Squid Pro Quo

By Hugh Farnham

Yet another Naval officer was convicted this last Friday for a metastasizing sex - for - secrets scheme that continues to unravel.  

Captain Daniel Dusek, skipper of the Bonhomme Richard, confessed at sentencing that he "succumbed to temptation" by offering classified information to Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a port outfitter.  Glenn Defense had its own pleasure ship, the Glenn Braveheart, to service visiting naval personnel with lavish feasts, alcohol, and Thai strippers.

Dusek was initially introduced to Glenn Defense by a superior - which in my view was indicating to Dusek that the Navy itself approved of the seedy relationship it had with the defense contractor.  

This investigation has roped in two Admirals, one of which is the Chief of Naval Intelligence by the name of Vice Adm. Branch.  This three-star Admiral has been forbidden to come in contact with classified information based upon this investigation.  Again, he's the Chief of Naval Intelligence.

Zoomie Pro Quo? 

No discussion of official military procurement corruption would be complete without mentioning SES bureaucrat Darleen Druyun, a Clinton appointee.  

She was the deputy undersecretary for acquisition for the Air Force.  In other words, she handled billions of tax dollars, allegedly for the benefit of our nation's defense. 

Boeing seemed to be the right house on red-light row for Druyun.  After getting her daughter and her fiance sweet jobs at Boeing, it must have become clear there was some paydirt there.  The crime that forced her into jail was inflating the price of the contract for a new Air Force aerial tanker to benefit Boeing, and passing on the competing bid by EADS to Boeing.

Unknown to many, Druyun's greed also affected Space Command.  In her headlong rush to service Boeing, she deeply cut space programs in order to reallocate the monies into Boeing contracts.  

I managed an Air Force program that was broken because of her.  The daily frustration level was such that I was literally clogging my sink and shower drains with the hair that was falling out.  

This program was with Lockheed-Martin - and on the LockMart side, it was managed by a former General of the same command I was in!  Talk about a revolving door.

While LockMart never laid out scrumptious feasts or prostitutes, it was well known in the acquisitions field that if you treated your contractor well, you had a good chance at getting a job with them on the other side.

I kicked that in the teeth.  Instead I rode 'em hard and put 'em away wet.  Surely there is an employment blacklist at LockMart, and I'm proudly on it.

The issue here is accountability and integrity.  In the case of Captain Dusek, it was obvious there was a long existing culture of corruption and he was the last guy holding the bag.  With our sweet Darleen, who on her staff stood in the way and said "no"?