Ethics Watchdog Will Report Violations To Government

As part of a deal being negotiated with the Air Force, Boeing has hired an outside ethics watchdog to look over its shoulder in the wake of two major defense contracting scandals.

"This will be a good thing for the Air Force and certainly a good thing for Boeing as we restore the customer’s confidence in us as a company operating with the highest standards of integrity," said spokesman Dan Beck.

He refused to name the monitor chosen by Boeing. But the special compliance officer will be charged with alerting the government if what one Boeing executive called "rogue elements" within the company breach government regulations in the future. The monitor will file regular reports with the Pentagon and note any irregularities, no matter how small.

Several scandals have rocked the aerospace giant, ranging from illegally obtaining competitors' proprietary information on both the missile defense program and the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle contract to luring away the Air Force negotiator in charge of overseeing the 767 tanker deal -- before the deal was completed. In the wake of those scandals, Boeing is ineligible for Air Force rocket contracts and the tanker deal has been temporarily shelved.

Boeing's PR department is in high gear on the tanker deal. The company took out newspaper ads in several cities, pointing out the need to replace America's aging KC-135 tanker fleet with new 767s and defending the deal that it struck with the Air Force.

FMI: www.boeing.com