IG Report Names Names, Says USAF Almost Guilty Of "Major
Violations"
Air Force officials
were in such a hurry to approve the Boeing 767 tanker
lease/purchase deal that, had the deal not fallen through in the
midst of a scandal, they would have committed "major legal
violations" just to get the $23 billion deal done.
That word comes in a new report to Congress from the Pentagon's
inspector general, which says the Air Force "demonstrated neither
best business practices nor prudent acquisition procedures to
provide sufficient accountability for the expenditure of $23.5
billion." The report was quoted by the New York Times.
As ANN reported earlier this month, the 270-page
Pentagon postmortem said Air Force negotiator-turned-Boeing
executive Darleen Druyun wasn't the only one to blame in the tanker
scandal. Druyun is now serving time in a federal
prison for trading that Boeing job for her support in the tanker
negotiations.
The plan to replace aging KC-135 tankers with modified Boeing
767s fell through after it was severely criticized as being far too
generous to Boeing. Now, Boeing has to once again compete for the
contract, with Airbus promising to build a US manufacturing plant
if it's awarded the tanker deal.
In the IG report -- and
in testimony on Capitol Hill Tuesday -- the former acquisitions
chief for the Pentagon, Edward "Pete" Aldridge, Jr. (right), was
blasted for failing to properly oversee the lease/purchase
contract. Aldridge refused to be interviewed for the Pentagon IG
report. He continues to maintain his silence as he now serves on
the Board of Directors at Lockheed-Martin.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an early and vocal critic of the tanker
deal, said Aldridge flat-out lied when, in approving the project,
he said a Pentagon leasing committee had given its support. In
fact, the report said, the leasing board never met on the
issue.
What You Don't See
The report was heavily edited, leading one Democrat -- Michigan
Senator Carl Levin -- to harshly criticize what he sees as White
House interference. Levin wants to know more about the role
President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, played in
pushing the tanker deal through the approval process.
Omission of this information makes the report so incomplete as
to be misleading," Levin told the Times.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Card wasn't using
undue influence in the deal. Rather, McClellan said, Card acted as
an "honest broker" during the negotiations.
Apologizing For The Raspberries
The report also criticized General John Jumper, USAF Chief of
Staff, and acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez, for
internal USAF emails that were sharply critical -- and sometimes
mocking -- of Sen. McCain.
Called on the carpet, Jumper (below, right) told the Senate
Armed Services Committee, "My apologies to the members of the
committee, and especially to Senator McCain, especially for the
tone of some of the e-mails that were reported in the Pentagon
inspector general's report." Jumper called the comments
"unprofessional and not worthy of a great Air Force."
Indeed, the entire
process was criticized as unworthy of " a great Air Force." Sen.
John Warner (R-VA) said Pentagon attempts to saddle weapons
procurer Druyun with the entire blame were really attempts to
hide a much deeper problem.
"Druyun did not operate in a vacuum," Warner told the Times.
"[A]t a minimum, it appears that the acquisition chain of the Air
Force, and perhaps the Department of Defense, was seriously
inadequate."