equipment developed by defense companies for all the military branches. He has voted against annual defense appropriations bills that he believed were too accommodating to industry interests, such as one in 2000 that he said was “so full of wasteful spending and smoke and mirrors gimmickry that what good lies within is overwhelmed by the bad.”

McCain is one of the few Republicans that recognizes that we are no longer fighting the Cold War. There will be no standing armies awaiting our arrival in the Middle East or anywhere else. The Pentagon should be cautious not to place all its eggs in one basket by bolstering air and sea defense systems. We must enhance our knowledge of insurgency tactics and develop ways to hold and gain the trust of local populations.

I strongly applaud John McCain for his efforts to reduce wasteful and unnecessary defense spending during his Senate term. I believe that this issue will resonate with the American people and stand out as a reason why McCain can be trusted to efficiently manage government agencies and Pentagon expenditures. The campaign should use this evidence alongside the Senator’s calls for a troop surge as early as 2003 and his doubts of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to demonstrate to the electorate that McCain has produced reform, while Obama has only dreamed of it. In fact, there are some strong parallels here to Harry Truman’s leading role in a WWII-era Senate committee that investigated military waste and mismanagement.