Archive for the ‘Military Procurement’ Category

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We are thrilled to announce that  Geoff “Jeff” Metcalf will conduct a LIVE RADIO INTERVIEW with Col. Roger Charles, editor Stand For The Troops, Wed. Jan 4th at 8PM PST (11 PM EST) Topic: Procurement Scandal over Shoddy Dept. of Defense Approved body armor.    SFTT readers are encouraged to call in and listen to the interview by calling in on the following numbers:

703-836-0384 (land line, VOIP) and (cell)

703-980-7551 plus 2d land line (VOIP) 703-836-6736.

Roger Charles, Vice Chair / Secretary of Stand For The Troops

A career Marine Corps officer from 1967 to 1990, Roger Charles has enjoyed a second career as an award-winning investigative journalist. He was a member in 2004 of the 60 Minutes II production team that earned a Peabody Award for the segment “Abuse at Abu Ghraib.”

Among his other journalistic achievements: Charles was awarded a Medal for Excellence in Investigative Reporting by journalism’s Investigative Reporters and Editors (I.R.E.) association for his 1992 Newsweek cover story, “Sea of Lies,” and was an Emmy finalist for best investigative piece for the Nightlight Special “The USS Vincennes: Public War, Secret War” in 1992.

For television, Charles has served as a consulting investigative reporter and contributor to segment development for 20/20 (a special project on the Oklahoma City bombing), ABC World News Tonight, Nightline, Frontline, Prime Time Live, BBC News, and CNN, among others.

Charles has served as an advisor on numerous stories for various print and electronic media outlets including: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, and The New Yorker. He has been published in Newsweek, Insight, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, Soldier of Fortune, Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute, and the Marine Corps Gazette, where he served as editorial board member from 1987-1989. In 1996, Charles broke the story of the fraudulent use of combat insignia by Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda, Chief of Naval Operations.

“I saw while I was on active duty that many of the national media that cover security and defense issues are truly ill-informed about basic things they need to perform their job properly,” says Charles of his shift to a civilian role as an investigative journalist specializing in a range of national security issues. “This just destroys any kind of credibility this reporting has for any military audience.”

In 1998, Soldiers For The Truth Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan, apolitical, educational foundation whose purpose is meaningful reform of the U.S. defense establishment, was formed, with Charles serving as the editor-in-chief of its newsletter, Voice of the Grunt. Charles remained active on the non-profit’s Board of Trustees until December 2004, when an ailing Hackworth asked him to assume the foundation presidency and Charles now fills the role of Vice Chair, “The foundation was created around three issues: leadership, training, and equipment,” says Charles. “Think of a stool with three legs. Remove any one of those legs and the stool falls apart.”

 POINT BLANK SETTLES BODY ARMOR SUIT WITH DOJ

 

 

CNN Reporter Drew Griffin got it right:  The $435 million no-bid contract to Siga reported earlier by SFTT this week is a sham and yet another example of the blatant corruption in government and the cozy relationship that exists between political fund-raisers and career procurement officers in government.   Nevertheless, director and mouth-piece for Siga, Fran Townsend was able to do a convincing cover-up in a CNN interview with an obviously uncomfortable Anderson Cooper and a frustrated Drew Griffin, who had the good sense to not lose his cool.  In fact, Fran Townsend may actually believe what she is saying, which is even scarier.

As a result, Siga shares soared the next day as market-mover Fran Townsend proves once again that dishonesty and hypocrisy is SOP for beltway insiders and nobody can do a damn thing!

This is good news for the folks in our military procurement process who use many of the same tools as Siga to re-write test procedures, get more friendly testers and simply pretend to have a competitive bidding process when everyone knows the system is rigged from the get-go.    I don’t know who is buying Siga Shares, but it is probably the same people who sold Siga shares  short when CNN first announced it was releasing the story.  Nice trade!

When young men and women are dying on the field of battle, it is a shame that we reward their heroism with former public servants who gorge themselves at the expense of  hard-working folks who expect more of their leaders.

SFTT has been reporting for years on the distasteful – read, rampant corruption – in our military procurement process.  We are not finger-pointers, we simply comment on the many government auditing studies that clearly indicate that our military procurement process is out of control and, yes, corrupt from top to bottom.

Does this mean our military leadership is corrupt?  Of course not, but then who is accountable when corrupt and inept military officers and civilians in the chain of command continually abuse the responsibility of their offices?  At some point in time, real leaders take charge and clean out the cancer that is undermining the integrity of our military and civilian leadership.

Today, I witnessed yet another example of the blatant Beltway corruption that permeates our country’s landscape when CNN reported the cozy no-bid contract of $435 million that was awarded to Siga Technologies for a potential bio-threat for which the US has more than adequate safeguards.  Fran Townsend, a beltway insider and now on the board of Siga which also features many Democratic fundraisers, sees nothing wrong with hiring political hired guns to seek government contracts.  She sites the number of 4-star generals who interact with career  procurement officials as evidence that this is a good thing.  Really!

How much longer do we have to put up with the fraud and corruption?  How much longer do we have to tolerate the mouthpieces of dishonesty who don’t understand the harm they are causing to our country?  I’m sorry Ms. Townsend, you are on a fool ‘s mission to convince the American public otherwise and, if you honestly believe what you are saying,  we should call for the guys  in the white coats.  Do the right thing and come clean.  It is to late to resign “for personal reasons.”  You’ve lied to yourself and you have lied to the American people.

 

 

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photo of a soldierStand For The Troops (“SFTT”) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit Educational Foundation established by the late Col. David H. Hackworth and his wife Eilhys England to insure that our frontline troops have the best available leadership, equipment and training.

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photo of HackworthIncludes rare footage from Hack's memorial service at Fort Myers Chapel and burial in Arlington National Cemetery.
All donations received from purchasing of The Hackworth Memorial DVD go to Stand For The Troops a 501 (c) 3 non-profit, non-partisan apolitical foundation established by Hack and his wife Eilhys to make sure that America's front-line forces—the kids Hack loved out at the tip of the spear—always have the right training, leadership and equipment to meet their assigned missions and make it home alive and in one piece.

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  • December 23, 2009: The law firm of Kirkland & Ellis LLP filed the final motion with the Federal Court in Washington, DC in the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) on behalf of the SFTT’s editor for forensic records held by the Department of Defense (“DOD”).
  • October 16, 2009: The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issues report to Congress calling for “independent expert assessment of Army body armor test results.” This damning report of US Army body armor test procedures is the outgrowth of a two-year investigative and educational campaign by SFTT to seek fair and impartial test procedures.

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