» 2010 » September Ms Sparky

Fake chips threaten military

Posted on: September 5th, 2010 at 5:17 am — by Forseti

By Steve Johnson – September 5, 2010 – A growing deluge of millions of counterfeit chips is posing peril to the military and the general public — and perhaps nothing illustrates it better than a scheme federal prosecutors recently revealed that stretched from Southern California to Silicon Valley.

Mustafa Aljaff and Neil Felahy, a Newport Beach pair indicted in October, have admitted importing from China more than 13,000 bogus chips altered to resemble those from legitimate companies, including local firms Intel, Atmel, Altera and National Semiconductor. Among those buying the chips was the U.S. Navy.

It wasn’t the first time the military has been hoodwinked. Separate studies this year by the Commerce Department and the Government Accountability Office concluded that the armed forces — which use chips in everything from communications and radar systems to warplanes and missiles — is alarmingly vulnerable to fakes.

Commerce officials partly blamed the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for diminishing the supplies of chips the military normally uses for equipment repairs and forcing it to rely on questionable dealers for replacement parts. Moreover, both studies cited serious flaws in the Pentagon’s procedures for spotting sham components.

Whether any of the fakes sold by Aljaff and Felahy went into vital defense systems isn’t clear. The Navy declined to comment, saying the case remains under investigation. Nonetheless, recent reports have described several close calls the military has had with bogus chips.
Because the microprocessors it needed for its F-15 warplanes’ flight-control computer were no longer made by the chips’ original manufacturer, the military obtained them from a broker, only to discover they were counterfeit, according to the GAO’s study in March. Air Force technicians spotted the bad chips before they were installed on the planes’ computers.
That same month, Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania discovered it had malfunctioning chips intended for use in military communications systems. “The counterfeit chips failed during testing” and weren’t put on any equipment, said depot spokesman Anthony Ricchiazzi.
In November of last year, a Florida business that makes a device to keep injured pilots from becoming entangled in their parachutes reported finding a counterfeit chip in one of the devices and other fakes in its supply chain. None of the devices were known to have failed, however.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, Reports & Investigations. Tags: BeBe Starr Consulting, Becker Components, Defense Logistics Agency*, DLA*, Force-One Electronics, Labra Inc., Marwah Felahy, Mustafa Aljaff, MVP Micro, Neil Felahy, Pentagon Components, Red Hat Distributors, Red Hot Distributors, RH Distributors. 2 Comments »

Pentagon protects perverts and other news

Posted on: September 4th, 2010 at 4:55 pm — by Forseti

Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography
John Cook – September 3, 2010 – A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department — including some with the highest available security clearance — who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show.

The cases turned up during a 2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn payments. As part of the probe, ICE investigators gained access to the names and credit card information of more than 5,000 Americans who had subscribed to websites offering images of child pornography. Many of those individuals provided military email addresses or physical addresses with Army or fleet ZIP codes when they purchased the subscriptions.

In a related inquiry, the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) cross-checked the ICE list against military databases to come up with a list of Defense employees and contractors who appeared to be guilty of purchasing child pornography. The names included staffers for the secretary of defense, contractors for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency, and a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the DCIS opened investigations into only 20 percent of the individuals identified, and succeeded in prosecuting just a handful.

The Boston Globe first reported the Pentagon’s role in Project Flicker in July, citing DCIS investigative reports (PDF) showing that at least 30 Defense Department employees were investigated.

But new Project Flicker investigative reports obtained by The Upshot through the Freedom of Information Act, which you can read here, show that DCIS investigators identified 264 Defense employees or contractors who had purchased child pornography online. Astonishingly, nine of those had “Top Secret Sensitive Compartmentalized Information” security clearances, meaning they had access to the nation’s most sensitive secrets. All told, 76 of the individuals had Secret or higher clearances. But DCIS investigated only 52 of the suspects, and just 10 were ever charged with viewing or purchasing child pornography. Without greater public disclosure of how these cases wound down, it’s impossible to know how or whether any of the names listed in the Project Flicker papers came in for additional scrutiny. It’s conceivable that some of them were picked up by local law enforcement, but it seems likely that most of the people flagged by the investigation did not have their military careers disrupted in the context of the DCIS inquiry. (Click HERE for article)

Blackwater Won Contracts Through a Web of Companies
James Risen and Mark Mazzetti – WASHINGTON - September 3, 2010 - Blackwater Worldwide created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq, according to Congressional investigators and former Blackwater officials.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Defense contractor employee (Dorothy Ellis) pleads guilty to bribery

Posted on: September 3rd, 2010 at 4:54 pm — by Ms Sparky

Former Major John Cockerham

By Robert Brodsky – September 3, 2010

(govexec.com) A senior employee of a Defense Department contractor pleaded guilty this week to playing a role in a bribery and bid-rigging conspiracy at a U.S. Army base in Kuwait — an investigation that has led to the arrest of 15 public and private sector officials.

Dorothy Ellis, 53, of Texas City, Texas, admitted in U.S. District Court that she helped bribe a pair of Army procurement officials to win lucrative contracts for her boss’ companies. In exchange, Ellis received a $100,000 bonus, Justice Department officials said.

Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of bribery conspiracy and agreed to forfeit $360,000 –the total amount of the payoffs — to the government. She also faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced on Dec. 1.

According to court documents, Ellis worked for ex-Defense contractor Terry Hall at two of his companies, Freedom Consulting and Catering Co. and Total Government Allegiance. As the businesses’ most senior employee, Ellis served as the liaison between Hall and Army contracting officials stationed at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

Between 2004 and 2007, Hall’s companies held a blanket purchase agreement — essentially a charge card set up with certain vendors with which agencies purchase supplies on as-needed basis — with the Army to deliver bottled water to Camp Arifjan. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in A Soldiers Story, Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, Politics. Tags: Christopher Murray, Dorothy Ellis, Eddie Pressley, Eurica Pressley, Freedom Consulting and Catering Co., James Momon, John Cockerham, Terry Hall, Total Government Allegiance, Wajdi Birjas. 5 Comments »

The History of Labor Day

Posted on: September 3rd, 2010 at 2:29 pm — by Ms Sparky

1932 Rockefeller Center Construction: New York City

Another 3-day weekend is upon us and many families are packing and heading to the coast (well maybe not to the East Coast), the mountains and the lakes. BBQ’s are warming up and the beer is chilling! It’s the last big get-a-way of the summer season. There will be shopping extravaganza’s, parades, picnics and celebrations to honor the American worker.

Weekends, paid Holidays, medical insurance and retirement benefits were all fought for by those first American workers. Keep in mind virtually every safety regulation was written in the blood of an injured or killed American worker. It is the American worker has created so much of our nation’s strength and prosperity and our working conditions and wages are the envy of the world.

Be thankful to those brave men and women who fought and the many who died for the laws and conditions you have today. Show your appreciation by flying the US Flag. Click HERE if you have forgotten how to do that correctly.

I am proud to say I am a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). The IBEW has provided me with an outstanding education, continued training, a marketable skill and a great work ethic. My work has provided my family with insurance and a comfortable life for over 30 years. For that, I thank all those who came before me.

For all the soldiers and civilians serving overseas, thank you for serving and have a great Labor Day holiday. For everyone else…I plan to be out and about with my family so PLEASE don’t drink and drive! ~ Ms Sparky

Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Miscellaneous, Women in Construction. Tags: Flag Etiquette*, Holidays*, IBEW, Labor Day. No Comments »

KBR’s contracts are classified? What is the DoD hiding?

Posted on: September 1st, 2010 at 6:56 am — by Ms Sparky

Army Secretary says KBR contract still classified

Published: Tuesday, September 01, 2010, 6:41 PM
Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian

The Army’s combat mission in Iraq has ended, but details of the no-bid contract it signed with Kellogg, Brown and Root before the war started remain classified.

On Tuesday, Sec. of the Army John McHugh said he would not release the contract’s specifics that holds taxpayers — and not KBR — responsible for any harm to a soldier or civilian as it worked restoring Iraqi oil flows in 2003.

But in a two-page response to U. S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s demand for details, McHugh reveals how unusual the Army’s arrangement with the former Halliburton subsidiary was.

“Apart from the Restore Iraqi Oil contract with KBR, no other Army contracts awarded since 2001….contain indemnification provisions,” McHugh wrote. “The Army has made no payments as a result of indemnification provisions with contractors supporting contingency operations in Iraq. Afghanistan or anywhere else.”

In July, Blumenauer demanded the Army produce the contract after KBR’s claims of immunity emerged in a U.S. District Court case in Portland. Chris Heinrich, a KBR attorney, said in a sworn deposition that after KBR signed its Restore Iraqi Oil contract and as the March 2003 invasion was taking place, he went to the Pentagon himself to demand immunity for KBR.

He told Army officials that KBR refused to do the restoration without “broad coverage.” KBR required that taxpayers — not the war contractor — pay for any property damage, injury or death at any KBR site. That applies even if the harm resulted from KBR negligence. KBR eventually billed the government $2.5 billion for the work.

But it could cost taxpayers millions more. Dozens of National Guard soldiers from four states have sued KBR since 2008 claiming the contractor knowingly or negligently exposed them to a cancer-causing chemical at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant. Among them: 26 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers who arrived at the Iraq plant in late May 2003. They claim breathing, stomach and skin issues result from their exposure to hexavalent chromium.

Blumenauer expressed disbelief that the specifics would remain classified — even after combat operations ceased.

“Who is it precisely we’re keeping information from?” he asked. “It appears the only reason to invoke this classification at this point is to keep information from the American public.”

Blumenauer said he is drafting a bill requiring such an arrangement be reported to Congress in the future. “There ought to be someone looking over their shoulders.”

Meanwhile, the National Guard soldiers’ case is moving forward in Portland. Monday, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul Papak denied a KBR motion to dismiss.

Spokeswoman Heather Browne said KRB disagrees with the judge and may appeal. She restated KBR’s stand that the Army was responsible for safety at the plant. (click HERE for original article)