Archive: August 10, 2008 - August 16, 2008
What's The Frequency?
Check out this summary of a new GAO report about the Pentagon's purchase of a new generation of radios. "The Department of Defense (DOD) has spent an estimated $12 billion on the development and production of tactical radios over the last 5 years--about as much as was spent producing...
By Robert O'Harrow | August 15, 2008; 3:39 PM ET | Comments (6)
More (And More) Billions In Iraq
This just arrived to my in-box from Laura Peterson, a national security investigator over at Taxpayer's For Common Sense. "The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) got a lot of jaws dropping this week with a report estimating the U.S. has spent $85 billion on contractors in the Iraq war, 20...
By Robert O'Harrow | August 14, 2008; 2:27 PM ET | Comments (3)
Shortcuts
The SBA's Office of Inspector General turned up some questionable activity while examining Alaska native corporations. "Two government contractors designated as small, Alaska-native-owned firms directed millions of dollars in fees to other companies owned by managers who were not Alaska natives and should not have received the payments, according...
By Robert O'Harrow | August 13, 2008; 5:35 PM ET | Comments (3)
Bribery Abroad
This just in from the Department of Justice: "A U.S. Army Major pleaded guilty today to bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery arising out of his activities as a Contracting Officer in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait in 2005 and 2006, Thomas O. Barnett, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division...
By Robert O'Harrow | August 13, 2008; 5:34 PM ET | Comments (7)
Iraq Contractors
Sometime this year, U.S. spending on contractors in Iraq will reach $100 billion, a telling marker of the Bush administration's use of private corporations to support the war effort, according to a story today in the New York Times. The story, by writer Jim Risen, is based on a...
By Robert O'Harrow | August 12, 2008; 2:54 PM ET | Comments (10)
Walk Around Money
Back in the day, local pols would go out onto the street and share walk around money with frontline workers as an incentive to get out the vote. It was a tried-and-true method that also led to corruption now and then, but that's another story. The thought came to...
By Robert O'Harrow | August 11, 2008; 2:48 PM ET | Comments (4)
Say It Ain't So
Government Executive has done some follow-up legwork on the sad revelations of misdeeds at the Defense Contract Audit Agency. What they found only reinforced the findings of a Government Accountability Office report last month, which was spurred by whistleblowers calling a hotline. Reporters Robert Brodsky and Elizabeth Newell interviewed...
By Robert O'Harrow | August 11, 2008; 6:28 AM ET | Comments (4)
