Free Republic

Despite an overhaul of Pentagon purchasing practices under reform-minded Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, an intelligent thief still can find a way to profit from day-to-day business transactions at the Defense Department, experts said Monday. The latest example of the system's vulnerability came from Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Sherry Pierre, who used a military credit card to pay for breast enhancement surgery. Pierre also made improper purchases of a car, a motorcycle and other items totaling almost $130,000 in unauthorized sprees during 2000 and 2001. Despite the abuses, the system is much improved since senior Pentagon officials announced a crackdown on...

When Congress gets back from its August recess, you'll hear some caterwauling about how Big Dog is conducting a political purge of the Army. But what is going on in the Army right now is apparently not directed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and is not even a purge. But it may be the beginnings of one. As soon as Mr. Rumsfeld took office, his plan to transform America's military ran into various levels of resistance in each of the services. The Navy was shaken by the thought that the aircraft carrier would have to evolve from its current...

In the middle of the ongoing Iraqi guerilla war, with more military actions awaiting, the new U.S. Army uniformed leadership has forced at least six senior generals into early retirement, with another half-dozen earmarked for the same treatment in the near. What is unusual about this development is that no Army or DoD official has cited the cause for the widespread ousters, and there has been no evidence of misconduct or performance failures indicated as a cause for the retirements. An Army spokesman on Aug. 4 declined to comment on the issue on grounds that none of the six alleged...

The federal Civil Service dates back for more than 100 years, but it was jelled into its present form by the Classification Act of 1949. The Classification Act reflected the world as it was then. More than 70 percent of the government jobs consisted of clerical work, and 75 percent of the workers were in the lower grades, GS-7 and below. The assumptions of 1949 did not anticipate the situation today, when clerical workers are in the minority and only 30 percent of federal civilians are in grades GS-7 and below. “ In the age of the computer, the federal...

<p>Donald Rumsfeld wants to shake up the military. But he's crossed the line from reformer to destroyer, says Dan Simpson, and is becoming a liability for the Bush administration.</p> <p>Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is crude. He could also be described as arrogant, although that word sometimes carries with it a sense of wise, overriding leadership. An argument can be made that Rumsfeld's behavior at home and abroad is now such that he represents a serious losing card for the Bush administration and the United States -- and that he should go.</p>