Interview with Cartagena “Escort” involved in Secret Service scandal (May 2012)
Pierre Thomas and Jason Ryan – (ABC News) – May 22, 2012 – A month after the Secret Service was rocked by allegations that agents brought prostitutes to a Colombia hotel where they were preparing for a visit by President Obama, the Drug Enforcement Administration today announced that at least three of its agents are also under investigation for allegedly hiring prostitutes in Cartagena.
Of course, these pale in comparison to the $31 to $60 billion dollars in waste in Iraq and Afghanistan, but are certainly problematic in these tough economic times. ~Scott Amey, POGO General Counsel
Capital Hill is appalled and outraged over the $822,000 spent at a conference in Las Vegas and are busy investigating and pointing partisan fingers. It is almost as if this is the first incident of a government agency misappropriating taxpayer funds. According to news reports there are two committees rigorously investigating GSA and the agency’s wasteful spending habits. Hearings are scheduled and by gosh the politcal pundits are going to get to the bottom of this! Read the remainder of this entry »
David Isenberg – (Huffington Post) – On March 27 the Technology, Informational Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing, “Labor Abuses, Human Trafficking, and Government Contracts: Is the Government Doing Enough to Protect Vulnerable Workers?”
This is a subject of more than passing interest to me because last year I wrote a report, published June 14, and commissioned by the Project on Government Oversight, on the exploitation and abuse of the workers of a KBR subcontractor. I subsequently testified at a Nov. 2, 2011 hearing about that report before this very subcommittee.
The Department of Defense plans to exempt records of internal law enforcement investigations from Privacy Act disclosure requirements.
The act, which governs record systems maintained by federal agencies, normally requires that individuals be allowed to view records that pertain to them unless the records were gathered for law enforcement purposes, congressional investigations or administrative purposes where the identity of the individual is not disclosed such as census records.
The exemption would allow the DoD to neither confirm nor deny the existence of such records to individuals and government agencies, when disclosure could reveal the existence of an ongoing investigation.
The public may comment on the DoD proposal until May 15. ~Travis Sanford, Courthouse News
Guard Officer Recalls Night Of Alleged Rape
Says current commander got out of car with woman near beach, returned alone
Sean P Murphy and Andrea Estes – (Boston Globe) – March 31, 2012 – A National Guard officer said he remembers the night in 1984 when a woman says she was raped by the current commander of the Massachusetts National Guard, recalling that Joseph C. Carter got out of the car with the woman near a Florida beach, but returned alone.
Carter, who was placed on administrative leave Thursday by Governor Deval Patrick while the Army investigates the rape allegations, denies the attack and insists he has no recollection of Susan Pelletier, who accused him of raping her and agreed to let her name be used.
But Charles Mouris, who in 1984 was a captain and Carter’s superior in a military police unit, clearly remembered Pelletier becoming nauseated as the trio rode together in a car after an evening of socializing at a Florida restaurant. Mouris said Carter escorted a wobbly Pelletier from the car and returned alone sometime later, saying nothing about Pelletier.
“I said to Carter, `Are we all set?’ and he said, `Yes,’ ” said Mouris in an interview at his home. Mouris said he and Carter drove away, leaving Pelletier – who had been vomiting – behind, though Mouris pointed out that the restaurant where they had been socializing was only about a quarter-mile away.
Mouris said he was never questioned about the evening again until January of this year, when an Army investigator interviewed him about the event for approximately 40 minutes. Mouris declined to say what he told the investigator about the alleged rape, but said he answered all the investigator’s questions completely. (Click HERE for article)
Kuwait’s Agility Q4 net profit rises 114 pct
(Reuters) – March 31, 2012 – Kuwait’s Agility, the logistics firm facing U.S. fraud charges, posted a 114-percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit compared with the same period in 2010, the firm said in a statement on Saturday.
Dana Liebelson – (POGO) – March 28, 2012 – U.S. taxpayers unknowingly fund human trafficking in Iraq and Afghanistan because of poor contractor oversight–but bipartisan Members of Congress are cracking down on this deplorable crime. A new bill introduced on Monday in the House and the Senate incorporates many of POGO’s recommendations for stopping U.S. contractors and subcontractors from getting away with modern-day slavery. Some contractors may complain, but both versions of the bill deserve resounding support from the public.
The End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act (S. 2234 and H.R. 4259) is sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) respectively, along with many notable cosponsors. The legislation is the long-awaited response to a variety of reports from war zones over the course of several years—including the Commission on Wartime Contracting’s final report, which found “tragic evidence of the recurrent problem of trafficking in persons by labor brokers or subcontractors of contingency contractors.”
POGO Director of Investigations Nick Schwellenbach testified before a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on this issue in November.
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