Ties between government, defense contractors too strong

June 8, 10:41 AMCongress ExaminerIgor Derysh

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Congress Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Gates is a former employee of SAIC

The web that is the Visclosky scandal exemplified the worst in the American political system: the close ties between members of the federal government and private contractors.

Even worse than just private contractors is the link between the federal government and huge defense contractors as it often seems that a prerequisite to government life is a cushy job at a company like Lockheed Martin and vice versa.

A look at four of the country's four biggest defense contractors shows just how out of hand it has gotten.

One glance at the Board of Directors of Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the world, shows a pattern of former high ranking government officials.

Among the executives of Lockheed are:
 

• Former head of United States Strategic Command General James Ellis
   
• Former Vice President of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Ralston
   
• Former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security James Loy.
   
• Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta
   
• Former Secretary of Defense E.C. Aldridge
   
• Deputy Attorney General James Comey (serving as the company's top lawyer)
   
• Former Chief of Staff to Donald Rumsfeld Paul GebhardFormer Rumsfeld Advisor Danny Sebright
   
• Former Second Lady of the United States Lynne Cheney
   
• State Deparment Office Louis Hughes
   
• Department of Energy and Office of Management and Budget Officer Steve Isakowitz
   
• Under Secretary of Defense Sue Payton
   
• Former Deputy Attorney General and General Counsel for Department of Homeland Security Philip Perry

How about the second largest Defense Contractor in the world, Boeing?

Boeing is headed up by former Chief of Staff to Ronald Reagan, Kenneth Duberstein and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Clinton, John Shalikashvili.

Third on the list is Northrop Grumman.

This contactor has been the employer to former Deputy Secretary of Defense and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, former Chief of Staff to the Vice President and convicted felon Scooter Libby, NASA Director Sean O'Keefe, and Secretary of the Air Force James Roche.

Then there is the opposite. Defense Contractor employees working inside the government.

This group includes Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, a former director at SAIC and Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, a former lobbyist at Raytheon.

The transition back and forth between the federal government and the private sector is often too seemless a transition.

The conflict of interests around the former defense contractor director turned cabinet official, former cabinet official turned defense contractor official, former Congressman turned lobbyist is blatant and the favors are rampant.

While the illegal activities of the Viscloskys, Cunninghams, and William Jeffersons are the accepted and understood part of Washington, the unmitigated relationship between Washington and contractors and lobbyists is the worst kept secret in Washington but also the most ignored.