Posted on 12/09/2003 6:43:40 AM PST by JohnGalt
Boeing's Pentagon link in limelight By Joshua Chaffin in Washington Published: December 7 2003 21:58 | Last Updated: December 7 2003 21:58
Boeing has formed ties with half a dozen members of the Defence Policy Board, an influential civilian group that advises the Pentagon.
The relationships range from Boeing's hiring board members as paid consultants to pouring tens of millions of dollars into their investment funds.
Such moves highlight the aerospace company's efforts to become entrenched in Washington's defence establishment as its emphasis has shifted in recent years from commercial aviation to military contracting.
They have come to light amid allegations that Boeing executives engaged in misconduct in order to win a controversial $18bn contract to lease 100 refuelling aircraft to the Air Force.
The 30-member Defence Policy Board includes former military brass and policy experts who meet regularly with defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top deputies such as Paul Wolfowitz. Proponents say that such boards are essential for government agencies to tap private sector expertise.
But critics complain that board members who enjoy access to the highest echelons of the Pentagon - as well as the defence industry - are not required to publicly disclose their financial interests. "There is a fundamental lack of transparency about the Defence Policy Board, about how it operates, and the financial interests of its members," said Chuck Lewis, of the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington watchdog group.
Boeing has acknowledged that two policy board members - retired Navy Admiral David Jeremiah, and retired Air Force General Ronald Fogelman - were paid consultants who campaigned on the company's behalf to support the controversial deal. An internal Boeing e-mail from January claimed they were "engaging" office of the secretary of defence "circles" about the tanker deal.
Boeing also gained access to the board by investing $20m last year in Trireme, a venture capital fund run by two board members, Richard Perle and Gerald Hillman. Mr Perle co-wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal in August, arguing for the deal's approval when it was facing intense criticism from Congress. He did not disclose the Boeing investment.
Mr Perle, a Reagan-era assistant secretary of defence, told the Financial Times last week that he had received no compensation from Boeing or other benefit for the article, and that the people from Boeing that dealt with Trireme had no relation to the tanker issue.
Boeing also has a $20m stake in Paladin Capital, a private equity fund in which James Woolsey, a board member and former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, is a principal.
Mr Woolsey said he had "no relationship with Boeing", and that contract issues had never been discussed at the meetings he has attended. Another board member, Tom Foley, a former speaker of the house, is a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, a Washington lobbying group that was paid $600,000 by Boeing over the past two years to work on the tanker deal and other issues. Additional reporting by James Harding in Washington
Granted, it would be picturesque, and we would get a laugh or two out of it, but,
damn it, let's not let these treasonous, self-serving lowlifes off the hook so easily.
We oughta get a competition going to see who comes
up with the best (er, I mean worst) form of punishment.
Aha, the ol' Willie Sutton gambit. LOL.
Also ammo for the "Everyone's out to get Neocons" Neocons?! 8.)
Ha-ha-ha, what a girly-man!
Where's the suit, PerleGate? Missing In Action, like your manhood.
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