Last weekend I got my first hint there was something amiss at KBR Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. (we all know there is something amiss with KBR…..I mean something specific!) I was told that allegedly Mr. William “Bill” Walter and Mr. Michael Hatch were no longer employed by KBR. I have been told they were “fired” and also I have been told they “resigned”.
On top of that there are the “not so insignificant” number hits I am getting from internet search engines like this one below:
Fort Belvoir, Virginia arrived from google.com on “» DFAC” by searching for Bill Walter & KBR & Fired. 14:55:46 — (this one was from 03/05/2010)
William (Bill) Walter – Some internet references refer to Mr. Walter as Senior Vice President for Government Compliance. Others refer to Mr. Walter as Director of Government Compliance for KBR’s Government Operations unit. Either way, according the Halliburton/KBR’s site Mr. Walter has overall responsibility for all U.S. government compliance functions, including Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audits and government interface, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) compliance, cost accounting standards, pricing compliance, training and compliance policy. Mr. Walter has more than 15 years as a leading defense industry compliance consultant.
Up is down, night is day, and now, in the best tradition of George Orwell’s 1984 newspeak KBR — the company that was the subject of a recent Department of Defense Inspect General report that found that the Army broke federal procurement rules in 2004, when two commanding generals improperly directed a contracting officer to pay millions of dollars in fees to KBR Inc., when funds should have been withheld, per the language in the contract with KBR – has been awarded its first task order under the newest version of LOGCAP.
For those who don’t know, LOGCAP is the mother of all logistics support contracts. Without it the U.S. Army simply can’t function.
The award also comes just a week after the Army announced that KBR would not be awarded $25 million in bonuses under the LOGCAP III Iraq support contract because KBR “failed to meet a level deserving of an award fee payment for work it did during the first four months of 2008.” Although the Army did not specifically cite it when announcing the withholding of the payment KBR’s “failed” work occurred during the time a Green Beret was electrocuted in a barracks shower in Iraq KBR was responsible for maintaining. (Read the rest of the story here…)
By Andrea Shalal-Esa – 7:31pm EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday questioned the Army’s continued use of KBR Inc for logistics work in Iraq in the face of confirmed reports of poor past performance.
Representative Edolphus Towns, who heads the House Oversight Committee, wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates to question the Army’s decision to award KBR a new contract valued at up to $2.8 billion despite a wide array of problems.
Towns, citing problems with KBR’s maintenance of electrical systems at bases where U.S. troops were fatally electrocuted and “numerous allegations of waste, fraud, and abuse,” asked Gates to provide the committee with a wide array of documents about the KBR contract by March 17.
“It seems inconceivable to me that the Defense Department would award this new contract to KBR in Iraq,” Towns said, citing the company’s “poor past performance.”
“When multiple deaths of service men and women are not enough to preclude the award of a new contract, it makes me wonder what it takes for a contractor to be fired.” (Read the rest of the story here…)
American Chronicle – Congressional Desk
February 26, 2010
Former Task Force SAFE Electrical Subject Matter Expert James Childs testifies before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee about the shoddy electrical work performed by KBR. Cheryl Harris, SSG Ryan Maseth's mother, sheds a tear as she listens to why her son was electrocuted and died in his shower in Baghdad on January 2, 2008.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who chaired Senate hearings on electrocutions of soldiers in Iraq resulting from shoddy contracting work by KBR, said Thursday the Army´s decision to deny million of dollars in bonuses to the firm for its 2008 work in Iraq “is the right call, but it is only a first step.”
Dorgan chaired two Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) hearings in 2008 and 2009 on KBR´s shoddy electrical work in Iraq. The hearings revealed widespread problems with KBR´s electrical work there including countless electrical shocks including one that killed Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, and perhaps others, and injured dozens more on their own bases as they showered and engaged in other routine activities.
Following the hearings, Dorgan and Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) wrote the Army asking that it review KBR´s work and the electrocution death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth. They also asked the Army to re-evaluate the millions of dollars in bonuses it has routinely awarded KBR for supposedly excellent work, even when the Army´s own evidence made clear it was highly questionable.
The Army´s investigation of Maseth´s January 2008 death found that KBR´s work exposed soldiers to “unacceptable risk.” A theatre-wide safety review that resulted from the Dorgan-Casey request — Task Force SAFE — also found widespread problems with KBR´s electrical work that exposed soldiers to life threatening risks. (Read the rest of the story here…)
They didn’t just lose $25M….they got ZERO! This is a classic example of how one person can make a difference. I do believe KBR underestimated Cheryl Harris’ tenacity. I applaud you Cheryl!
Contractor linked to Iraq death loses $25M in fees
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
Feb 24, 10:42 PM EST
Cheryl Harris with her son Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth. Ryan, 24, was electrocuted in his shower in Iraq on Jan. 2, 2008. Cheryl has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against KBR. That suit is currently sitting in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals awaiting a decision.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Military contractor KBR has lost about $25 million in bonuses from the government because of “failed” worked done in Iraq during the time a Green Beret was electrocuted in a barracks shower it was responsible for maintaining.
The U.S. Army Sustainment Command said in a statement released to The Associated Press Wednesday night that the Houston-based company failed to meet a level deserving of an award fee payment for work it did during the first four months of 2008. Award fees are written into contracts as an incentive for the contractors to do quality work.
The Army statement did not specifically mention the January 2008 death of 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth of Pittsburgh in the statement but said a task force that has extensively reviewed electrical work in Iraq was consulted in making the decision as was the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, which investigated Maseth’s death, but did not press charges against KBR.
Dan Carlson, a spokesman for the Army Sustainment Command, said in an e-mail that “multiple factors” led to the decision. (Read the rest of the story here…)
Report finds Army broke contracting regulations in Iraq
Govexec.com – By Robert Brodsky - February 23, 2010
The Army broke federal procurement rules in 2004, when two commanding generals improperly directed a contracting officer to pay millions of dollars in fees to KBR Inc., according to a report released on Monday by the Defense Department inspector general.
Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the Army Sustainment Command should have withheld 15 percent of its payments to KBR under a cost-reimbursement task order through the massive Logistics Civil Augmentation Program III, because terms and price had not been finalized.
But when a contracting officer tried to withhold the funds, she was overruled by Army leaders who said KBR warned the move could hurt battlefield operations. (Read the rest of the story here…)
Bonny Island Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Plant - Nigeria
The US government is asking to extradite two men from the UK to face charges that they were involved in bribery to help US services outfit KBR win work for the Bonny Island LNG plant off Nigeria.
A US prosecutor said Wojciech Chodan, 72, should be moved to Texas to stand trial on changes that he helped funnel more than $100 million in bribes to Nigerian officials on behalf of KBR.
If convicted, Chodan could face up to 55 years in jail, according to a report in the UK Guardian.
Chodan worked for Halliburton and at the time of the bribes, KBR was a Halliburton subsidiary.
It was subsequently spun off.
Halliburton and other companies involved in the scheme agreed to pay a $579 million fine last year in connection to the charges.
District Judge Caroline Tubbs is expected to give a verdict in the hearing on 20 April, the Guardian reported.
The US is also trying to extradite London lawyer Jeffrey Tesler on charges that he helped launder some of the money paid out in bribes. (click HERE for original article)
There is confusing information coming out of Nigeria about the status of a domestic investigation into the KBR-Halliburton element of the TSKJ consortium bribery scandal.
The consortium — equally owned by KBR (a former subsidiary of Halliburton), France’s Technip, Italy’s Snamprogetti, and Japan Gasoline Corp. — has been under investigation by the DOJ and SEC since 2004 for a variety of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges connected to a $100 million bribery scheme to secure liquefied natural gas contracts in Nigeria worth some $6 billion. (Read the rest of the story here…)
KBR Tells Court It Was Following Military Orders When Employees Burned Toxic Waste in Open Pits The military’s largest contractor is trying to avoid liability for health risks associated with burn pits to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the truth is emerging.
In October a class action suit combining 22 lawsuits from 43 states was filed in US District Court in Maryland against KBR, Halliburton, and other military contractors for damages to health from open air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to plaintiffs’ lawyers the military contracting giant had been paid millions of dollars to safely dispose of waste on bases but negligently burned refuse in open pits, spewing toxins, including known carcinogens, into the air. Last week, KBR sought to dismiss the charges. Their tack was not to deny that they burned lithium batteries, petroleum, asbestos, trucks, cars, paint, plastic, Styrofoam, medical waste including human limbs, and more, as the soldiers have charged, but to challenge their liability for any ensuing problems. According to KBR’s press fact sheet on the suit, the Army, not KBR, decides if a burn pit or an incinerator will be used, where it will be built in relation to living and working facilities, and what it can burn. KBR insists it was and is still just “performing under the direction and control of military commanders in the field.” In short, they were only following orders and the soldiers are going after the wrong guy. (Read the rest of the story here…)
British veteran joins W.Va. National Guard lawsuit
By Andrew Clevenger – February 4, 2010
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A retired sergeant of the Royal Air Force has joined members of the West Virginia National Guard in a lawsuit alleging that they were exposed to a toxic chemical by a government contractor in Iraq in 2003, becoming the first British veteran to sue over the exposure.
In an amended complaint filed Thursday in federal court in West Virginia’s Northern District, Andrew M. Tosh, 44, of Lincolnshire, United Kingdom, maintains that officials with KBR Inc. knew about dangerous levels of sodium dichromate, a potent carcinogen, at the Qarmat Ali water-treatment plant months before they informed American and British troops guarding the facility. (Read the rest of the story here…)
"Hear No Evil - See No Evil - Speak No Evil" KBR employees from Left to Right (L) Richard Harsey-Plumber-Camp Harper (C) Rick Solomon-Security Coordinator-Camp Harper (R) Eric Barnhart- Security Manager for T-Sites including Camp Harper (photo allegedly taken by William Risner Feb 2008)
Raped and Drugged at KBR, Woman Says
By CAMERON LANGFORD – Courthouse News Service – January 29, 2010
HOUSTON (CN) – At least two fellow workers drugged, raped and sodomized a paramedic working for Kellogg Brown and Root in Iraq, after KBR failed to warn her about the numerous sexual assaults that KBR employees had inflicted upon other women there, the woman says in a federal complaint.
The plaintiff was hired as a paramedic/medic in July 2007 and after her first assignment in Iraq was assigned to Camp Harper outside of Basra, where she says she was brutalized on Feb. 3, 2008.
She says she began to feel strange after drinking a screwdriver with some of her civilian colleagues after work that night on base. While she was incapacitated, she says William Risner, a KBR employee, led her to his room where Risner and a “special forces agent” identified only as “Jason” raped and sodomized her together, she says. (Read the rest of the story here…)
Looks like the long arm of the law is finally reaching out and bitch slapping some of the contracting cronies and culprits who believe the law does not apply to them. All I have to say is, “IT’S ABOUT TIME!”
The Department of Justice (DoJ) seems to be getting serious about enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Last year’s record breaking settlement with Halliburton and KBR to the tune of $579 million appears to have been only the beginning. Last week the DoJ unsealed indictments against 22 high ranking individuals working for undisclosed (in the indictments) Defense contractors and then followed up with an indictment for one of their very own undercover operatives, Richard Bistrong, who helped them sting the first 22 alleged wrong doers. (Read the rest of the story here…)
Soldiers Fight in the Courts Over Liability in War Zones
By DIONNE SEARCEY – JANUARY 7, 2010
LTC James C. Gentry Indiana National Guard Commander died November 26, 2009 of exposure to sodium dichromate from Qarmat Ali
A recent lawsuit brought by a group of Indiana National Guardsman spotlights a controversial legal doctrine that prevents soldiers on active duty from seeking compensation for injuries sustained in war zones.
The guardsman allege that a mission to help clean up a water treatment plant in southern Iraq left them with what they say are potentially fatal illnesses.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Indiana, the Guardsmen allege that oil company KBR Inc. “disregarded and downplayed” the fact that the site at Qarmat Ali was coated with the hazardous chemical sodium dichromate. They were exposed, they say, to the chemical that is used as an industrial anti-corrosive agent to protect pipes.
As a result, the soldiers suffered “unprotected, unknowing, direct exposure to one of the most potent carcinogens and mutagenic substances known to man,” alleges the suit, which seeks monetary compensation for health problems the soldiers say they have suffered. (Read the rest of the story here…)
By Julie Sullivan December 28, 2009
ROCKAWAY — The Naylor living room is all playroom, cleared to toddle, cuddle and roll. But when Dad’s home, the children often head to the back bedroom to play quietly with Mom.
Six years after Guy Naylor returned from Iraq, he can’t stand the clamor of his own family. The soft-spoken dialysis technician shouted at other drivers so often, his family moved to Rockaway to escape Portland traffic. The medic who ran every day has gained 80 pounds. Joint pain wakes him. He coughs so much, his patients constantly ask if he has a cold. He swallows nine different medications a day. Up from none. (Read the rest of the story here…)
This article was first published in Germany on Dec 10, 2009 and has been translated from German to English for this article (this is my disclaimer):
SST Truck Iraq - Unknown operators dumping raw sewage
Services worth millions in Afghanistan
German armed forces awarded contracts without advertising
German armed forces must justify themselves for procurements worth millions for their mission in Afghanistan. For years according to the information of NDRInfo German Bundeswehr contracted the service provider Ecolog without tendering. The official’s association of the German armed forces VBB sees the ministry of defense in the duty.
By Christoph Heinzle and Benjamin Grosskopff, NDRInfo
For their ISAF camps in Afghanistan German armed forces have awarded for years orders worth millions to a private service provider without tendering, North German radio station NDRInfo reported. Besides, employees of the commissioned Dusseldorf company Ecolog AG are or were investigated by international authorities because of the suspicion of drug offence and money laundering. Germans never looked into the relations to Ecolog in detail according to an insider: “One can have an interest to get to know his business partner – but the armed forces never had this interest according to my observation.” (Read the rest of the story here…)
A New Job for Cast-Off Soviet Pilots and Planes: Global Arms Trafficking
By Simon Shuster / Kiev Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009
It was no ordinary smuggling bust. On Dec. 11, an old Russian plane landed in Thailand to refuel after taking off hours earlier from Pyongyang, North Korea. In its hull, police found 35 tons of explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and components for surface-to-air missiles, all being transported from North Korea in breach of U.N. sanctions. The captain and his crew were promptly arrested and charged with illegally transporting arms. But according to experts, they were only tiny cogs in a global network for arms trafficking that feeds off the castaway pilots and planes of the former Soviet Union. Suspected smugglers like Russian Viktor Bout have used the system to transport weapons, as have huge U.S. military contractors like Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), though not for illegal purposes. And while the flight crews like the one stopped in Thailand face the prospect of long prison terms, the people behind this global arms-shipping service remain hidden in the shadows. (Read the rest of the story here…)
By JENNIFER A. DLOUHY
Houston Chronicle
Dec. 16, 2009, 7:39PM
WASHINGTON— Prompted by the alleged rape of former KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones, Congress is poised to pass a measure banning defense contractors from forcing employees to use arbitration to resolve claims of discrimination and sexual assault.
House and Senate negotiators agreed to include the no-arbitration provision in a $636 billion defense spending bill that passed the House 395-34 on Wednesday. The measure now heads to the Senate, which is expected to pass it before Christmas.
Employers and other potential lawsuit targets generally prefer binding arbitration because it keeps disputes out of the court system, where juries can inflict damaging verdicts. (Read the rest of the story here…)
NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Indiana National Guardsman Lt. Col. Jim Gentry has been given the dubious distinction of being the first American soldier known to die from exposure to a cancer-causing toxin while serving in Iraq.
Gentry, 52, of Williams, just north of the Hoosier National Forest, died of lung cancer more than a week ago. He was buried Tuesday in New Albany.
The carcinogen was hexavalent chromium. It has been linked to leukemia and several kinds of cancers, as well as to liver and kidney damage. The Iraqis had used it to prevent corrosion in pipes used to pump water into the ground at an oil-pumping site.
The rust-colored poison was blown onto the clothes and into the faces of hundreds of unknowing soldiers in one of southern Iraq’s wind-swept deserts.
“I’m dying now because of it,” Gentry said 11 months ago while answering questions from lawyers embroiled in a legal battle over who is to blame for hundreds of soldiers’ exposure to the chemical.
Gentry, of the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry of the Indiana National Guard, commanded more than 600 soldiers in Iraq, including about 140 from Indiana.
He is included among a growing group of those soldiers who are suing Houston-based defense contractor KBR Inc., which the soldiers blame for not properly protecting them.
In the early stages of the war in 2003, the Qarmat Ali facility, which pumped water into the ground to boost oil production, was looted and abandoned. KBR, then a subsidiary of Halliburton, was hired to rebuild the facility and restart operations there.
Reports have indicated that upon abandoning the plant, Iraqis slashed open containers in which the toxin was stored. The frequent high winds blew the rust-colored chemical onto the ground and into the air around the facility.
American and British soldiers guarding the facility for KBR did not know of the threat and did not wear protective masks or equipment.
Max Costa, the chairman of New York University’s Department of Environmental Medicine, has called hexavalent chromium one of the most potent carcinogens known to man. It was the compound in the California case that inspired the film “Erin Brockovich.”
KBR has denied any wrongdoing. The company has argued that soldiers were exposed for only days or months — not long enough, according to studies it cites, to cause complications. It also cites air quality studies that showed the soldiers were not exposed to high enough levels of hexavalent chromium to be harmed.
However, Costa and others have challenged those air quality studies, saying they were conducted incorrectly.
Soldiers are suing KBR and several subcontractors, alleging that the company knew but didn’t tell the Army about the toxin.
Gentry may not have been the first victim of the exposure. First Sgt. David Moore of Dubois suffered nosebleeds, rashes and difficulty breathing, and he died of lung disease in February 2008. Though Moore was a smoker, his death was ruled service-related.
Gentry retired in 2008 after 22 years of National Guard service, including two trips to Iraq — one of which came after his exposure to sodium dichromate.
“I understand and accept there’s danger with my line of service, in my line of service,” Gentry said in the December 2008 deposition. “What’s very difficult for me to accept is if I’m working for KBR and they have knowledge of hazardous chemicals on the ground that can cause cancer and (they don’t) share that knowledge, then that is putting my men atrisk that is unnecessary.
Former KBR employee Edward Blacke — who worked for the company as its health, safety and environmental coordinator in Iraq — described in a written report to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee what he said were criminally negligent actions that led to illnesses such as Gentry’s.
A trained emergency medical technician, Blacke said soldiers and contractors alike were showing similar symptoms when he arrived at the Qarmat Ali facility. They were coughing up blood, dealing with severe eye, nose and throat irritation and struggling to breathe.
Along with an Iraqi interpreter, Blacke checked the slashed-open bags and discovered that they contained sodium dichromate, which contains hexavalent chromium.
“He (the interpreter) was reluctant to say more, and when pressed, he said he knew it was poisonous and that he was aware of many workers from the plant who were made ill by it,” Blacke told the committee.
After digging in, Blacke said he was “totally taken aback” to find that KBR knew as early as May 2003 of the toxin’s presence, but it ignored both a United Nations report and an internal report and failed to notify its workers there and the soldiers who were guarding the plant.
He said KBR held a meeting at Qarmat Ali to discuss the toxin with workers. At the meeting, company health officials claimed sodium dichromate is a mild irritant at worst, he said.
After pointing out what he believed were incorrect claims, Blacke said he was told to be quiet by one of his supervisors.
When he failed to quit pressing the matter, Blacke said he was sent home. Blacke suffered health problems himself, but his civil claim was resolved in arbitration because his contract specifically prevented him from suing the company.
KBR and Halliburton have argued that the air at the plant was tested and showed low levels of the toxin. Blacke said the tests were performed when the air was still, rather than during one of the frequent dust storms.
U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., has followed developments related to the soldiers’ exposure to hexavalent chromium. He has introduced legislation that would help ensure the soldiers receive medical treatment.
That bill would create a registry modeled after one created for those who were exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam. It would ensure that veterans who experience complications that could be related to exposure to harmful chemicals receive the benefit of the doubt by leaving it up to the Department of Veterans Affairs to prove that their illness is not related to the exposure.
“I promised Lt. Col. Gentry that I would fight for his men here in Congress. I promised I would use my position to get them the care they deserve and to make sure we protect our soldiers from preventable risks like this in the future,” he said. (Link to original article)
Army snubs KBR under latest combat support services contract
By ELISE CASTELLI | Last Updated: December 2, 2009
The top dog in contracted support services for the military since 2001 has been KBR. As the sole vendor on the LOGCAP III contract, KBR won $37 billion worth of work to provide troops deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait with everything from dining hall and laundry services to recreation and mail delivery.
No more.
In the year since the Army awarded a new, follow-on combat-support services contract — called LOGCAP IV — to three vendors, including KBR, the company has not won any work.
All seven task orders awarded so far — for a variety of support service in Kuwait and Afghanistan — went to the other two vendors on the LOGCAP IV contract: DynCorp and Fluor. Fluor won $500 million worth of work; DynCorp won $750 million. Under the contract, all three vendors must compete for all task orders.
Under LOGCAP IV, which was awarded in June 2007, each of the three companies has the potential of performing $5 billion worth of work per year.
Lee Thompson, executive director of LOGCAP, declined to say why KBR has not won any work under the new contract. Those decisions are “source-selection sensitive,” he said.
But Thompson pointed out that the Army added two additional vendors to the LOGCAP IV contract to generate innovative solutions at the best prices. According to Army solicitations, the key criteria for LOGCAP IV task order awards, in order of importance, were technical skills, past performance and price.
Also, the Army became aware of limitations in having a sole-source arrangement under LOGCAP III. With three vendors, there is another vendor to provide people and services if one or two of the competitors are fully committed elsewhere, Thompson said.
“That’s the whole thing with competition,” Thompson said. “You get that flexibility.”
Auditors repeatedly criticized LOGCAP III’s inflexibility and said the sole-source nature of the contract led to overpricing and shoddy services in some cases.
In a statement, KBR spokeswoman Heather Browne shrugged off the company’s LOGCAP IV losses and LOGCAP III criticism. “KBR will work to maximize our service offerings to the military and therefore maximize our chances of success of obtaining work under LOGCAP IV,” Browne said in a written statement. “No company is better positioned to provide support on LOGCAP IV than KBR.”
In snubbing KBR in the first seven task orders on the contract, the Army apparently sees it differently.
KBR protested three of those decisions before the Government Accountability Office, but was unsuccessful.
In two cases, GAO said KBR lost the competitions because it failed to follow Army instructions. (Link to original article)
A Sample Common Access Card (CAC) from www.cac.mil
I have received countless emails from former KBR employees claiming they have received the email below which states they didn’t turn in their Common Access Card (CAC). But, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the same email after having demob’d (not fired) almost 3 1/2 years ago. Like I told the person who sent me the email, I left Baghdad on July 28, 2006 and turned in my card to a KBR representative at the Baghdad Transit Center (BTC) when asked to do so.
For those who aren’t familiar, a Common Access Card (CAC) is in essence your ID badge for the military. The card is issued to a person who needs access to a military facility such as a military base, PX, dining facility etc. KBR was responsible for issuing and controlling these cards for KBR employees. This is not rocket science, and yet according to a DoD Inspector General report, their claim is KBR can’t seem to get it done and has put our troops and civilians at serious risk in the mean time.
So now what? I say I did turn it in, KBR says I didn’t turn it in. I am interested to see how KBR responds. I’ll let you know.
I removed the name and contact information for the person who sent me the email. She is just doing her job, no need to inundate her with unwanted emails and phone calls.
************************************
Kellogg Brown & Root
From: Name Removed (name removed@kbr.com)
Sent: Tue 11/10/09 12:17 PM
To: Name Removed (name removed@kbr.com)
Common Access Card (CAC) Recovery Plan
Due to a recent audit by the Department of Defense (DOD), it was determined that your Common Access Card (CAC) has not been recorded as being returned when you demobilized / medical leave from the LOGCAP Project.
In an effort to update the DOD’s records, please complete form below and email back so that we may be advised of the status of your CAC ID. If the CAC ID is still in your possession a self-addressed, stamped envelope will be provided for your convenience at your request or you may mail it to the following address. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via email or at the below phone number.
Kellogg Brown & Root 713) 753-XXXX
4100 Clinton Dr. 3/778E
Houston, TX 77020 name removed@kbr.com
KBR LOGCAP III
Attn: (Name Removed)
Name: ______________________________.
Badge #: ____________________________.
Please choose one of the following options: _____________________________ .
(Example: “#1, Turned in, in Baghdad, Iraq 06/06”), (“#4, <company name employed with>”).
- 1. Card turned in. (Please explain when and where)
- 2. Card has been lost.
- 3. Will return the card to KBR. (Indicate if self-addressed self envelope is needed and current address to send envelope).
- 4. Currently employed overseas. (Please indicate which company employment is with).
US LAW GOVERNING IDENTIFICATION CARDS
“United States Code: Section 701, Title 18”
“Whoever manufactures, sells, or posses any badge, identification card, or other insignia, of the design prescribed by the head of any department or agency of the United States for use by any officer or employee thereof, or any colorable imitation thereof, or photographs, prints, or in any other manner makes or executes any engraving, photograph, print, or impression in the likeness of any such badge, identification card, or other insignia, or colorable imitation thereof, except as authorized under regulations pursuant to law, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”
(Name Removed)
CAC Recovery Team
4100 Clinton Dr. 3/778 E
Houston, TX. 77020
(713) 753-XXXX
name removed@kbr.com
This e-mail, including any attached files, may contain confidential and privileged information for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any review, use, distribution, or disclosure by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient (or authorized to receive information for the intended recipient), please contact the sender by reply e-mail and delete all copies of this message.
Iraqi cleaner takes UK to court over alleged sexual harassment
The Times
November 16, 2009
Deborah Haynes
An Iraqi cleaner who claims that she was sexually harassed at the British Embassy and at the ambassador’s residence in Baghdad is taking the Government to court over its alleged failure to investigate her complaints.
The case will challenge a decision by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to allow KBR, the American company contracted to maintain the two premises, to conduct its own investigation into the allegations, rather than carry out an independent inquiry. It will also examine whether the FCO failed to protect the cleaner’s human rights after she allegedly became the victim of sexual harassment by several British KBR managers in 2006 and early 2007.
The cleaner, who is married with five children, said she wants the Government to “give me back my rights and let me regain my dignity”.
Her allegations came as the Ministry of Defence confirmed that it was investigating 33 cases of alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers in southern Iraq from 2003. Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, who is representing the alleged victims, has said that there are hundreds more abuse claims that have not been investigated. Public Interest Lawyers is also representing the cleaner. Tessa Gregory, a solicitor at the law firm, said the embassy case highlighted the impunity with which contractors in Iraq had been allowed to act.
Two Iraqi cooks who worked at the embassy and support the cleaner’s allegations say that there was a culture of sexual harassment by certain KBR managers. No embassy staff are implicated. KBR, a global engineering and services company, denies the allegations. The Times broke the story of the abuse claims and the KBR investigation last year.
The cleaner said a British contractor with KBR offered to double her daily pay if she would stay the night with him. When she refused, she said, her pay was cut and she was later dismissed. She and the two male cooks who also lost their jobs after backing up her story said some KBR managers groped Iraqi staff regularly, paid or otherwise rewarded them for sex and dismissed those who refused or spoke out.
Ms Gregory travelled to Beirut in August to interview the three Iraqis, who were flown to the Lebanese capital from Baghdad. They each made a signed statement documenting their allegations. In her statement, the cleaner describes how she was also allegedly assaulted by a second KBR contractor in a bedroom inside the ambassador’s mansion-style residence in Baghdad’s green zone as she was working. He “came from behind and pushed me violently on to the bed,” the cleaner said. “I struggled and managed to get up off the bed. I pushed him away. As I ran he grabbed me by my shirt but I managed to free myself and I locked myself in the ensuite bathroom.”
The FCO says that this is a new allegation that was not raised initially. Public Interest Lawyers, however, argues that the cleaner has maintained the same set of complaints. The extent of the alleged abuse was not recognised because her allegations were never properly investigated, Ms Gregory added.
KBR said it was “surprised that fresh allegations have arisen relating to this same 2007 incident which KBR considers to have been thoroughly investigated and closed”.
Several days after the alleged incident at the ambassador’s residence, the cleaner was sacked. She subsequently reported the harassment allegations to embassy staff, backed up by testimony from the two cooks.
KBR was called in to investigate, but the three Iraqis said they were never interviewed. The managers, who denied the charges, were reinstated after month-long suspensions with pay. The FCO maintains that it was satisfied with the KBR inquiry and insists that it was correct to allow the Houston-based company to investigate the allegations because they were an internal matter involving KBR employees.
Public Interest Lawyers, which filed an application for judicial review in September, is waiting for a High Court judge to set a hearing date. (click HERE for the original article)
I blogged about this when it initially came up in June (click HERE). The Iraqi women in the Green Zone were very seriously exploited. They were hired for cleaning and administrative jobs. Many had no money and no homes for their children. Their husbands had been killed or just left. They were so desperate for work and safety. Many many took advantage of that. BASTARDS!
Last weekend I got my first hint there was something amiss at KBR Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. (we all know there is something amiss with KBR…..I mean something specific!) I was told that allegedly Mr. William “Bill” Walter and Mr. Michael Hatch were no longer employed by KBR. I have been told they were “fired” and also I have been told they “resigned”.
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The Times