NYT: Pentagon Brass and Military Contractors' Gold

[DeepModem Mom]

Pentagon Brass and Military Contractors' Gold

By LESLIE WAYNE
Published: June 29, 2004


Edward C. Aldridge's storied career exemplifies the dizzying spins of the revolving door between the Pentagon and its military contractors. He has been secretary of the Air Force, president of the McDonnell Douglas Corporation and, most recently, an under secretary of defense.
Now, he is a member of the Lockheed Martin Corporation board, a detail that did not prevent him from being named to head President Bush's commission on space exploration. Lockheed is one of NASA's biggest contractors, and only Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, objected and called for Mr. Aldridge's removal, complaining of conflict of interest.

But Mr. Aldridge, who receives $155,000 a year from Lockheed and owns $115,000 in company stock, stayed put. Last month, the commission called for privatizing much of NASA. One of the biggest potential beneficiaries is United Space Alliance, a Lockheed company that operates the space shuttle and does more business with NASA than any other contractor....

***

For years, the revolving door between the Pentagon and military contractors has spun without much notice in Washington. But the multiple roles played by top Pentagon and government officials, like Mr. Aldridge, who have joined the ranks of military contractors as executives, board members and lobbyists, are now coming under closer scrutiny after a top Air Force official negotiated a lucrative job contract with the Boeing Company while still overseeing Boeing business. This is not the first time Mr. Aldridge's actions have raised eyebrows. Last year, in the month before he left the Pentagon for Lockheed's board, Mr. Aldridge approved a $3 billion contract to build 20 Lockheed F/A-22's, after having long criticized the program as overpriced and having threatened to cancel it.

While the number of people who make such transitions is not tracked by the government, the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington nonprofit group that studies military spending, will issue a report today showing that 288 top government officials since 1997 have taken positions at the 20 largest military contractors at levels high enough that they were disclosed in federal regulatory filings....

(The article adds that "on Capitol Hill, Senator McCain, who heads the Senate Commerce Committee, will hold Congressional hearings soon on the Pentagon's revolving door, the first on the subject in nearly a dozen years." Also: "Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, tried to insert a provision into the 2005 Pentagon spending bill last week to tighten ethics laws, but his effort was beaten back by stiff opposition.")


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/29/business/29door.html

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. The MIC in a nutshell.

[teryang]

2. Who needs ethics?

Their largest shareholders should appoint all government officials and put the money directly into their accounts. Just get rid of the government and we won't need any revolving doors. Think of all the money that could be saved on elections and payroll! Those expenses could directly into corporate coffers.