NetRootsMass » Revolving Door

349. Conflicts of interest in NASA’s moon project

Hugh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:58:33 +0000

On April 28, 2008, the normally tame NASA Inspector General (see entry 149) issued a report on the Standing Review Board for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle Project which is building the craft to be used in a return to the moon. It found that 6 of the 19 board members, including the Chair, were employees of companies working on the project and that 4 of them held stock in those companies. The Chair Ed Gibson and Neil Hutchison (a former NASA flight director) are both vice presidents at SAIC (see entry 217). Another board member Jack Garman who had a long career at NASA is also technical director for NASA services at Lockheed Martin the project’s prime contractor. The report recommended suspending the six until the legality of their membership was determined. The report strongly suggested that it wasn’t.

Associate NASA Administrator Scott Pace responded that it wasn’t necessary to suspend these members because he was in the process of rewriting the rules to make it OK for them to stay. The IG found this to be “nonresponsive”. The report also noted that up to the present time the “independent” status of the board members was based solely on self-assessments. This is yet another example of the revolving door and the blurring between business and government until it is no longer clear which is which.

305. Cambone’s soft landing

Hugh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:27:40 +0000

More revolving door. Stephen Cambone, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence (March 7, 2003-December 31, 2006 ), part of the chain that led to Abu Ghraib, a major promoter of Rumsfeld’s transformation policy was hired by a British defense research company QinetiQ (pronounced “kinetic”) less than a year after his departure from the Pentagon as their vice president for strategy. Two months later, in January 2008, QinetiQ was awarded a $30 million 5 years contract with CIFA (see item 158) which Cambone oversaw during his time at the Pentagon. QinetiQ has an interesting history. It was spun off by the British government in 2001 although its Ministry of Defense continues to have a 2/3 ownership interest. In 2003, the Carlyle Group purchased the remaining third and in an agreement gained effective control. It sold out in February 2007. In 2005, QinetiQ bought Apogen a company that Cambone had dealings with as Undersecretary. In January 2007, it acquired Analex which it renamed QinetiQ North America or QNA. In 2006, QNA was the 11th largest intelligence contractor with revenues of $1.5 billion. It is this segment that got the CIFA contract. Cambone’s Pentagon intelligence connections and insider knowledge promise to serve him and QinetiQ well. The rest of us? Not so much.

281. Donald Kerr, No. 2 to DNI Mike McConnell, declares anonymity a thing of the past

Hugh — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:18:47 +0000

Donald Kerr, a former SAIC executive and current No. 2 to DNI Mike McConnell, in remarks on October 23, 2007 concerning the opening of the National Intelligence Coordination Center (NIC-C) a project to share intelligence collected across federal agencies stated that

“Too often, privacy has been equated with anonymity; and it’s an idea that is deeply rooted in American culture. The Long Ranger wore a mask but Tonto didn’t seem to need one even though he did the dirty work for free. You’d think he would probably need one even more. But in our interconnected and wireless world, anonymity – or the appearance of anonymity – is quickly becoming a thing of the past.”

Looking past the crude racism, Kerr’s view is that if we have a Facebook page or use a credit card online, we should have no objection to the government collecting information on us without our consent or knowledge and without a warrant. What is it about the 4th Amendment that these people do not understand or can’t remember?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I suppose the Constitution like the Geneva Conventions has become “quaint” and if we uphold the Constitution, the terrorists win.

272. Medical contract for National Guard let to cronies

Hugh — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:53:54 +0000

On September 25, 2007, Logistics Health, a medical services company, won a 5 year contract worth up to $790 million dollars to provide immunizations, physicals, and dental exams to members of the Reserves and the National Guard despite criticisms of work done by Logistics in the past and the fact that two other companies had lower bids. The President of Logistics is Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from December 3, 2004 to January 26, 2005. Another notable name at Logistics is William Winkenwerder Jr. who joined the company on May 31, 2007. He had been Assistant Secretary of Defense for health affairs from 2001 until his resignation on April 16, 2007 and oversaw the program in question. As with all tales of the revolving door, we are expected to believe that this is all innocent coincidence.

262. Joseph Schmitz (partisan former DOD IG)

Hugh — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:44:38 +0000

Joseph Schmitz (see end of item 256) member of the cult-like Opus Dei was Inspector General at the Department of Defense from March 21, 2002-September 9, 2005 before going on to become COO and general counsel at Blackwater’s parent company the Prince Group. As DOD IG, Schmitz hired L. Jean Lewis as his chief of staff. The IG’s office is supposed to be nonpartisan. Lewis on the other hand was about as partisan as they come. She was a Republican activist who as a nondescript investigator of the Resolution Trust Corporation (which dealt with the S&L mess) made a criminal referral to the US Attorney in Little Rock listing Bill and Hillary Clinton as possible witnesses on September 2, 1992 (2 months before the 1992 Presidential election). She then contacted the USA’s office numerous times in the run up to the election to check on and push the investigation. Later she testified under oath that she had only discussed the matter after the election. She also lied to Congress in 1995 about secretly taping an RTC lawyer. During her testimony she broke down and was briefly hospitalized. She was saved by Ken Starr who intervened, suspended the investigation against her, and then started investigating those at the RTC who had spoken out against her.

In 2002, Alan White, a protégé of Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and director of Investigative Operations at the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) violated the Hatch Act by running for a partisan post on a school board. The IG received an anonymous tip about this and 3 upper echelon members of the IG office began an investigation. Schmitz in turn was tipped off to their investigation by Grassley. Schmitz sent out investigators of his own who seemed mainly interested in finding out who the anonymous tipster was. As for the 3 looking into the matter, they were fired a month later.

As has been seen in many department and agencies during the Bush Administration, Schmitz ran a service that hired and protected partisan hacks. Competence was punished and loyalty was rewarded. Is it any wonder that the IG’s oversight of defense contracts, especially those related to Iraq was so poor?