Although there are no groups that rate elected officials exclusively on defense matters, many groups do include national security issues in judging elected officials.

Peace organizations give poor marks to both political parties, but are generally more disappointed with the way Republicans vote than the way Democrats vote. Peace groups favor lowering military spending and using the differential for education, environmental protection, human needs, medical research and so on. In 2001, for example, Peace Action favored military base reorganization and some base closures to obtain greater efficiency and save money. Peace groups favor diplomacy and good faith efforts to ameliorate grievances as the first response to conflict, rather than threats, military incursions and wars. Preferring diplomacy and cooperation between nations, they strongly support the United Nations. They see war as either immoral or as the very last resort after all other possibilities have been exhausted.

Peace groups favor verifiable arms control agreements and treaties negotiated through the United Nations that decrease the number and scope of weapons, particularly nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. In 2000, for instance, Peace Action and the Council for a Livable World strongly urged Congress to terminate further production of the Trident II (D-5) submarine-launched nuclear missile program. In 2000, the Council for a Livable World was also a proponent of U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, lowering nuclear stockpiles and cutting funding for some costly weapons systems.

Conservative groups like the American Conservative Union (see chart in next section), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the John Birch Society and so on, tend to favor increased military spending, limiting the power given to the United Nations, maintaining weapons stockpiles and supporting research and development of new weapons systems. For example, in 2001, conservatives opposed a piece of legislation that would have cut $60 million dollars from the Department of Energy's weapons production budget and in order to invest the money that would have been saved in alternative energy. This legislation failed to pass the House of Representatives. Conservatives favor going forward with defense projects such as the Strategic Defense Initiative (colloquially known as 'Star Wars'). President Bush, for instance, withdrew the U.S. from participation in the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in order to pursue deployment of a Star Wars system outlawed by the ABM Treaty. Most conservative and pro-military groups championed this action, whereas peace groups descried it.