The pattern is a revolving door of deliberate insider trading and influence by hiring retiring flag officers with active Rolodexes to be exploited in bent bidding and shadowy acquisition practices in an already sclerotic and gummed-up acquisition system that can’t create working weapons systems at scale.
The flag officer cadre in America is a very exclusive club where you are a made man for life who can peddle your influence and your cache forever unless you screw up like the gentleman described below or slamming your man-rod in the cash register like GEN Petraeus at the CIA. On November 9, 2012, President Obama accepted Petraeus’ resignation as Director of the CIA, after Petraeus admitted having a sexual relationship with his biographer. On April 23, 2015, Petraeus pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified materials in a sweetheart deal.
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.
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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.
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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.
Read the whole thing:
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/navy-bribery-charges/
Email me at cgpodcast@pm.me
