» CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES Ms Sparky

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

September 1, 2010 — 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)

Posted in CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR Contract, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP III - KBR, LOGCAP IV - KBR, Politics, Qarmat Ali Lawsuits, RIO-KBR, Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali. Tags: John McHugh, KBR Contract, Qarmat Ali, Rep. Earl Blumenauer. 13 Comments »

Oregon National Guard wins round 2 against KBR

August 30, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Oregon Guard suit against KBR goes forward on hexavalent chromium exposure
Published: Monday, August 30, 2010, 7:30 PM
Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian

A federal judge ruled Monday that a lawsuit by Oregon Army National Guard veterans against war contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root can proceed.

The decision makes the federal court in Portland the apex of a legal battle that stretches from Oregon to West Virginia, and from Indiana to Texas, over who is responsible for exposing American soldiers to a known cancer-causing chemical early in the Iraq war.

Already, the Oregon case has opened a window into the government’s unprecedented use of private companies in Iraq and the lucrative contracts that have remained secret until now.

Beginning in May 2003, hundreds of U.S. and British troops guarded KBR workers as they worked to restore Iraqi oil flows. At a decrepit Qarmat Ali water treatment plant, piles of a toxic orange-yellow powder stained the soil, water and walls.

The powder was a rust-fighter, sodium dichormate, which contains hexavalent chromium. Exposure to 40 micrograms of hexavalent chromium per cubic meter — about the size of a grain of salt in about a cubic yard — has shown a high increase in lung, stomach, brain, renal, bladder and bone cancers.

In 2009, 26 Oregon Guard veterans sued KBR, claiming its managers downplayed or dismissed the presence of the chemical.

U.S. District Magistrate Paul Papak denied KBR’s second motion to dismiss the suit. His fact-finding refutes three of KBR’s long-time assertions. He found:

KBR brought additional sodium dichromate to Qarmat Ali in June 2003, stored and worked with it. KBR has consistently claimed the chemical was left by Iraqis after Saddam Hussein’s overthrow.
KBR knew of the sodium dichromate before most of the soldiers ever arrived, warning a subcontractor — but not the U.S. military or soldiers — that areas of the water plant were contaminated. The Oregon Guard weren’t notified of the chemical until August 2003, two months after they had guarded employees at the plant.
KBR was contractually obligated to provide an environmental assessment at Qarmat Ali and report hazards. KBR says the army was responsible for the assessment.

David Sugerman, the Portland consumer attorney representing the veterans, said, “We are very pleased.”

KBR spokewoman Heather Browne said in an email, “We are disappointed with the ruling and we are in the process of reviewing the decision.”

Troops from four states and Britain claim they suffer health problems as a result of the exposure. At least two soldiers who were exposed to the chemical have died of cancer.

Earlier this summer, KBR attorneys moved to dismiss the Oregon case for lack of jurisdiction. They argued that the contractor was “merely executing the will of the United State.” They also claimed that KBR was acting as a combatant during wartime, and should receive the same legal protection the military.

But in a 29-page opinion, Judge Papak found that KBR’s work restoring Iraqi oil was a foreign policy goal rather than a combatant activity.

“The defendents operations were more akin to restoring the battlefield to productive use after the battle has ended than to aiding warriors to swing the sword,” Papak wrote, citing another case law in denying KBR’s claim.

Details of the 2003 Restore Iraqi Oil contract have already raised congressional concern. Earl Blumenhauer, D-Ore., has written the Secretary of the Army demanding details of the agreement because American taxpayers — and not KBR — could pay if the war contractor is found to have harmed Oregon veterans. (click HERE for the original article)

Posted in CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, Qarmat Ali Lawsuits, RIO-KBR, Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali. Tags: David Sugarman, hexavalent chromium, Judge Paul Papak, Julie Sullivan, Lawsuits Against KBR, Oregon National Guard, Qarmat Ali, Rep. Earl Blumenauer. No Comments »

Defense Cover-up Management Agency (DCMA) – Part 1

August 25, 2010 — Keven L. Barnes

Former DCMA employee and US Air Force MSgt Keven L. Barnes at the original US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq

This is Part 1 in a series of original articles to be published on MsSparky.com by former DCMA QAR Keven L. Barnes discussing his personal experiences with the oversight of KBR’s LOGCAP III contract.

We all know Dick Cheney’s agenda when he directed the LOGCAP III contract be sole sourced and awarded to KBR. KBR’s LOGCAP III contract has been tainted with accusations of fraud, waste, abuse and rape. They are accused of overcharging the US Government and contract violations. Most disturbingly KBR is accused of exposing hundreds of US National Guard troops to deadly toxins at Qarmat Ali. They are accused of negligence in exposing hundreds if not thousands of troops and civilians to deadly burn pit smoke and they are accused of shoddy electrical work that has killed soldiers and more than likely civilians as well. We are just now realizing who their accomplices to these allegations are. The corruption, ineptness, and cover-up by both the U.S. Army and the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) have contributed to KBR’s ability to commit these acts of fraud, waste and abuse over and over again.

I was in my 21st year with the U.S. Air Force. I had worked for the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) while deployed and put on Active Duty with the U.S. Air Force Reserves IMA (Individual Mobilization Augmentee) program. I had served previously in the Active Duty Air Force, the California Air National Guard, and finally in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. I discovered DCMA had only 3 Master Sergeant (MSgt) slots for the entire United States. As a MSgt myself, I felt the odds of landing a DCMA position was slim. The DCMA had a program called the Contingency Contracting Administration Services (CCAS) and it would allow me to deploy to Iraq. I volunteered for this program. I wanted to be in the heart of it in the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq and I wanted to be there for Christmas 2004.

After I arrived in the Green Zone I learned my assignment was to oversee the KBR LOGCAP III contract. They sent me as a Contracts Administrator. But, because an unlimited warrant was needed (the authorization to approve contract actions needed an unlimited dollar authority – which I did not have) I ended up working with U.S. Air Force Major Jimmy Hammonds in Operations and assisted Contracting Officer, Navy Lt., Russell Baum.

DCMA wrote Letters Of Technical Direction (LOTD) which were nothing more than open checkbooks to KBR. LOTD’s were written for any item that was floated and approved by the State Department Liaison Officer, Harold Price. I must have heard the speech a hundred times. DCMA supported 1700 organizations in the Green Zone and 60 cents on the dollar was going for life-support services that KBR was contracted to do. This included living accommodations, trailers, water, 5 DFACs (Dining Facilities), soft cars, hard cars (armored) with maintenance and fuel, offices, office supplies and equipment, and so on. 40 cents on the dollar was spent in the Green Zone on the military. As a part of their support contracts KBR supported the DCMA as well. This conflict if interest is established.

Aftermath of Iraq car bomb (Courtesy of Keven L. Barnes)

Car bombs went off at a rate of 2 or 3 times each morning and rockets and mortars rained in daily. We had a new Quality Assurance Representative (QAR), named John Golden. He had just arrived in the Green Zone in early January. I advised him if KBR needed to have something signed off at one of the 6 Green Zone checkpoints, it would be wise not to go in the mornings because the car bombs went off daily in the morning. “Maybe go in the afternoon” I recommended. 45 minutes later at approximately 3:30pm a huge car bomb went off at a nearby checkpoint. He gave me an odd look and I said, “Maybe that isn’t such a good time either.” The “insurgents” were targeting the Green Zone checkpoints trying to kill Iraqi workers who were working for American companies in the Green Zone and they were succeeding.

At first people would dive under desks at every car bomb, mortar and rocket. But and after a couple of weeks, we didn’t even miss a keystroke. We would turn our air conditioning up and pull our body armor over for a blanket. The only time we might get running was if giant footsteps were approaching which were mortars getting “walked in” – then it was time to get moving.

The morning of the January 29, 2005, was the day of Iraq’s first elections and I had to hand it to them – they kept voting despite vest bombers going off in the lines. By 10 AM I heard 80 vest bombers blow up within earshot of the Republican Palace in the Green Zone and it continued all day. Early that evening I heard what I thought was an F-15 fly across the top of my trailer. This was no F-15, it was a rocket, but unlike other rockets I had seen there was no flash as it disappeared into the side of the South wing of the U.S. Embassy. This rocket flew in from over 9 miles away and killed civilian Barbara Heald and Navy Lt CDR Keith Taylor . That rocket came in at a high angle and ricocheted off the floor and killing Ms. Heald. It ricocheted again hitting the Lt Commander killing him and injuring several others.

The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) worked out of the room adjacent to Ms. Heald. DCMA Commander Colonel Miles ordered anything with blood on it was to be burned in the KBR Burn Pit located in the Green Zone and DCMA QAR John Golden was to oversee it. John Golden was left unprotected wearing only his body armor, in the open and exposed to the “other” side of the Tigris River. Known to all of us as “The Red Zone”. It took 3 long days to dispose of the the bloody refuse. At this point Mr. John Golden chose to resign.

It was then I was appointed the lone DCMA Quality Assurance Representative (QAR) for the entire Green Zone. I didn’t think DCMA could be too serious about oversight if I was being appointed to take over the duty. I receive no training and no instructions. I was just the token DCMA QAR. There were 42 KBR Statement of Procedures (SOP) I was apparently required to inspect. Unsure of what I was required to do to perform these task, I contacted two QAR’s from Camp Victory. They gave me the checklists they used and said just inspect to those standards.

When I initially tried to inspect KBR’s compliance with the 42 SOP’s, KBR’s own Contract Administrator Taryk Ferris tried to inform me “KBR really didn’t agree to that. Those SOP’s were just sort of advisory.” Evidently that tactic had worked in the past. When I discussed this KBR response with my QAR counterparts from Camp Victory, they pointedly informed Mr. Ferris and the KBR Project Manager there would be inspections and they needed to get ready. As I listened to this conversation (actually it was more of a scolding) I was thinking “Get ready?”. Being inspected to the SOP’s was apparently a new and disturbing concept to KBR. I wondered just how long the DCMA had NOT been inspecting KBR to the SOPs? What had the previous QARs been doing? Apparently nothing if KBR somehow thought that 42 Statement of Procedures (SOP’s) were only “suggestions”? I experienced first hand how KBR wanted me to sign off on inspections over a cup of coffee. I was asked to sign off on 9 smoke detectors in US Ambassador Negroponte’s villa – that were never installed. How hard was that to get done? Two screws or self-adhesive and they simply were not there and yet I was expected to sign it off as complete. I saw project after project not completed.

I think that is enough for my introductory post at MsSparky.com. I have volumes to share and I have the documents and photos to support my claims. Nothing classified of course. If anyone thinks KBR has had adequate oversight on their LOGCAP III contract they are sorely mistaken.

Posted in A Soldiers Story, CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR Contract, LOGCAP III - KBR. Tags: Barbara Heald, DCMA, Defense Contract Management Agency, KBR, Keven L. Barnes, Lt CDR Keith Taylor. 9 Comments »

Contractor Crime – Is it finally impacting their bottom line? This week’s updates

August 15, 2010 — Forseti

Agility auditors warn on U.S. suspension impact
KUWAIT (Reuters) – August 15, 2010 – A prolonged suspension of U.S. contracts could have a material impact on government-related businesses of Kuwait’s logistics firm Agility(AGLT.KW), the firm’s auditors said on Sunday.

Agility, formerly Public Warehousing Co. K.S.C. (PWC), is facing U.S. fraud charges for overcharging the military in contracts worth $8.5 billion spanning more than three years.

“Prolonged suspension could have a material impact on the Group’s government related business and may result in the associated assets being impaired,” auditors Ernst & Young and Kuwait’s Albazie & Co said in a report. (Click HERE for article)

Tiny toxic town takes on a corporate Goliath
RONNIE GREENE – August 14, 2010 – The main drag in this tiny blue collar hamlet is nearly hidden west of U.S. 301, a world away from the bustle of nearby Carrabba’s, The Fresh Market and Starbucks. Tallevast Road lacks sidewalks, so if you’re walking through town, tread gingerly to avoid the work trucks rumbling through. A long-closed plant anchors one end of town, hovering like the ghost of dead industry.
Yet Tallevast retains a small town richness, where news spreads word of mouth, neighbors are often kin, and many, though not all, of the 80 homes maintain the well-kept look of the working class.

Environmental contamination threatens to destroy this historic black town and its heritage. In one of the nation’s most emotional environmental divides, the residents find themselves pitted against giant defense contractor Lockheed Martin, Manatee County, and the state of Florida.

The divide takes root at the former American Beryllium Company plant, anchoring five acres at 1600 Tallevast Road across from a community church. Opened in 1961 and shuttered in 1996, the plant manufactured machine parts for nuclear weapons using beryllium-containing metals. Workers inhaled hazardous dust and handled a toxic degreaser that cleaned machine parts. (Click HERE for article)

US settles Ala. defense contractor’s claims
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) – August 13, 2010 – Defense contractor Alex Latifi will be awarded $290,000 by the federal government to settle claims related to a failed prosecution of Latifi and his company.

Latifi’s companym Axion Corp. is also back doing business with the U.S. government that accused him in 2007 of sending secrets to China.

The government had charged that Latifi sent classified information to China related to the design of the Blackhawk helicopter and faked testing on government-contracted work.

Jim Barger, 1 of Latifi’s attorneys, says his client feels vindicated and has no ill will toward the government.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, says Vance’s office conferred with Justice Department officials and decided a settlement was in the country’s best interests. (Click HERE for article)

Former Defense Department Contract Employee Pleads Guilty to Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme Related to Contracts in Support of Iraqi War
August 11, 2010 – A former contract employee of the U.S. Defense Department (DoD) pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to bribe U.S. Army contracting officials stationed at Camp Arifjan, an Army base in Kuwait, and to money laundering conspiracy, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer for the Criminal Division.

According to the court documents filed today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Wajdi Birjas, 39, of Evansville, Ind., was a contract employee in the Host Nation Affairs office at Camp Arifjan between approximately 2004 and August 2007. In this position, his responsibilities included identifying Kuwaiti companies able to provide certain goods and services to the U.S. military in Kuwait. Through his work, Birjas had frequent contact with Army contracting officials, including officials who were regularly receiving unlawful payments from individuals who had contracts with, or were seeking contracts from, DoD. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Lawsuit status for the Qarmat Ali troops

August 6, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Attorney Doyle Raizner clears up the confusion on the lawsuit status for the National Guard Troops exposed to deadly Haxavalent chromium at Qarmat Ali in Iraq.

There have been several important developments in the fight to uncover KBR’s conduct in knowingly exposing the men at KBR’s Qarmat Ali project to dangerous toxins. But first, it is with great sadness that all of us express our condolences to Sabrina and the McManaway family on Mark’s passing. The Indiana/Texas lawsuit was brought in Mark’s name, and we will continue the fight in his name and for his family and the men with whom he served. (Read the rest of the story here…)