The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog

Left of Boom: Combating IEDs

The Washington Post has published the first in a four part series called "Left of Boom," on improvised explosive devices, commonly referred to by their acronym, IEDs.  "Left of Boom" refers to offensive counter-IED methods, tactics and strategies--disrupting and stopping IED builders and the people who deploy IEDs before the boom.  Right of boom would be defensive efforts, such as acquiring vehicles better able to survive an attack or at least protect their passengers.  The recent, tardy and massive effort to procure mine resistant ambush protected vehicles (MRAPs) is an example of right of boom.  Jamming IED detonators, which can be simple transmitters such as garage door openers, is a focus on the boom itself.  The Post makes clear that left of boom efforts have not been at the forefront of US initiatives.  An analyst in Iraq working to improve the U.S.'s counter-IED tactics and strategies told me:

The key to success in this insurgency is not more defensive posture (i.e., armor, jammers, MRAPs) it is in establishing an viable, offensive, counter-IED operation - something we seem powerless to do. Unless we reconsider what we are doing here and how we are doing it, a year from now or two, or three, our casualty rate from IEDs, MRAPS or not, will be much higher than it is today.

With the arrival and increase in use of explosively formed penetrators, even MRAPs and tanks are vulnerable--making the need to stop the construction of bombs in the first place even more urgent. 

-- Nick Schwellenbach

State Dept. IG Howard Krongard Intimidates Congressional Witnesses

Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman sent Howard "Cookie" Krongard, Inspector General of the State Department, a letter (pdf) regarding “an exceptionally serious matter:  reports that your senior staff has threatened officials that you could fire them if they cooperate with the Committee’s investigation into your conduct.”

One has to wonder if Howard Krongard ever read his charter?

It almost defies belief, but two career federal investigators – one of whom just last week was described by Krongard as “one of my best investigators” – have told Waxman they were told that Krongard could fire them and their careers would be jeopardized if they cooperate with Waxman’s ongoing investigation into a number of serious allegations against Krongard (see earlier blog postings).  These two investigators, Special Agent Ron Militana and Special Agent in Charge Brian Rubendall, have gone public.

Waxman sternly warns Krongard that he will not tolerate any intimidation of potential witnesses and “direct[s]” him to instruct his staff to suspend all communications with employees whom the Committee is planning to interview.

This case just keeps on growing!

-- Beverley Lumpkin

Newshour segment on MRAPs to feature USMC Whistleblower

Tonight there will be a PBS Newshour (7pm East coast time) segment on the sluggish--until Defense Secretary Robert Gates intervened--Defense Department procurement of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles--known as MRAPs. 

We hear that Franz Gayl, a Marine Corp science advisor who blew the whistle on delays in procuring these vehicles which can better withstand improvised explosive device blasts, will be part of the segment.  Last week, in an impressive show of bi-partisan cooperation, Senators Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO) and Jospeh Biden (D-DE) wrote to the Marine Corps Commandant James Conway to express their support for Gayl's efforts (pdf). 

In the Marine Corps, formal requests from Iraq for MRAPs (pdf) were made as early as February 2005.  A blockbuster USA Today cover story found that Pentagon analysts were calling for MRAPs even earlier.  Several nations with extensive experience dealing with assymetrical threats have developed and adopted MRAPs as long as 20 years ago to deal with some of the weapons of choice in assymetric war--mines, IEDs and the like.  Considering the now-decades long acknowledgement that the U.S. will face assymetrical warfare--what we're facing now in Iraq and Afghanistan--the procurement of signficant numbers of MRAPs is a bit overdue (word doc).

-- Nick Schwellenbach

UPDATE: Todd Bowers, a former POGO defense investigator and a current Marine reservist who has been to Iraq, weighs in with other Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America staffers on MRAPs.

"Young" Approach to an Old Problem: Pentagon Acquisition Czar Mandates Competitive Prototyping

It's taken hundreds of Government Accountability Office reports, congressional testimony from the head of GAO and more, but something is finally being done about the Pentagon's addiction to procuring systems based on immature technology.  John Young, the new Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition & Technology, rolled out a memo (pdf) to the heads of all military services, the joint chiefs, heads of other defense agencies and the commander of Special Operations Command.  In it, he mandates that military services and defense agencies use acquisition strategies that "provide for two or more competing teams" to produce prototypes,  instead of utilizing "paper proposals that provided inadequate knowledge of technical risk and a weak foundation for estimating development and production cost."  According to Young:

Competing teams producing prototypes of key system elements will reduce technical risk, validate designs, validate cost estimates, evaluate manufacturing processes and refine requirements. In total, this approach will also reduce time to fielding.

Sounds long overdue.  In fact, Young himself cites the 1986 Packard Commission as a basis for his memo:

Lessons of the past, and the recommendations of multiple reviews, including the Packard Commission report, emphasize the need for, and the benefits of, quality prototyping.

-- Nick Schwellenbach

Does the Defense Dept. Use Blackwater in Iraq?

At a Pentagon press conference last week, Defense Department Press Secretary Geoff Morell fielded questions from reporters, including the following exchange:

Q     Just, do you know whether in fact the Defense Department or the U.S. military in Iraq has any active investigations underway related to work by Blackwater in Iraq?   

 

MR. MORRELL: We do not have Blackwater as a company that does work on our behalf in Iraq. We do -- the military, I believe, does have contracts with Blackwater, but not in Iraq. So I don't know the role that DOD would play in investigating problems with Blackwater.   

 

Are they participating in the investigations --   

 

Q     (Off mike) -- I mean, some other, any incidents or any matters whatsoever of --   

 

MR. MORRELL: No, to my knowledge, Blackwater is not a current contractor with the Department of Defense in Iraq.   [emphasis added]

I don't know if anyone else has caught this, but Morell may be wrong.  The Defense Department awarded at least one contract with Blackwater for work in Iraq.  It was awarded the contract last summer by the Army for security work through September 2008:

Blackwater Security Consulting, Moyock, N.C., was awarded on Aug. 7, 2006, a $7,161,101 firm-fixed-price contract for personal security detail services – protection security services. Work will be performed in Baghdad, Iraq, and is expected to be completed by September 30, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on March 25, 2006, and 21 bids were received. The Joint Contracting Command, Baghdad, Iraq, is the contracting activity (W91GY0-06-C-0027).

Most of the scrutiny of Blackwater in Iraq arises from its work for the State Department.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he wants to rein in security contractors.  And though authorities such as Maj. General Richard Sherlock has said, "Department of Defense contractors are already under the UCMJ [Uniform Code of Military Justice]," others think there may be some problems with that.

-- Nick Schwellenbach

UPDATE: Oh by the way, Presidential Airways (aka Blackwater Aviation), won a Defense Department contract for work in central Asia today:

Presidential Airways, Inc., an aviation Worldwide Services company (d/b/a Blackwater Aviation), Moyock, N.C., is being awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) type contract for $92,000,000.00. The contractor is to provide all fixed-wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance and supervision necessary to perform passenger, cargo and combi Short Take-Off and Landing air transportation services between locations in the Area of Responsibility of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. This contract was competitively procured and two timely offers were received. The performance period is from 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2011. The United States Transportation Command Acquisition Directorate, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., is the contracting activity (HTC7 11 -08-D-0010).

Blackwater, State Dept. Attempt to Stonewall Waxman

Everyone's all over this today  Stephen M. Ryan, Blackwater's attorney at McDermott, Will and Emery LLP, wrote to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), informing "the Committee that a State Department official directed Blackwater not to provide documents relevant to the Committee's investigation into the company's activities in Iraq without the prior written approval of the State Department," according to a letter by Rep. Waxman (pdf) to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.   Ryan's letter is also posted here (pdf).  And here's the letter from the State Department to Blackwater (pdf).

The State Department is essentially telling Blackwater (pdf) that its contract with them trumps the request by Congress for documents: "It is plain from the cited clause that all documents and information generated in the course of performance of Contract No. S-AQMPD-05-D-1098 are fully subject to the control of the Department."

It seems that the legitimate need Congress has for the information about Blackwater's activities--especially considerable interest given the foreign policy and national security implications of their alleged actions in Iraq recently--easily trump the contractual relationship the State Department has with Blackwater.  Thus, the State Department is not "fully" in control of the documents and information requested by the House Oversight committee and should not be able to stop the flow of information to Congress, though subpoena power may ultimately have to be utilized.  Hopefully that can be avoided.  Congressional committees routinely access information contractors and the government generate in the course of a contractor fulfilling a contract.  Or else Congress could not oversee, especially nowadays with today's unprecedented outsourcing of government functions.

The most definitive resource I know of on the investigative power of Congress is Mort Rosenberg's Congressional Research Service report Investigative Oversight: An Introduction to the Law, Practice and Procedure of Congressional Inquiry.  Read it.

Big things poppin'.

-- Nick Schwellenbach

UPDATE: In the comments, KMB notes that a new State Dept. letter to Blackwater (pdf) changes things a bit.  It is definitely an acknowledgement by State that Waxman has a right to the information, though we'll see how this plays out.

Interior Dept. Watchdog Slams MMS

In case you missed the front page of the New York Times today, the Department of Interior Inspector General has completed yet another report documenting more evidence that the federal government's oil and gas drilling programs are riddled with "conflicting roles and relationships with the energy industry," "ethical lapses," and "mismanagement." POGO has a copy of the report on line now, it's not available anywhere else.

-- Beth Daley

$how me the money – one databa$e at a time

Today, I attended a meeting featuring www.ffata.org, a recently unveiled database operated by Global Computer Enterprises, Inc. – the same company that owns and operates FPDS-NG. Following in the footsteps of OMB Watch’s www.fedspending.org, GCE brings federal contract and grant spending information to the public in a very user-friendly format. GCE’s portal to government information mirrors the recently added “ezSearch” function in FPDS-NG (if anyone still uses that data) and more features (RSS, exporting, and company synonyms) are forthcoming. GCE’s new database allows users to conduct word searches to find information about agency contract actions, contractors receiving federal dollars, and the types of goods or services purchased by the government. The database further allows the user to restrict results, sort the data, and drill-down to link to the actual FPDS-NG site for all the summary data entered for a specific contract action.

It’s a shame that publicly accessible federal spending information is being brought to the taxpayers by non-governmental organizations, but, heck, some insight into how the government spent over $420 billion is desperately needed. I’ll be genuinely happy, however, when the government figures out how to post actual contracts and delivery and task orders rather than summary data so that we can see the substantive deals that the government is making.

-- Scott Amey

New Details on Largest Single Iraq War Bribery Case Yet

The New York Times has a front page story that both humanizes an Army officer "accused of orchestrating the largest single bribery scheme against the military since the start of the Iraq war" and takes you through some of the institutional breakdowns that make corruption in defense contracting more likely.  The systemic weaknesses detailed in the article were:

• "Military officials said a major assigned to award such large contracts for the Army Contracting Agency should have at least 10 years of experience in 'broad acquisition,' a minimum of four years of direct contracting experience and annual ethics training. But the procurement workload from the Iraq war grew so big so fast that the Pentagon was forced to rush people with virtually no training or experience into some of its most complicated contracting jobs, Army officials said."
• "Oversight was virtually nonexistent by design. There were no auditors at Camp Arifjan, and contracts worth more than $500,000 were the only ones requiring review in Washington. Most contracts were written for about $100,000. It was also common for contracting officers to use 'blanket purchase agreements,' allowing them to open a line of credit with a company with little more than a promissory note, much like a customer at a small-town grocery store."
• "Ideally, Army officials said, the purchasing cycle would be divided among at least three contracting officers. One would take an order for supplies from a unit commander and seek bids from companies to fill the order. Another would award the contract, and a third would oversee delivery of the goods. That system, officials said, would allow each contracting officer to serve as a check on the others."
• "At Camp Arifjan, a single contracting officer handled all three parts of the process, giving the officers broad discretion and creating opportunities for unit commanders to join conspiracies by inflating their troops’ needs. What resulted, said Mr. Young, the Army Contracting Agency director, was 'a web of deceit.'"

In a sidebar, the story also tallies up charges filed against 29 people for corruption in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I've posted the NYT sidebar image here, then, according to its tally, quickly downloaded some (not all) of the original indictments/complaints/information in each of the cases from PACER and posted them below, roughly in the order they're listed in the sidebar image.

• Criminal complaint (pdf) as to Maj. John Lee Cockerham;
• Indictment (pdf) of Col. Curtis G. Whiteford, Lt. Col. Debra M. Harrison, Lt. Col. Michael B. Wheeler, William Driver and Seymour Morris, Jr. (Phillip Bloom, Lt. Col. Bruce D. Hopfengardner (information (pdf)), Robert H. Stein are listed as co-conspirators);
• Criminal complaint (pdf) as to Gheevarghese Pappen;
• Information (pdf) on Chief Warrant Officer Peleti Peleti Jr.;
• Indictment (pdf) of Bonnie Murphy;
• Information (pdf) on Samir Mahmoud;
• Indictment (pdf) of Jeff Alex Mazon and Ali Hijazi;
• Information (pdf) on Glenn Allen Powell;
• Criminal complaint (pdf) as to Faheem Mousa Abdel Salam;
• Criminal complaint as to Mohammad Shabbir Khan (pdf) and Zubair Khan (pdf) and information on Stephen L. Seamans (pdf);
• Indictment (pdf) of Jesse D. Lane Jr.;
• Information (pdf) on Christopher J. Cahill.

-- Nick Schwellenbach

Sen. Webb Demands Truman-style Committee

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been allocated to contractors for reconstruction and stabilization efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Correspondingly, there have been repeated allegations of war profiteering in these countries, including corruption, waste, and mismanagement of wartime contracts.  POGO investigator Nick Schwellenbach has posed the question “Will Congress create a new 'Truman Committee?” 

The answer may soon be yes. In July 2007, Senator James H. Webb and his freshman Senator cosponsors introduced a bill, entitled “Commission on Wartime Contracting Act.” (S.1825), which would mirror the objectives of the Truman Committee. Yesterday, Sen. Webb re-submitted the legislation as an amendment (No. 2999) to the Defense Authorization Bill (pdf) now before the Senate.  On Wednesday, POGO sent a letter to Senators Webb and McCaskill strongly endorsing the Sen. Webb’s legislation.

Congressional approval of this legislation will be a phenomenal step towards holding wartime contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan contractors accountable for rampant instances of fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.  It would also provide useful recommendations for future wartime contract procurement. 

Today’s New York Times underscored the dire need for more wartime contract oversight and accountability:   

Military officials said Thursday that contracts worth $6 billion to provide essential supplies to American troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan — including food, water and shelter — were under review by criminal investigators, double the amount the Pentagon had previously disclosed. 

In addition, $88 billion in contracts and programs, including those for body armor for American soldiers and matériel for Iraqi and Afghan security forces, are being audited for financial irregularities, the officials said.

Although the Pentagon alleged that these instances of corruption are the work of isolated individuals, many members of the House Armed Services Committee disagreed. Democratic Representative Ike Skelton, the chairman of the committee, even went as far as to say “The problems were so severe that I fear they could represent a culture of corruption.”

This alleged “culture of corruption” is inexcusable. Especially, when as Dina Rasor writes:

We are losing billions of dollars to waste in Iraq and this waste comes at the expense of our troops. We are spending two billion dollars a week with little oversight and controls and the war service industry companies are taking advantage of this desperate war situation.

Senator McCaskill echoed those sentiments in a press release today on amendment No.2999, stating, “As a former auditor, I’ve seen waste before. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as outrageous as what’s happening in Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of contracting.”

In light of what may very well be a systemic problem, Congress should approve Sen. Webb’s amendment to ensure that it’s corrected.

-- Jake Wiens

   

Cookie's Travels

The travels and apparent travails of State Department Inspector General Howard J. "Cookie" Krongard, under investigation by Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) House oversight committee, are on display on the Princeton Class of 1961 website.  "Cookie Travels" shows Krongard kicking it in a variety of foreign locales.

And here he is, Cookie's caption states, "As 'El Presidente' of the Board of External Auditors of the Organization of American States, I reported to the OAS Permanent Council on the financial results for the year and made recommendations to management."

Cookie wrote: "Not too worried about the bad guys at the moment." Probably in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Putting his legs up "In the V V I P lounge at Kabul Airport beneath a photo of Afghan national hero Massoud."

Here he is "in Maracaibo, the capital of Zulia Province which is the only one in Venezuela run by the opposition to Chavez," he wrote.

Apparently Cookie was classmates with the first statutory CIA inspector general, Fred Hitz, as an exchange between him and Princeton Class of 1961 webmaster, Len Berton, makes clear:

Your webmaster asked, "Will you be reporting to Rice or Bush? Is it similar to what Fred Hitz did at the CIA? So the President finally figured out he needed someone that really knows how to stop hard shots and clear the opponent's threat out of a dangerous area." 

Cookie replied, "I like the lacrosse analogy. In my confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I noted that I was accustomed to having things thrown at me at high speed. The job is similar to Fred's except for a different time and a different place. He is a good role model for me and we have conferred at length. You may not know but we were also law school classmates so had seven straight years together a long time ago. I report to Secretary Rice but also to the Congress, and the position is statutorily created.  I look forward to seeing you at Reunions."

-- Nick Schwellenbach

Foreign Service Officers' Criticize State IG Krongard

Concerned Foreign Service Officers, a group of State Department career diplomats, had earlier filed a complaint with the President's Committee on Integrity and Ethics in Government regarding the State Department IG Howard Krongard's whitewash of the way the Bureau of Diplomatic Security conducts security clearance reviews. The OIG report in question can be found here (pdf) and Concerned Foreign Service Officers' comments, which form the basis of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency complaint can be found here (word doc).

The PCIE’s Integrity Committee is supposed to investigate complaints about Inspectors General, but its findings are not always acted upon.  Despite a recent report from the committee blasting activities of NASA IG Robert “Moose” Cobb, he remains in office.

-- Beverley Lumpkin