Everyone knows at least one person that works for a defense contractor. And chances are that they work in Northern Virginia.

The Washington Independent has a report on the boon that the war on terror has been to defense contractors, especially those doing IT work, the great majority of which are located in Nothern Virginia counties. Reads the report:

Northern Virginia’s economy has been buoyed by government contractors since the Department of Defense was created and headquartered in Arlington at the dawn of the Cold War. But the Cold War economy pales in comparison to the bonanza made from the war on terror. Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of all are the Northern Virginia IT’s. The Bush administration and Congress turned to these companies to make the technology that is supposed to thwart terrorism — and have paid them billions to do it…

…Since 2002, Virginia companies alone have created 50,000 IT jobs, according to Virginia Business Magazine. Nearly all those jobs are in Fairfax, Arlington and, to a lesser extent, Loudoun and Prince William Counties…

…The D.C. metropolitan area secured $56 billion in federal contracts during fiscal year 2007, approximately $28 billion of which went to Northern Virginia companies.

The lesson to be learned? When your family tells you not to waste your time on a humanities degree and instead focus on something more tangible — like engineering or IT — you listen.