» 2011 » August Ms Sparky

DynCorp was the primary contractor for covert airlifts via luxury jets for terrorism suspects

Posted on: August 31st, 2011 at 2:02 pm — by Ms Sparky

Court Case Lifts Lid on Secret Post 9/11 Flights

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is seen shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan. -AP File Photo

Stephen Braun – (AP) – August 31, 2011 – A hidden network of U.S. companies, coordinated by a prominent defense contractor, played a key role in the covert airlift that transported terrorism suspects and their American minders, according to newly disclosed documents in a New York business dispute between two aviation companies.

The court files of more than 1,700 pages shed new light on the U.S. government’s reliance on private contractors for flights between Washington, foreign capitals, the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and, at times, landing points near once-secret, CIA-run overseas prisons. The companies included DynCorp, a leading government contractor that secretly oversaw a fleet of luxury jets, and caterers that unwittingly stocked the planes with fruit platters and bottles of wine for the transoceanic routes, according to the court files and testimony.

The business dispute stems from an obscure four-year fight between a New York-based charter company, Richmor Aviation Inc., which supplied corporate jets and crews to the government, and a private aviation broker, SportsFlight Air, which organized flights for DynCorp. Both sides cited the government’s program of forced transport of detainees, or “extraordinary rendition,” in testimony, evidence and legal arguments. The companies are fighting over $874,000 awarded to Richmor by a New York state appeals court to cover unpaid costs for the secret flights.

The court files — they include contracts, flight invoices, cell phone logs and correspondence — paint a sweeping portrait of collusion between the government and the private contractors that did its bidding — some eagerly, some hesitantly. Others turned a blind eye.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Wartime Contracting Commission releases final report to Congress

Posted on: August 31st, 2011 at 5:24 am — by Forseti

Pegs waste, fraud in Iraq, Afghanistan at >$30 billion
Sees threat of more waste in unsustainable projects
Faults both government officials and contractors
Offers 15 recommendations for contracting reform

Commissioners hear testimony at the May 4, 2009, hearing. Left to right: Dov Zakheim, Linda Gustitus, Robert Henke, Grant Green, Co-Chairman Michael Thibault, Charles Tiefer, Co-Chairman Christopher Shays, Clark Kent Ervin

(CWC Website) – ARLINGTON, VA, Aug. 31, 2011–The final report of the congressionally chartered Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan says at least $31 billion has been lost to contract waste and fraud, and that major reforms are required.

Commission reform objectives include improving federal planning for use of contracts, strengthening contract management and oversight, expanding competition, improving interagency coordination, and modifying or cancelling U.S.-funded projects that host nations cannot sustain. The reforms are described in 15 strategic recommendations.

The eight-member, bipartisan Commission filed its 240-page final report, “Transforming Wartime Contracting: Controlling Costs, Reducing Risks,” with U.S. Senate and House officials this morning. A briefing in the Capitol followed.

The Commission report notes that a consequence of 1990s reductions in the federal acquisition workforce and in support units within the military, the United States cannot conduct large or sustained contingency operations without heavy support from contractors. “Contingency” operations, as defined in federal law for the Department of Defense, are those involving military forces in actual or imminent hostilities, or in response to declared national emergencies. Civilian agencies use a similar definition.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Windfalls of war: KBR, the government’s concierge

Posted on: August 30th, 2011 at 5:47 am — by Ms Sparky

KBR’s umbrella contract to provide everything from showers to rebuilding airfields tops $37 billion. “It’s like a gigantic monopoly,” says one critic.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld talks with troops in Iraq. KBR has been paid $37 billion to build infrastructure like this dining hall. Jim Watson/AP

After a decade of war, KBR’s umbrella contract tops $37 billion

Sharon Weinberger – (The Center for Public Integrity – iWatch News) – August 30, 2011 – The rush to war in the months following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 created an urgency in the Pentagon, not just for military operations but also for contracting.

When U.S. forces moved into Afghanistan in 2001, there was little, if any, infrastructure to support and house U.S. troops. The military needed someone to do everything from housing troops to rebuilding airfields. The solution was a contract called the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, or LOGCAP, a type of umbrella contract the Army had been using to support is military bases overseas. In late 2001, the Army, after a competition, awarded LOGCAP III to KBR. The Houston-based firm [3], once a subsidiary of Halliburton, began providing everything from showers to dining halls.

Even beyond single-source contracts, the Pentagon has other types of contracts it can use to quickly award work without having to compete specific jobs. They include umbrella-type contracts, like LOGCAP, that allow the government to buy unspecified goods and services over long periods of time. “It’s the government’s way of saying ‘We don’t know what we want, and we don’t know how much it costs,’” said Laura Peterson, a senior policy analyst with Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group. “Instead they say, ‘we’ll put you on retainer and tell you later what we want and when we want it, and you just bill us.’ You become the government’s concierge, and it’s like a gigantic monopoly.”

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Reducing waste in wartime contracts

Posted on: August 29th, 2011 at 7:48 am — by Ms Sparky

By Christopher Shays and Michael Thibault – (Washington Post) – August 28, 2011 – At least one in every six dollars of U.S. spending for contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade, or more than $30 billion, has been wasted. And at least that much could again turn into waste if the host governments are unable or unwilling to sustain U.S.-funded projects after our involvement ends.

Those sobering but conservative numbers are a key finding of the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will submit its report to Congress on Wednesday. All eight commissioners agree that major changes in law and policy are needed to avoid confusion and waste in the next contingency, whether it involves armed struggle overseas or response to disasters at home.

Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted through poor planning, vague and shifting requirements, inadequate competition, substandard contract management and oversight, lax accountability, weak interagency coordination, and subpar performance or outright misconduct by some contractors and federal employees. Both government and contractors need to do better.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC), GOV. CONTRACTORS, Politics, Reports & Investigations. Tags: Christopher Shays, Commission on Wartime Contracting, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Michael Thibault. 2 Comments »

Insiders Say Pentagon’s Top Personnel Official Is Incompetent, Retaliatory, and Wastes Money

Posted on: August 29th, 2011 at 5:55 am — by Forseti

Correction: The original photo posted in this article WAS NOT USMC Major General Clifford L. Stanley, it was USMC Major General Cornell Wilson (ret). A correction has been made and the correct photo is now published. My sincere apologies to MG Cornell Wilson for this error. ~Ms Sparky

Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD P&R), USMC Major General Clifford L. Stanley (ret)

NICK SCHWELLENBACH – (POGO) – August 29, 2011 – The Pentagon’s top civilian official in charge of personnel issues has been accused of being incompetent, gutting his office of expertise by driving out employees, retaliating against employees with dissenting views, wasting $5 million on outside consultants to perform an inherently governmental function, and other issues according to at least four complaints to the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) and Congress sent from May through August.

Employees within the Defense Department wrote the letters. POGO is making three of these complaints public. These three complaints have all been made anonymously; however, POGO has verified that they were written by DoD employees and has confirmed that several congressional offices and the DoD IG have received them. The complaints from May, July, and August were written by different groups of employees, one senior DoD official told POGO.

Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith told National Journal’s Megan Scully, who reported on these complaints a week ago, that “the department is aware of the allegations and takes them seriously.” Scully wrote that the investigation into Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD P&R) Clifford Stanley, “one of the Pentagon’s most senior and powerful appointees, could pose the first significant personnel challenge for new Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.” The Army Times’ Karen Jowers first reported on some of these allegations in July.

Stanley and his office did not respond to press inquiries by both the Army Times and National Journal. POGO sent a detailed list of many of the allegations to Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith for further comment, but was sent a generic response that did not directly address the allegations. She wrote that “the personnel and readiness enterprise must create a culture of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency to meet the emerging needs of our service members and their families.” Underscoring the high level nature of the issue, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little also sent POGO a statement. “Secretary Panetta values Dr. Stanley’s experience, skill, and dedication and believes that he is working hard to support our troops and their families,” Little wrote. “He’s an important part of the Pentagon’s senior leadership team.”

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment, Reports & Investigations. Tags: Clifford L. Stanley, House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, Leon Panetta, Lynn Simpson, Nick Schwellenbach, Pentagon, Pentagon Inspector General, POGO, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Secretary Leon Panetta. 3 Comments »

Hall of shame inducts/indicts new members & other news

Posted on: August 28th, 2011 at 7:39 am — by Forseti

Mr. Bush is gone now, but that algorithm remains ruthlessly in place. War-oriented companies like DynCorp, Washington Group International, Aegis Defense Services, URS Corporation, BAE Systems, Renco, CACI, Bechtel, General Dynamics, General Electric, and Titan, along with oil giants like ExxonMobil and Chevron, have profited to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars off these conflicts, and are poised to continue doing so well into the future. ~ William Rivers Pitt, Truthout

Troops photograph every grave at Arlington cemetery
Kimberly Hefling – (AP) – Arlington – August 27, 2011 – Night after night this summer, troops from the Army’s historic Old Guard have left their immaculately pressed dress blues, white gloves and shiny black boots at home to slip into Arlington National Cemetery in T-shirts and flip-flops to photograph each and every grave with an iPhone.

The sometimes eerie task to photograph more than 219,000 grave markers and the fronts of more than 43,000 sets of cremated remains in the columbarium is part of the Army’s effort to account for every grave and to update and digitize the cemetery’s maps. The Old Guard works at night to escape the heat and avoid interrupting funerals.

Last year, a scandal over mismanagement at the nation’s most hallowed burial ground revealed unmarked and mismarked graves. Congress then mandated that the cemetery account for the graves of the more than 330,000 people interred in the cemetery.

The troops taking the photos are from Delta Company of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard – the Army’s official ceremonial unit, which provides escorts to the president and helps put on military funerals.

The photos taken at night are matched with other records to find discrepancies that need to be fixed, and officials say it’s too early in the process to draw any conclusions. Military officials hope they can eventually use the photos to create an online database for the public. Four million people annually visit the cemetery. (Click HERE for article)

This Will Improve KBR’s Image
Mark Thompson – (Battleland Blogs) – August 26, 2011 – If KBR’s one-time management by the autobiographical Dick Cheney doesn’t buff the company’s reputation, this ought to do the trick: KBR is suing a woman who claimed that she was raped while working in Iraq for KBR in 2005. In the crazy world of torts and courts, Jamie Leigh Jones had sued KBR for $145 million, claiming the company let a hostile sexual climate exist in Iraq. Last month, a jury found the company not guilty of the charge.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, Jamie Jones vs KBR, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment, Reports & Investigations, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations, WikiLeaks. Tags: Aegis, Army Criminal Investigation Division, Army Emergency Relief (AER), BAE Systems, Bechtel, Camp Humphreys, Capt. Owen Honors, Capt. Rex Guinn, Chevron, Cmdr. Nathan Borchers, Curtis G. Whiteford, Debra M. Harrison, Defense Criminal Investigative Service*, DoD*, DoJ*, Donald Rumsfeld, DOS*, DoSIG, Dynamics Research Corporation (DRC), DynCorp*, Employee Issues-KBR, ExxonMobil, Facebook, Frank A. March, General Dynamics, General Electric Company, Holly Weber, Jamie Leigh Jones, Joseph Oldani, Kathy Bolkovac, KBR, Matthew J. Gattis, Michael Howell, Michael Wheeler, Nestor D. Astorga-Villegas, Pfc Craig Allen Corey II, Philip H. Bloom, Rear Admiral Ron Horton, Renco CACI, Robert Jeffery, Ryan J. Ferraro, Seymour Morris, Sgt. Louis Brandwein, The Whistleblower (The Movie), Timothy Oldani, Titan, Tyrone L. Ellis, U.S. Army Audit Agency, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), URS/Washington Group, WikiLeaks, William Driver*, William James Clark. No Comments »

Leader of International Conspiracy Convicted of Defrauding the Military and Smuggling Gold

Posted on: August 27th, 2011 at 4:53 am — by Forseti

Roger Charles Day, Jr. was a slick con man who used his street smarts to outsmart the DoD in a scam that included off-shore bank accounts, shell companies, bars of gold, South African Krugerrand and a scheme to fake his own death. ~America’s Most Wanted

(DoJ) – WASHINGTON – August 26, 2011 – Roger Charles Day Jr. was found guilty late yesterday of leading an international conspiracy to sell more than $4.4 million in nonconforming and defective parts to the Department of Defense (DOD).

The guilty verdict was announced today by U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Craig of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Edward T. Bradley of the DCIS Northeast Field Office.

After a nine-day trial, Day, 47, formerly of Long Valley, N.J., was found guilty by the jury on all counts. Day was charged in July 2008 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to engage in international money laundering, and conspiracy to smuggle gold out of the United States. Day was extradited from Mexico in December 2010. Day’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 15, 2011.

“The evidence showed that Mr. Day, a serial criminal, used other people like commodities to aid and assist his criminal enterprise,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “He sent the military bogus parts to critical application items, which were essential to ensuring the performance of our warfighters and the safety of our military personnel. The verdict shows that criminals such as Mr. Day will be brought to justice even when they orchestrate complex crimes.”

(Read the rest of the story here…)