Morning Smoke: Hiring Private Contractors Wastes Billions, Study Finds

MORNING SMOKE

Where there's smoke, there's fire. POGO's Morning Smoke is a collection of the freshest investigations, scoops, and opinions related to the world of government oversight. Have a story you'd like to see included? Contact POGO's blog editor.

Contract Oversight

Use of Private Contractors Doesn't Save Government Money, Study Finds
Ron Nixon, The New York Times

Nuclear Issues

NRC Staff: Reassess Earthquake Risk at Nuke Plants
Matthew Daly, Associated Press

Missing: Tons of US-Supplied Nuclear Weapons Material
Adam Weinstein, Mother Jones

Nuclear Miscalculation: Why Regulators Miss Power Plant Threats from Quakes and Storms
Susan Q. Stanahan, iWatch News

Revolving Door

Study Shows Revolving Door of Employment Between Congress, Lobbying Firms
T.W. Farnam, The Washington Post

National Security

Militants Attack U.S. Embassy in Kabul
Alissa J. Rubin and Jack Healy, The New York Times

House Armed Services Committee to Lead Crusade Against Defense Cuts
National Defense Magazine

Defense Spending Must Have Credit Limits
Walter Pincus, The Washington Post

DHS Insider Hacking Case Reveals Serious Network Security Vulnerabilities
NextGov

Predator Drones Go to Work on Domestic Front
Brian Bennett, Los Angeles Times

Open Government

Majority of 9/11 Commission Records, Including Bush and Cheney Interview Transcript, Remain 'Indefinitely' Sealed
Public Intelligence

Whistleblower Issues

MSPB Won't Reconsider Air Marshal Whistleblower's Firing
Stephen Losey, Federal Times 

Comments

[Stan Wiggins]

Thanks for illuminating the contractor wage issue. From colleagues in and out of government I long imagined this to be the case, especially when reading about contracts that were low-balled to 'prove' government inefficiency and then high-balled after the government employees had been discharged. Feinstein and Petraus have urged an end to security contractors, as you've no doubt noted.

There's a lot of partisan hype loose on this issue, of course. Robert Frank, if I recall accurately, has a reference in Darwin Economics to a British study that found a partially privatized public pension scheme reduced benefits to pensioners by 40 percent. Have to pay those contractors working on investment commissions from somewhere.