Article

2024-06-11 Government Corruption

Navy Admiral's bribery charges expose greater rot in the system-revolving door, when high ranking Pentagon and military officials go to work for weapons makers when they leave government service.

[ResponsibleStatecraft] The indictment of four-star Navy Admiral Robert Burke on bribery charges late last month raised eyebrows about the extent of corruption in the Navy and beyond. The scheme was simple. Burke allegedly steered a $355,000 Pentagon contract to a small workforce training firm — described unhelpfully in the Justice Department’s description as “Company A." Less than a year later he took a job at Company A in exchange for a $500,000 annual salary and 100,000 stock options.

The Burke indictment comes on the heels of Washington Post writer Craig Whitlock’s illuminating book on the Fat Leonard Scandal, the biggest, most embarrassing corruption scheme in the history of the U.S. Navy. In the words of his publisher, Simon Schuster, Whitlock’s book reveals “how a charismatic Malaysian defense contractor bribed scores of high-ranking military officers, defrauded the US Navy of tens of millions of dollars, and jeopardized our nation’s security.”

Obviously, the Navy needs to clean up its act, and, if found guilty, Burke should face consequences for his participation in a blatant case of old school corruption.

But this is just part of a pernicious system of corrupt dealings and profiteering in Pentagon procurement practices, and much of it is completely legal. It involves campaign contributions from major weapons contractors to key members of Congress with the most power to determine the size and shape of the Pentagon budget, and job blackmail, in which companies place facilities in as many congressional districts as possible and then stand ready to accuse members of cutting local jobs if they vote against a weapons program, no matter how misguided or dysfunctional it may be.

It also involves the revolving door, in which arms industry executives often do stints in top national security posts, even serving as secretary of defense, or, on the other side of the revolving door, when high ranking Pentagon and military officials go to work for weapons makers when they leave government service.

In fact, this is, by far, the most common path for retired senior military officers. As a Quincy Institute analysis found, over 80% of four-star generals and admirals that have retired in the last five years (26 of 32) went on to work in the arms sector. In short, most retiring four-stars, like Burke, go on to lucrative positions in the arms industry. Unlike Burke, they follow the rules, so this is all perfectly legal corruption.

The revolving door from the Pentagon is also spinning feverishly to foreign governments. A Washington Post investigation found that more than 500 former Pentagon personnel, including many high ranking generals and admirals, have gone on to work for foreign governments known for political repression and human rights abuses, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Last, but certainly not least, there are the lobbyists. Last year alone, Pentagon contractors spent nearly $138 million on lobbying and had 905 lobbyists working on their behalf, according to OpenSecrets. That’s almost two lobbyists for every member of Congress, and more than 600 of them had gone through the revolving door —previously working at the Pentagon, Congress, or the Executive branch.

All of the above is about money and jobs, not crafting an effective defense strategy or buying weapons systems that are appropriate for carrying out that strategy. A case in point was a hearing last October to review a report on America’s strategic (meaning nuclear) posture from a Congressional commission, almost all the members of which have financial ties to the arms industry.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2024-06-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11137 views ] Top
File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

#1 This has been known for a long time. Nobody cares. We're going to need a lot of weapons, for a long time. We're supplying not only Israel but Ukraine with bombs and as soon as we can join Ukraine to NATO(after Biden's re-election) that's when we can finally to kick off the big shooting war with Russia, which is going to require shit-tons of weapons. And then China needs to be lawnmowed. This is going to take quite a while.

Posted by Cromonter Spawn of the Faeries8107 2024-06-11 01:00|| 2024-06-11 01:00|| Front Page Top

#2 #1 Herb again?

Posted by Grom the Reflective 2024-06-11 02:08|| 2024-06-11 02:08|| Front Page Top

#3 ^ Fat Bob, Jairong, Spike, and about 15 other nyms

Posted by Frank G 2024-06-11 05:46|| 2024-06-11 05:46|| Front Page Top

#4 ^The style is unmistakable.

Posted by Grom the Reflective 2024-06-11 06:17|| 2024-06-11 06:17|| Front Page Top

#5 ...Easy partial fix: 0-7 and above gotta wait five years before taking any position that pays more than fifty percent of their monthly retirement pay.

To put that in perspective, for Mister Burke (I'll be damned if I'm going to call him Admiral) is monthly retirement pay is $9250.00/month. I'd be willing to guess that every last 'Burger could do pretty well on that.

Mike

Posted by MikeKozlowski 2024-06-11 07:03|| 2024-06-11 07:03|| Front Page Top

#6 Unless they changed the law since I was in/out, you're not 'retired' per se. You are subject to recall at anytime by the Secretary and are on a retainer. If you want to go to work and especially for any foreign organization, you must get a 'mother may I' approval from DoD. Anyone got an update on that?

Posted by Procopius2k 2024-06-11 07:08|| 2024-06-11 07:08|| Front Page Top

#7 /\ That is exactly correct and oh BTW, do NOT change your US citizenship and expect the retirement checks to continue. Refer to #6 for additional details.

Posted by Besoeker 2024-06-11 07:52|| 2024-06-11 07:52|| Front Page Top

#8 When an officer retires, their commission normally remains in force and effect forever. In return for the privilege of being legally entitled to being addressed by their military rank and getting all their retirement benefits, they basically remain an "officer of the United States" until death. They can resign their commission, but few do.

That means that, if there is a recall, the officers can be brought back without an act of Congress or presidential recall.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2024-06-11 13:22|| 2024-06-11 13:22|| Front Page Top

#9 The biggest problem comes from the "bare-bones" maintenance regime that requires all the Beltway Bandits to run. The whole 'Fat Leonard' thing wouldn't have happened if the Navy had enough shipyard facilities. It's also the reason that about 1/4 of the US sub fleet is non functional: the nuke ships are required to be serviced in a Navy facility, and the capacity just doesn't exist.

Posted by ed in texas 2024-06-11 14:16|| 2024-06-11 14:16|| Front Page Top

#10 My grandfather retained his Colonel status until he passed away at 92.

He was a Calvary Captain (with actual horses) at age 19 in WW1. Stayed in the military until late 1940's and promoted to Colonel right before he retired.

The Boloxi Officers Club and PX were among his retirement perks in his later years.

Posted by Mullah Richard 2024-06-11 15:16|| 2024-06-11 15:16|| Front Page Top

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