Top Officials' Names Censored From Report on Lawbreaking

[dissent1977]

Jun 9 - Government censors redacted 45 names from a report charging that Pentagon officials broke laws in negotiations with aircraft manufacturer Boeing. Based on the context in which the blacked-out names appear, some could be White House officials.

The 250-plus-page report was delivered to Congress by Joseph E. Schmitz, the Defense Department’s inspector general. In clearing the way for the $23 billion plan to lease as many as 100 refueling tankers from Boeing, the report charges, several top Air Force officials violated laws and regulations imposed on the handling of government contracts.

Questions about the deal were raised over a year ago, halting the Pentagon’s acquisition and spurring the inspector general’s report.

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Many of the 45 redactions appear directly before or directly after discussions of White House actions in regard to the Boeing deal. At a press conference yesterday, in response to repeated questioning on whether the president would allow the blacked-out names to be made public, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan dismissed the redacting of names as a "jurisdictional matter."

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