Congress should divest from defense stocks, Bush appointee says

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Congress should divest from defense stocks, Bush appointee says
By Nathan Diebenow
Sunday, December 19th, 2010 -- 9:36 pm

Members of Congress ought to divest from companies that hold military contracts with the US government, a former Senate appointee that served in the Bush administration, said in a recently published report.

"I am frankly surprised they are allowed to have these investments," Gordon R. England, a deputy defense secretary that served in the Pentagon from 2006-2009, told The Washington Post.

Ethical standards between Congress and its staff and appointees to federal agencies differ, the later of which must sell off their assets in corporations that do business with the government before working for the state.

The prohibition on staff and appointees is in place to prevent them and their family members from taking financial advantage of privileged information.

However, Congress is privy to the same information, some of which contains classified plans on expensive weapon systems.