Democratic Rep. Kelly Morrison Bought Stock in an Autonomous Warship Company as War in Iran Raged

Democratic Rep. Kelly Morrison on Monday invested five figures’ worth of her own money in a federal defense contractor that specializes in autonomous naval vessels, according to a congressional financial disclosure reviewed by NOTUS.

Morrison’s investment in Saronic Technologies stock, which she affirmed in the congressional filing is worth anywhere from $15,001 to $50,000, came nine days after the beginning of the United States’ war with Iran.

The U.S. Navy awarded Saronic a $392 million production contract in December.

In a statement to NOTUS, a spokesperson for Morrison said, “Rep. Morrison’s stock portfolio is managed by an investment advisor. She had no prior knowledge of this transaction and was not consulted beforehand.”

Morrison, who represents a Minnesota district that includes suburban Minneapolis, has been vocally against the war on social media.

“He [President Donald Trump] has now dragged us into an illegal war that has already cost us precious lives and billions of dollars,” she posted March 5. “Congress needs to end this today.”

Texas-based Saronic is a privately held company, and the kind of stock Morrison now owns is not traded in public exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq.

Saronic says the autonomous naval vessels it designs and manufactures — also known as maritime drones — are in some cases capable of carrying a 1,000-pound payload more than 1,000 nautical miles at a top speed of more than 35 knots. Their military missions range from “maritime domain awareness to kinetic and non-kinetic effects.”

A Saronic Technologies autonomous naval craft. Saronic Technologies

Saronic Technologies also has a “strategic partnership” with Palantir Technologies, a publicly traded company that has massive contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Defense. Its stock has been popular among some members of Congress.

Morrison is one of Congress’ more active stock traders, having made about 90 trades during the 119th Congress, according to congressional filings.

Her Saronic stock purchase comes as federal lawmakers are actively considering whether to bar members of Congress and their immediate family members from trading individual stocks at all. Those who support such a measure argue it would curb possible conflicts of interest, quash the specter of congressional insider trading and address numerous disclosure-related violations of the current Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act.

Morrison has not signed on as a co-sponsor to either the Restore Trust in Congress Act or the Restore Trust in Government Act, two similar stock-ban bills that many Democrats support. She did, however, sign a Democrat-led discharge petition to force a vote on the Restore Trust in Government Act.

In January, a separate, Republican-backed stock-ban bill, the Stop Insider Trading Act, advanced out of a House committee in a party-line vote.

Several government watchdog groups NOTUS contacted on Wednesday questioned Morrison’s Saronic stock purchase.

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, acting vice president of policy and government affairs at the nonprofit Project On Government Oversight, said Morrison’s recent stock purchases are “a pretty clear conflict of interest.”

“As Congress likely faces an upcoming vote on supplemental funding for the Iran War, Rep. Morrison’s motives won’t be clear,” Hedtler-Gaudette said in a statement to NOTUS. “Her constituents could be left wondering if she’s making decisions based on their best interests or to benefit her investment in a defense contractor. This is a perfect example of why Congress must be banned from owning and trading stocks.”

Craig Holman, a government ethics expert for Public Citizen, emphasized how lawmakers are in a unique position of having access to confidential information, “including policies affecting war and the arrangement of government contracts.”

“While there is no specific evidence that Rep. Morrison traded on insider information, the possibilities raise credible concerns. Members of Congress should not be allowed to play on the stock market given their access to nonpublic information on government operations,” Holman said in a statement to NOTUS.

Michael Beckel, director of money in politics reform at Issue One, said members of Congress could avoid questions about conflicts of interest “by voluntarily abstaining from trading stocks while in office.”

“Purchasing shares in a defense contractor as the nation increases military activities in the Middle East isn’t a great look,” Beckel said in a statement to NOTUS. “Voters want elected officials to put the public’s interests first, not profit from public office or insider information. That’s why legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress is so important.”

Abigail Bellows, senior policy director for anti-corruption and accountability at Common Cause, added that “constituents shouldn’t have to wonder whether members of Congress are voting based on their private interests or based on the public interest. The Iran war has only made more clear how high the stakes are for this and the need to restore trust in Congress.”