It is going to take years to undo 8 years of decimation at the hands of a cabal that truly believed there is NO role for government or regulation. Contractors will 'police themselves', hah!
For all we know, there maybe hundreds of 'free marketeer' holdovers from the Bush era still employed in audit and IG sections of various executive branch departments.

speaking of which, what happened to the anti-ACORN legislation that, to be made constitutional, was broadened to include the MIC? seemed like a great idea, passed easily, though i was skeptical POTUS would sign it. pocket veto?

The corruption and theft through government contracting is so pervasive at every single level I don't think anyone can untangle it.

But I do applaud Senator McCaskill for trying.

When all else fails, shame them. When they can't be shamed into acting right - take away their toys.

If all the fraud and waste is removed (or even half of it) we could pay for a public option and more teachers.

I have a rainbow to chase now...

OVERSIGHT? WHAT OVERSIGHT?
By Douglas K. Kinan (Former DoD Employee)

”In its own bureaucratic language, the IG concludes that the resulting audit isn't worth the paper its written on.”

Silence, evasion, false denials, ignoring the facts and the evidence and changing the subject are common tactics by a few DoD officials who commit high crime against their own government and harm innocent citizens for a few bucks.

So, who’s watching the watchdogs? Let's see.

As a former DoD employee, I wrote up the chain-of-command requesting that the DoD Inspector General investigate verified criminal activity by the DCMAE’s Chief Counsel, Bruce Krasker and his former Deputy Counsel, Jerome C. Brennan.

Some of the conduct, funded by millions of taxpayer dollars, included heinous and violent acts against women (and their children), targeting, framing, prosecuting, and punishing innocent individuals, certifying fraudulent promotional certifications which the agency ethics attorney characterized as “criminal,” premeditated and deliberate retaliation, fabricating charges, fabricating official government records, program fraud, witness intimidation, tampering with a witness, prosecutorial misconduct, abuse of power and authority, well-planned discrimination, manipulation of investigations, fraudulent investigations and rewarding cultivated witnesses with jobs, promotions, and awards in exchange for testimony and/or affidavits/depositions that the attorneys and others knew was tainted and/or false and subornation of perjury.

Concerning two of many employees who were framed and fired for violations they did not commit, the DoD Hotline Director, Leonard Trahan, Jr. rationalized the framing this way: “There were two EEO cases in the District in which Mr. Kinan disagreed with the decisions made by [the Equal Employment Manager] and the DCMDE Chief Counsel. Instead of accepting those decisions “as reasonable people can disagree”, they became a ‘cause celebre’ for Mr. Kinan.”

That the person responsible for DoD fraud, waste and abuse would essentially admit that it is okay to frame innocent individuals (a felony), stand by and watch them anguish for 50 - 60 months (cruel and unusual punishment) and allow them to be stripped of their career and full pension is unconscionable and un-American. Even worse, for Trahan to look the other way is dangerous to the DoD and the government. There is no ambiguity in the law. The law did not intend for Trahan to participate in framing innocent citizens. These two frame-ups were “secretly” settled at a taxpayer cost exceeding one million dollars to prevent the DCMAE’s criminal activity from jury review.

In a glaring conflict of interest, the Assistant Inspector General for Policy and Oversight, James L. Pavlik, covered up by conducting a fraudulent investigation, making false official statements and issuing a fraudulent report to deceive Senator Grassley. Contrary to his sworn duty, Pavlik ignored the facts and the evidence. The DoD IG’s General Counsel, Uldric Fiore, Jr., who was responsible for ensuring “independent, accurate and responsible” legal advice and knows that framing an innocent citizen is about the most cowardly and lowest act you can do was “transferred” to Army.

You can’t make this stuff up. The chief fraud investigator for the DoD, Richard Race, covered up by also ignoring the facts and the evidence. On February 19, 2008, Race pleaded guilty to fraudulent banking transactions and on May 2, 2008, was “sentenced” in Judge Leonie Brinkema’s court. Race retired and went on to collect his full government pension.

Chief Counsel Krasker who boasted, “We (the Legal Directorate) can do anything we want. It’s called gaming. We can deny, we can delay…dismiss. We can manipulate the system any way we want.” is now in the process of framing DCMAE employee and whistle blower, Kenneth Pedeleose, using the same modus operandi. Former Deputy IG, Thomas Gimble also covered up the crime.
In a March 29, 2008 AP story by Deb Riechmann, President Bush said, "Any government that presumes to represent the majority of the people must confront criminal elements or people who think they can live outside the law."
Is this oversight? Does this resemble American justice? Will the newly appointed Principal Deputy Inspector General, Lynne Halbrooks do what Gimble did?

dougkinan@yahoo.com - Phone 617-323-6171