We call for active, non-violent non-cooperation with US war policy. As we vigorously oppose a military escalation in Afghanistan, we encourage mass political mobilization and high-profile antiwar political actions across the country. As America continues to commit war crimes for the profit of the few and at the expense of the many, we engage and energize our fellow citizens to become disablers of war party mentality. We reject defeatist thinking and futile rationales by promoting effective war protest. We break cycles of hopelessness by engaging in immediate and direct actions, consistent with our commitment to non-violence . We believe our actions will produce the best methods for securing peace in our country and the world, and we direct our allegiance to that end.

Joining together in December 2009, we are a coalition of antiwar organizations, peace and justice advocates, and citizens of conscience who challenge our elected leaders to end the US wars of aggression in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East, and bring our troops home.

NEW! SECTION

: A DAILY RUNNING RECORD SINCE 2010 OF UNPROSECUTED WAR CRIMES, TREASON, WARMONGERING, CORRUPTION, THE COMPLICIT MAINSTREAM MEDIA, AND OUR GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE PEOPLE.

For easier reference, new and recent articles will be placed in this section temporarily, then archived under their corresponding headings below. Click on the red-bulleted section headings to jump to past articles, or scroll down to ARCHIVE SECTION.

12/9/19 AT WAR WITH THE TRUTH - The Afghanistan Papers: A secret history of the war, by Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post. "A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable."



HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

ALL WARS ARE BANKERS' WARS - Michael Rivero (2013)

What you were never taught in American History. And why.



STOP THE BLEEDING!

"...[W]ar propaganda has become increasingly pervasive. War is upheld as a peace-making operation. When war becomes peace, the world is turned upside down.... People can longer think for themselves. They accept the authority and wisdom of the established social order."Collected by Frank Dorrel, SIGN PETITION - Request a hearing for accountability on the human rights impacts of U.S. wars . Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, represented by the Center for Consitutional Rights, are working together to highlight the lack of accountability for the serious, widespread, and ongoing human rights violations of Iraqis, Afghans, and U.S. military veterans, from more than ten years of U.S. war with the Right to Heal Initiative SIGN PETITION: De-fund the CIA . [] "Lies about Iraq. Cash to corrupt Afghanistan. Drone wars waged in secret. Blowback endangering us all. The CIA does not exist to defend our freedoms. Wrapped in government secrecy, it exists to assure the political security of rich political elites. CIA operations  engaging in secret, legally protected wars, sabotage, subversion, murders and tortures  create enemies that Americans fear." Douglas Valentine, author of SIGN PETITION: Bradley Manning's Nobel Peace Prize (now Chelsea Manning , since 8/22/13), by Spencer Ackerman,(UK). "Sections of a previously classified CIA document, made public by the Guardian on Monday, empower the agency's director to 'approve, modify, or disapprove all proposals pertaining to human subject research'. The leeway provides the director, who has never in the agency's history been a medical doctor, with significant influence over limitations the US government sets to preserve safe, humane and ethical procedures on people. CIA director George Tenet approved abusive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, designed by CIA contractor psychologists. He further instructed the agency's health personnel to oversee the brutal interrogations the beginning of years of controversy, still ongoing, about US torture as a violation of medical ethics.", An analysis of all evidence relating to the chemical attack in Ghouta on August 21st 2013  An online collaborative effort.. "Each side naturally blamed the other, with western intelligence agencies providing evidence supporting the opposition, and Russian intelligence supporting the regime. Both sides issued biased reports with cherry-picked evidence, only adding to the confusion. This blog was created to counter these disinformation campaigns, by providing an open online collaboration platform to investigate who is behind the attack. ... The only plausible scenario that fits the evidence is an attack by opposition forces. Following is a description of the main findings, with each one linked to the evidence that backs it."

War Made Easy - How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us To Death



ARCHIVE SECTION

, by Justin Raimondo,. "For the past six months the informant and his handlers had been leading Cornell into a carefully prepared trap  which they coincidentally chose to spring days after the Paris attacks. ... Another 'coincidence': the latest Pew poll  the favorite of the Washington elites  lists 'terrorism' as Americans' top concern 'for the first time in five years,' just as the new Congress goes into session  and the presidential election pre-season begins. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to see the confluence of factors at work here, and in France  where the 'Je suis Charlie' 'free speech' march has given way to over fifty arrests for 'subversive' speech, while the French government prints 1.5 million copies of Charlie Hebdo at taxpayers' expense. In the meantime, Socialist President Francois Hollande addressed his troops aboard the carrier Charles de Gaulle, declaring 'the situation justifies the presence of our aircraft carrier' in the Middle East.", by Ben Brumfield, Pamela Brown and Dana Ford,. "Authorities say Cornell, who ostensibly tweeted under the name Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, hatched a simple scheme. It was similar to the Paris attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, but at a key location -- the U.S. Capitol, said a criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent. ... When they found out Cornell had the weapons, authorities made their move before Cornell could make his. A law enforcement official told CNN that there was never any danger to lawmakers.", via Good Morning America,. "But his parents paint a different picture, saying their son had a normal childhood and that they were shocked by the arrest. 'I know my son probably better than anyone,' Cornell's father, John Cornell Sr., told ABC News. 'He's a mommy's boy. His best friend is his cat Mikey. He still calls his mother 'Mommy.' Just a typical kid.' ... John Cornell Sr. says there’s no way his son could have thought up a terror plot on his own. ... John Cornell Sr. said his son only had about $1,200 in his bank account, not enough to fund even a small-scale attack. 'These guns cost almost $2,000. Where did that money come from? Well, it came from the FBI,' John Cornell Sr. said. 'They set him up.' ", by Aaron Nelson,. "What we do know is that this footage suggests the officer was likely not shot in the head by an AK-47 (a 7.62×39mm round), as claimed by the corporate media. ... We've been told that these professionally trained terrorists left their identification cards in the getaway car before making an effort to conceal their identity by putting on ski masks. How could they be so careless and so well trained, as the media is reporting, at the same time?", by AE911Truth Staff,. "Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth founder Richard Gage, AIA, was invited to bring the evidence for the explosive demolition of the three World Trade Center towers to viewers of C-SPAN today on its morning program Washington Journal. His 45-minute appearance  which can be viewed below is enabling the 9/11 Truth message to reach a national television audience of millions.", by Dennis P. McMahon, J.D., L.L.M.. "Fran Shure, M.A., a 20-year licensed professional counselor and psychotherapist....realized that 'what is common to every one of them is the emotion of fear. People are afraid of being ostracized, they're afraid of being alienated, they're afraid of being shunned. They're afraid of feeling helpless and vulnerable, and they're afraid that they won't be able to handle the feelings that are coming up. They're afraid of their lives being inconvenienced...of being confused...[and] of psychological deterioration. They're afraid of feeling helpless and vulnerable.' ... Most people do not welcome such dramatic challenges to their worldview.", by Jack Serle and Abigail Fielding-Smith,. "CIA Pakistan drone campaign reported to have killed nearly five times more people under Obama than under Bush - Domestic buildings continue to be the most frequently hit target in Pakistan - Highest ever number of drone strikes in a year in Somalia - Total people killed per strike in Yemen hits highest level."

• RECALL U.S. SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN WHO VOTED FOR NDAA

2/28/12 Virginia Senate votes 39-1 to nullify NDAA. "[N]o agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia  including defense forces and national guard troops, will comply with or assist the federal government in any way under its newly claimed powers to arrest and detain without due process."

• GLOBAL REVOLUTION (continuing coverage). Live stream video coverage from independent journalists on the ground at nonviolent protests around the world.

• WASHINGTON DC: OCTOBER2011.ORG

• OTHER ACTIONS ACROSS AMERICA: OCCUPY TOGETHER

• JOIN ROOTSACTION.ORG. • BE LOUDER THAN WORDS (VIDEO 1:21).

• BELOW: A BRIEF AND CRUCIAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (VIDEO 22:52)





4/13/12 YES, THE '99% SPRING' IS A FRAUD, by Charles M. Young, This Can't Be Happening. "The first clue that my evening might go otherwise was the sign-up table, where there were a bunch of Obama buttons for sale...which didn't appear to be selling."

5/22/12 An Ex-Marine Turned Pacifist Now One of 'Hancock 33', by Sherwood Ross, UK Progressive. "It's been a long journey for Russell Brown, 65, from the days when he fought with the Fourth Marines in Viet Nam, to becoming one of the 'Hancock 33' protesters against drone warfare. ... [He's] a man who has seen the criminal operation that is militarism up close and from the inside and who is willing to be arrested to defy it, a man who refuses to allow himself to be intimidated. Now, when will the rest of us speak out?"

2. AMERICA IN DISTRESS: NATIONAL 911 EMERGENCY

WHY WE MUST QUESTION 9/11 (America CAN Handle the Truth.)

Former Reagan administration Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts calmly and rationally recounts the facts and evidence about the 9/11 attacks and subsequent coverup. Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, Centre for Research on Globalization, September 14, 2010 MORE THAN 3,000 PROMINENT PATRIOTIC AMERICANS HAVE QUESTIONED AND REJECTED THE OFFICIAL 9/11 ACCOUNT . High-level professionals  with extensive backgrounds in government, the military, aviation, engineering, academia, the arts, medicine, science and technology  have dared to speak out, risking their professional reputations and careers ( and some even their lives ) for the sake of truth.

Richard Clarke, Former Counterterrorism Chief, Apologizes for 9/11:

"Your government failed fooled you..."

HOW TO BEGIN QUESTIONING...

"Understanding the full truth of 9/11 seems to require two separate awakenings. The first, awakening to the fraudulence of the 'official 9/11 story,' is a pretty simple brain function and only requires a little study, logic or curiosity..... The second step, however, consciously confronting the implications of that knowledgeand what it says about our media, politics and economic system todayis by far the harder awakening and requires an enormous exercise of nerve and heart." 911truth.org

VIDEO LECTURE (1:28:16, uploaded 2/21/12), THE FICTIONAL BASIS OF THE WAR ON TERROR [An Evidentiary Analysis of the Anthrax Attacks and 9/11], presented at Harvard University, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, May 22, 2010, by Dr. Graeme MacQueen

[at 1:26:50] "Most of you have looked the other way. Some of you have even poured comtempt on citizens trying to find their way out of a maze of government lies and propaganda. But surely your duty is to look at the evidence these citizens have accumulated.... If you can find the courage to do this, you'll discover that you've been given an opportunity to perform a great service for humanity."



VIDEO TRAILER (3:14, uploaded 2/29/12) The Toronto Hearings on 9/11: Uncovering 10 Years of Deception - Preview [Toronto Hearings website]

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

 Voltaire (1694 - 1778)



"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. ... It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

 Joseph Goebbels, 1933



"Naturally, the common people don't want war... But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along.... All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

 Hermann Göring, 1946, interviewed in his jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials



"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality  judiciously, as you will  we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

 Karl Rove, 2004



###

"You can fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time."

 Abraham Lincoln, 1858



"Few are guilty, but all are responsible."

 Rabbi Abraham Heschel (1907 - 1972)



"Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand... He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters."

 Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 12:25-30





SEE ALSO WAR PROPAGANDA/PROVOCATION SECTION 6, BELOW

3. OUR GOVERNMENT?



"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.... The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people."

Dwight D. Eisenhower, "The Chance for Peace" speech, April 16, 1953

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.... Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address, January 17, 1961

PENTAGON: 7 WARS OF AGGRESSION  ALL PLANNED BEFORE 9/11:

FALL, 2001: "Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and finishing off Iran."

Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.), interviewed on March 2, 2007 [below left]



TAX DOLLARS AT WAR (Animated video, 3:46) [above right] "People have to realize that 53 cents of every dollar that they're paying in taxes is going to the military. It's an astonishing figure. There's an enormous, ENORMOUS amount of money being blown on war and killing and destruction..."

In 2011 the U.S. spent $711 billion on "defense." The next 14 highest spenders on militaryChina, Russia, U.K., France, Japan, Saudi Arabia, India, Germany, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Turkeycombined spent $698.7 billion.

LOOK WHO'S GETTING OUR TAX DOLLARS  AND FOR WHAT:

(Individual contracts valued under $6.5 million are not counted by DoD)

$ 3,991,128,829

, by Gary Brumback, PhD,(Dec. 11, 2012). "Imagine what America could be today if much of that eight trillion dollars [of military/national security expenditures since 9/11] had been spent instead to help ensure that every American has an adequate standard of living that is the right of every human being in a civilized society; to help develop her youth, the future of America; to provide affordable and quality health care to everyone; and to help preserve the balance between human activities and nature." U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Feb 06, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Feb 05, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Feb 04, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Feb 03, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Feb 02, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 30, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 29, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 28, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 27, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 26, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 23, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 22, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 21, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 20, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 16, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 15, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 14, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 13, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 12, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 09, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 08, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 07, 2015 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 06, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 05, 2015 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Jan 02, 2015 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 31, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 30, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 29, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 24, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 23, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 22, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 09, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 08, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 05, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 04, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 03, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 02, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 01 - Dec 05, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Nov 28, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Nov 26, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Nov 25, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Nov 24, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Nov 05, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Nov 04, 2014 . Total U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Nov 03, 2014 . Total• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 22 - Dec 24, 2014. Total• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards for Dec 01 - Dec 05, 2014. Total• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards Nov 24-Nov 28, 2014

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JAN 2015: $ 10,575,927,739

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, DEC 2014: $ TBD

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, NOV 2014: $ TBD

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, OCT 2014: $ 18,771,268,119

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, SEP 2014: $ 32,689,247,753

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, OCT 2014: $ 18,771,268,119

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, SEP 2014: $ 32,689,247,753

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, AUG 2014: $ TBD

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JULY 2014: $ TBD

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JUNE 2014: $ 34,852,895,403

ONE-YEAR TOTAL CONTRACT AWARDS: JUNE 2014 - MAY 2015: $



• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, MAY 2014: $ 14,309,870,024

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, APRIL 2014: $ 30,088,429,575

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, MARCH 2014: $ 35,381,499,614

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, FEBRUARY 2014: $ 32,828,610,202

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JANUARY 2014: $ 15,661,792,314

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, DECEMBER 2013: $ 25,934,609,707

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, NOVEMBER 2013: $ 30,040,900,135

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, OCTOBER 2013: $ 15,429,676,075

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, SEPTEMBER 2013: $ 67,483,616,702

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, AUGUST 2013: $ 34,775,468,355

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JULY 2013: $ 18,730,488,139

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JUNE 2013: $ 44,423,940,940

ONE-YEAR TOTAL CONTRACT AWARDS: JUNE 2013 - MAY 2014: $365,088,901,782



• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, MAY 2013: $ 21,631,686,912

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, APRIL 2013: $ 19,059,913,988

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, MARCH 2013: $ 42,974,778,295

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, FEBRUARY 2013: $ 19,659,592,303

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JANUARY 2013: $ 12,522,775,216

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, DECEMBER 2012: $ 42,718,919,993

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, NOVEMBER 2012: $ 19,890,744,511

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, OCTOBER 2012: $ 38,800,775,132

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, SEPTEMBER 2012: $ 44,132,794,047

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, AUGUST 2012: $ 24,972,023,643

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JULY 2012: $ 42,949,885,616

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JUNE 2012: $ 17,789,201,991

ONE-YEAR TOTAL CONTRACT AWARDS: JUNE 2012 - MAY 2013: $347,103,091,647



• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, MAY 2012: $ 19,904,320,462

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, APR 2012: $ 26,976,679,871

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, MAR 2012: $ 25,326,441,247

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, FEB 2012: $ 20,086,856,609

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JAN 2012: $ 37,057,447,392

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, DEC 2011: $ 33,814,406,787

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, NOV 2011: $ 51,220,457,307

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, OCT 2011: $ 25,300,004,573

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, SEP 2011: $ 28,353,878,454

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, AUG 2011: $ 25,214,310,677

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JUL 2011: $ 13,649,406,508

• U.S. Department of Defense Contract Awards TOTAL, JUN 2011: $ 30,460,201,120

ONE-YEAR TOTAL CONTRACT AWARDS: JUNE 2011 - MAY 2012: $337,364,411,007



• ARCHIVES HERE (Trillions and trillions spent on "defense" since October 1994)



PENTAGON OVERSPENDING, CONGRESS COVERING UP:

REPORT: DOD AWARDED BILLIONS TO FIRMS DESPITE FRAUD, by Sarah Chacko, Federal Times (2/3/11).

According to the report by the Pentagon's Office of the Undersecretary for Acquisition, between 2007 and 2009:

• $682.1 million in contracts were awarded to 30 Defense contractors who had been convicted of criminal fraud, resulting in judgments including fines, restitution, suspensions or debarments.

• $280 billion in contracts were awarded to 91 contractors who had incurred civil judgments, and 120 contractors who had settled charges of fraud.

• $992.5 million in contracts were awarded to 43 contractors who had been suspended from contracting with the Pentagon. They were awarded more than $3.8 million while they were suspended.

• $4 billion in contracts were awarded to 164 contractors who had been debarred. They received $15 million in contracts after they were debarred.



PROJECT ON GOVERMENT OVERSIGHT: TOP 100 FEDERAL CONTRACTORS ACCUSED OF FRAUD AND OTHER VIOLATIONS

1/16/15 Navy Captain Admits Providing Classified Info in Bribery Scheme, by Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, Military.com. "A Navy captain on Thursday became the highest-ranking officer to plead guilty in the $20 milllion bribery scandal in which classified information was sold in exchange for cash, Cuban cigars, Lady Gaga tickets, hotel and travel expenses and the services of prostitutes. The guilty plea of Navy Capt. Daniel Dusek came on the same day that the central figure in the scandal, Leonard Glenn Francis, chief executive of a Singapore-based naval services firm, pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court."

1/15/15 Defense contractor pleads guilty in massive bribery case, by Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post. "A Malaysian defense contractor pleaded guilty Thursday in a corruption scandal of epic proportions, admitting that he bribed 'scores' of U.S. Navy officials with $500,000 in cash, six figures' worth of sex from prostitutes, lavish hotel stays, spa treatments, Cuban cigars, Kobe beef, Spanish suckling pigs and an array of other luxury goods. Leonard Glenn Francis, a businessman who charmed a generation of Navy officers while resupplying their ships in Asia, admitted in federal court in San Diego to presiding over a decade-long corruption scheme involving his Singapore-based firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia. The investigation has steadily escalated into the biggest corruption case in the Navy's history, with Francis admitting that he bilked the service out of tens of millions of dollars by overcharging for food, fuel and basic services. Five current and former Navy officials have pleaded guilty so far, and prosecutors have made it clear they are targeting others."

1/15/15 US watchdog: Buildings at Afghanistan training range 'melting', by Jennifer Hlad, Stars and Stripes. "The $457,000 facility was built in 2012 and accepted by the U.S. government on Oct. 20, 2012, beginning a one-year warranty period, according to the report. The contractor, Qesmatullah Nasrat Construction Company, was paid in full for its work on Nov. 13, 2012. But within four months, water caused the walls to start disintegrating, according to the report. ... Because of the multiple failures, [Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F.] Sopko is asking U.S. Central Command to determine to what extent the contractor failed to meet contract requirements and attempt to recoup the money, identify the contracting officer and others who were responsible for oversight to find out why the range wasn't built to standards and what disciplinary action should be taken for the oversight failures."

12/31/14 "Distancing Acts:" Private Mercenaries and the War on Terror in American Foreign Policy, by Jeremy Kuzmarov, Asia-Pacific Journal (Japan). "If the use of mercenaries reached a peak during the George W. Bush administration, they have long been part of American war making, employed particularly to carry out covert operations. ... From 1994 to 2002, the Pentagon signed more than 3,000 contracts with U.S. based firms valued at $300 billion.34 ... A Congressional study found that private contractors made up 65 percent of the Pentagon's military force in Afghanistan and 29 percent of the workforce in the intelligence agencies, taking up 50-60 percent of the CIA's budget. The National Security Agency (NSA) employed 480 separate companies who came up with most of its technological innovations. Private contractors helped to revolutionize warfare by building unmanned Global Hawk surveillance drones equipped with light censors capable of seeing two hundred miles away, backpack surveillance kits, and a computer program making it easier to find makers of roadside bombs.51 They also contributed to the rise of a domestic surveillance state, with the Pentagon hiring Iran-Contra felon John Poindexter, convicted of lying to and obstructing Congress, to develop an IT system to counter asymmetric threats by 'achieving total information awareness.' Poindexter proposed a national betting parlor that would harness the forces of market capitalism to predict the likelihood of acts of terrorism, much as commodity traders speculate on the future price of pork or electric power.52 This was the ultimate attempt by elements of the national security bureaucracy to profit from the climate of fear they themselves did much to help create by hyping the possibility of terrorist attack, as with the WMDs and Iraq.53"

12/24/14 Fired Phoenix VA chief Helman took secret gifts, by Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic. "As Arizona military veterans waited months for doctor appointments in a broken health-care system, then-Phoenix VA hospital Director Sharon Helman went on a weeklong vacation to Disneyland secretly financed by an industry lobbyist.... E-mail records and receipts examined by Chief Administrative Judge Stephen C. Mish indicate that Helman also got free concert and airline tickets and other perks from lobbyist Dennis 'Max' Lewis, her previous boss. ... Lewis spent four decades as a VA administrator, and played a role in Helman's career advancement before retiring in 2009. He is listed as vice president of Jefferson Consulting Group, a Washington, D.C., firm that represents health companies and other businesses seeking contracts with the VA."

12/9/14 Tech company agrees to $1.9 million settlement with U.S. over false claims allegations, by Jim Boyle, The Pennsylvania Record. "DHS Technologies LLC and its subsidiary, DHS Systems LLC, have agreed to pay $1.9 million, plus interest, to the United States to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by failing to disclose to the General Services Administration (GSA) that it offered greater discounts to a private company for the same items during the negotiation for the re-award of a government contract. ... 'Companies doing business with the U.S. government should do their part to ensure that the military is guaranteed a fair price for the goods and services it needs to support our military men and women,' said Frank Robey, the director of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit, in a statement to the press. "

11/21/14 Dividing the Spoils, by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Moyers and Company. "Today, gifts to politicians that were once called graft or bribes are called contributions. The Supreme Court has granted corporations the rights our founders reserved for people, and told those corporations they can give just about anything they want to elect politicians favorable to their interests. ... From 2007 to 2012, the two hundred most politically active corporations in the United States spent almost $6 billion for lobbying and campaign contributions. And they received more than $4 trillion in US government contracts and other forms of assistance. That's $760 for every dollar spent on influence, a stunning return on investment. Peter Overby at National Public Radio reported that 'Military contractors lead the list of contract recipients, and they hover in the upper ranks of companies with the biggest campaign contributions.' Raytheon, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin  all of them made hefty political donations to Republican campaigns. Not coincidentally, this year the Pentagon is due to spend $163 billion on research, development and procurement."

11/20/14 KBR contractor probed by Senate, House over documents silencing whistleblowers, by Jim McElhatton, The Washington Times. "Top Senate and House Democrats pressed government contractor KBR on Thursday over new documents that they said show the company has tried to silence whistleblowers who wanted to report on bad practices at the contractor. The lawmakers say the document, obtained from an outside lawyer for the company, shows that KBR sought to have employees sign non-disclosure agreements during interviews in internal corporate investigations, which required them to get prior approval from a corporate lawyer before reporting wrongdoing."

11/14/14 The American Government Is Funding Human Trafficking - The ugly business of how military contractors find their workers, by Jessica Schulberg, New Republic. "Since 2007, the Army has awarded Dyncorp and Fluor a combined $16.8 billion to run a contract called the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP). The contractors oversee everything from laundry, to food preparation, to construction on military bases throughout Afghanistan. These companies, in turn, have relied on the subcontractor Ecolog to hire workers in Dubai, many of whom came from south Asia after paying a recruiter in their home country several thousand dollars. ... Recruiters often mislead workers about their salary and the location of their jobpromises of high-paying jobs in Jordanian hotels turn into custodial positions on U.S. military bases in warzones."

11/5/14 War contractor pays $8.7M in fraud settlement, by AdVantage News, AdVantage News. "Maersk Line Lt. (Maersk) paid the United States $8.7 million as the result of a civil settlement regarding Maersk's failure to comply with its contract with the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton said in a press release Wednesday. ... With respect to the shipments at issue in this matter, USTRANSCOM discovered that claims submitted by Maersk contained suspicious signatures. Further investigation revealed that signatures purporting to verify receipt of shipments in Afghanistan were forged. USTRANSCOM's review uncovered 277 instances in which such claims were falsely made."

11/2/14 Ebola: Windfall for military-industrial complex, by Kurt Nimmo, Press TV. "On October 31, Profectus BioSciences, Inc. announced it has received millions of dollars to develop an Ebola vaccine. The Pentagon awarded the contract through its Medical Countermeasure Systems-Joint Vaccine Acquisition Program, a program that develops and stockpiles vaccines to be used on soldiers. ... Many Africans believe Ebola was unleashed on West Africa in order to create a pandemic that would require a vaccine. 'Reports narrate stories of the US Department of Defense (DoD) funding Ebola trials on humans, trials which started just weeks before the Ebola outbreak in Guinea and Sierra Leone. The reports continue and state that the DoD gave a contract worth $140 million dollars to Tekmira, a Canadian pharmaceutical company, to conduct Ebola research. This research work involved injecting and infusing healthy humans with the deadly Ebola virus,' writes Dr. Cyril Broderick, a former professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Liberia's College of Agriculture and Forestry."

10/30/14 Navy Intelligence Official Found Guilty in Silencers Scam, by Richard Sisk, Military.com. "A judge convicted on Wednesday a Navy intelligence official and a struggling auto mechanic in a scheme to bill the government $1.6 million for supposedly untraceable silencers that cost only $10,000 to make. ... The government paid $1.6 million for 349 untraceable silencers.... At the trial, prosecutors portrayed Mark Landersman as a poor auto mechanic who lacked a federal firearms license. He allegedly made the silencers in his garage and then went on a spending spree with his profits from the contract, buying expensive cars and investing $100,000 in a microbrewery, the Washington Post reported."

10/28/14 Afghan Watchdog Blames Corrupt U.S. Officials for Botched Prison Project, by Siobhán O'Grady, Foreign Policy. "But [Inspector General John] Sopko's office found that even though Al-Watan only completed 50 percent of the contracted work, the State Department still paid the company $18.5 million  over 90 percent of the initial agreement. Though SIGAR recommended the State Department investigate whether the settlement was appropriate, State declined the possibility it was influenced by biased employees. ... The contract with Al-Watan was halted in 2010 and officially terminated for convenience by the State Department in 2012. Three other projects that had been awarded to the company  a potable water tower, a commercial power upgrade, and a new staff barracks  were transferred to Afghan prison authorities. Those cost $5.3 million."

10/27/14 Who's Going to Get Rich Fighting the Islamic State?, by William D. Hartung, Foreign Policy. "The Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC) estimated that private contractors have received nearly $200 billion for work done in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That doesn't even include the tens of billions of additional dollars used to procure weapons. Meanwhile, overall Pentagon contracts -- justified in part by the argument that the United States needed to build up its military across the board as part of the Global War on Terrorism -- more than doubled, to over $400 billion per year in the first decade of the 2000s. ... The contracting commission estimates that the value of fraud and waste in Iraq and Afghanistan ranged from $31 billion to $60 billion. There are scores of examples, including a subcontractor on a military construction project in Afghanistan who simply walked off with $2 million in U.S. funds; faulty electrical repairs in Iraq that resulted in the electrocution of a soldier while he was taking a shower; the provision of nearly $300 billion in faulty 1960s-era Chinese ammunition procured from the Albanian government to U.S. forces in Afghanistan; and the expenditure of over $3 billion in reconstruction funding in Iraq for work that may never have been performed."

10/27/14 Former Boeing Procurement Officer and Two Sub-Contractors Sentenced on Federal Fraud Charges, FBI Press Release, FBI, St. Louis Division. "ST. LOUIS, MOFormer Boeing Procurement Officer Deon Anderson was sentenced to 20 months in prison in connection with a bribery/kickback scheme involving Boeing military aircraft parts, as well as structuring currency transactions to conceal his receipt of the cash bribes. Co-defendants William P. Boozer, Hacienda Heights, CA, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, a fine of $10,000; and Robert Diaz, Jr., Alta Loma, CA, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and a fine of $2000."

10/25/14 Former defense contractor convicted of selling defective machine gun parts to Department of Defense, by Ryan Shek, MLive Media Group. "According to United States Attorney Patrick A. Miles, Cahn purchased a Michigan machining shop in 2008 and began producing various components for two automatic weapons widely used by the U.S. military. In April, 2009, Cahn coerced his employees to add defective components, which had failed testing and been designated as scrap, to a shipment of good parts; the failed components were essential to the weapons' safe functioning, Miles said. At the same time, Cahn also coerced an employee to alter testing documents to secure a separate contract with the Department of Defense; the altered documents made it appear as though Cahn's company, Aerospace Manufacturing Service, had produced components actually produced by a company in Colorado."

10/24/14 Former Army Contracting Official Sentenced to Four Years in Prison in Bribery and Kickback Scheme, FBI Press Release, FBI, Washington Field Office. "WASHINGTONIn Seon Lim, a former contracting official for the U.S. Department of the Army, was sentenced today to four years in prison for his role in a scheme in which he accepted over $490,000 worth of benefits, including cash payments and vacations, from favored contractors. In return, he helped these businesses obtain millions of dollars in federal contracts. ... Lim is among 18 individuals and one corporation, Nova Datacom, LLC, to plead guilty to federal charges in an investigation that uncovered the largest domestic bribery and bid-rigging scheme in the history of federal contracting cases. Overall, participants in the scheme stole over $30 million in government money through inflated and fictitious invoices."

10/16/14 Former Simi Valley CEO Sentenced to 7 Years, by Joel Russell, San Fernando Valley Business Journal. "The former owner of a Simi Valley-based battery distributor was sentenced this week to more than seven years in prison for fraudulently selling more than $2.6 million in knock-offs to the U.S. Defense Department. Didier De Nier, 64, owned Powerline Inc., which also did business as Birdman Distribution Corp. in Simi Valley. From 2004 to 2011, the company sold more than 80,000 batteries and assemblies to the Navy for use as emergency back-up power aboard aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines....affixing counterfeit labels falsely identifying them as originating from approved manufacturers. Employees also used chemicals to remove 'Made in China' markings from the counterfeit batteries and prepared false invoices, packing slips and other paperwork."

10/12/14 Probe of silencers leads to web of Pentagon secrets, by Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post. "The mysterious workings of a Pentagon office that oversees clandestine operations are unraveling in federal court, where a criminal investigation has exposed a secret weapons program entwined with allegations of a sweetheart contract, fake badges and trails of destroyed evidence. Capping an investigation that began almost two years ago, separate trials are scheduled this month in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for a civilian Navy intelligence official and a hot-rod auto mechanic from California who prosecutors allege conspired to manufacture an untraceable batch of automatic-rifle silencers."

10/9/14 U.S. Air Force probed for scrapping costly planes bought for Afghans, by Andrea Shalal, Reuters. " A U.S. government watchdog agency is asking the Air Force to explain why it decided to destroy 16 aircraft initially bought for the Afgan air force and turn them into $32,000 of scrap metal instead of finding other ways to salvage nearly $500 million in U.S. funds spent on the program. ... The U.S. government spent $468 million to buy and refurbish 20 older C-27A airplanes from Alenia, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA , but later canceled the program because a lack of spare parts was severely limiting their availability for military use. Instead, the Pentagon decided to buy four larger C-130 planes built by Lockheed Martin Corp to do the work."

10/6/14 GovWatch: Report says Air Force overspending by billions, by Josh Sweigart and Katie Wedell, Dayton Daily News. "The U.S. Air Force plans to spend $8.8 billion on possibly unnecessary attack drones, according to an inspector general's report last week that claims the military didn't properly assess how many MQ-9 Reaper aircraft it really needed before budgeting $76.8 billion to buy 401 of them. ... Coincidentally, the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense also last week released a report criticizing the Department of Defense for spending another $8 billion on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which has gone over budget on research and development by $39.1 billion."

10/3/14 DynCorp Targeted with $150 Million Fraud Claim for Northrop Subcontract, by Steve Kardell, JD Supra. "In the suit, which seeks $150 million in damages from DynCorp International, the plaintiffs claim the company hired unqualified workers and paid them far below the rates required for government contract work, but it continued to bill for its services at the regular fixed rates. The employees also say that they warned DynCorp officials about the illegal practices, but senior managers failed to make any adjustments. In total, the claimants estimate that the damages caused to the government by DynCorp or Northrop equal about $50 million. The U.S. government has yet to intervene in the case, but does reserve the right to do so under federal law."

10/2/14 National Guard officials, retirees arrested for bribery, by Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes. "WASHINGTON  The FBI said Wednesday it arrested six current and former Army National Guard officials for taking bribes in exchange for steering multimillion-dollar contracts to businesses, the latest fallout after Capitol Hill investigations earlier this year pointed to fraud and waste in recruitment and NASCAR sponsorship programs. Four retirees  including two colonels, a lieutenant colonel and a sergeant major  one active-duty sergeant and one civilian took or paid out bribes to steer $14.6 million to businesses hired to bring in new Guard members. Two of the defendants have pleaded guilty to the charges, the FBI said."

10/1/14 Who Will Profit From the Wars in Iraq and Syria?, by William Hartung and Stephen Miles, Huffington Post. "Unfortunately, while profits for the Pentagon's contractors increase, so does the cost to taxpayers in billions in waste, fraud, and abuse. As America embarks on yet another war in the Middle East, Congress needs to act now to stop this unjustified bonanza for the Pentagon's contractors. ... The direct costs of the wars in Iraq and Syria may only be a small part of the new business that will flow to Lockheed Martin and its cohorts in the next few years. The new wars will almost certainly extend the life of the Pentagon's war budget, known more formally as the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. For the past few years, OCO has served as a slush fund to pay for Pentagon projects that have nothing to do with fighting any war."

9/30/14 Nearly $1bn already spent on US military campaign against ISIS, by Staff, RT. "The US-led military operation against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) militants has likely so far cost between $780 and $930 million, according to an estimate by Washington-based think tank specializing in defense issues. The estimate is part of a report attempting to forecast how much the operation might cost in the future. It was published on Monday by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), that’s influential with the US Department of Defense."

9/28/14 Ex-FBI agent goes on trial for interference in Utah-based investigation, by Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press, Deseret News (Utah). "Federal prosecutors say retired agent Robert Lustyik Jr. agreed to derail a Utah-based investigation into a company started by former soldiers. They were accused of using insider information to win $54 million worth of inflated contracts to supply Afghan troops. ... In exchange for $200,000 in cash and money purportedly for his child's medical expenses, Lustyik also tried to contact witnesses in the investigation, records say. He appeared convinced his lifetime in law enforcement was about to pay off in 2012 when he offered $1 million to a friend as a gift, court records state."

9/24/14 Who profits from our new war? Inside NSA and private contractors' secret plans, by Tim Shorrock, Salon. "A massive, $7.2 billion Army intelligence contract signed just 10 days ago underscores the central role to be played by the National Security Agency and its army of private contractors in the unfolding air war being carried out by the United States and its Gulf States allies against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. ... Under its terms, 21 companies, led by Booz Allen Hamilton, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, will compete over the next five years to provide 'fully integrated intelligence, security and information operations' in Afghanistan and 'future contingency operations' around the world."

9/19/14 Department of Defense Contractors Agree to Pay the U.S. Government $5.5 Million for Allegedly Supplying the Military with Low-Grade Batteries for Humvee Gun Turrets Used in Iraq; Minnesota Whistleblower to Receive $990,000, by Ted Sherman, The National Law Review. "On September 16, 2014, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Department of Defense (DOD) contractors, M.K. Battery, Inc. (M.K. Battery), East Penn Manufacturing Company (East Penn), NPC Robotics, Inc. (NPC), BAE Systems, Inc. (BAE) and BAE Systems Tactical Vehicle Systems LP (BAE) had agreed to a settlement of $5.5 million for allegedly violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by selling the U.S. Military substandard batteries for Humvee gun turrets used on military combat vehicles in Iraq. Minnesota whistleblower, David McIntosh, former employee of M.K. Battery, will receive $990,000 which represents his share of the settlement for reporting fraud against the government – in this case misrepresentation of a vital product supplied to the DOD."

9/18/14 Grand jury adds charges to Fort Knox contractor, by Brett Barrouquerre, AP, Stars and Stripes. "Prosecutors say 67-year-old Gary T. Meredith of Leitchfield [KY] orchestrated Nolin Rural Electric Cooperative's overbilling the Army in the amount of $423,523 in unapproved projects. Grand jurors also charged Meredith with fraudulently billing the Army for his $190,401 salary.... Meredith...also face a civil suit from the federal government that, like the indictment, accuses him of manipulating an energy conservation contract to his benefit. Prosecutors say Meredith steered hundreds of thousands of military contracting dollars to his own company in an effort to create a lucrative retirement for himself."

9/16/14 Fake N.J. companies competed to supply foreign parts for nuclear attack sub and assault vehicles, feds say, by Ted Sherman, NJ.com. "According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Clifmax and Tunamann were both shell companies for manufacturing facilities in Turkey, created to obtain U.S. Department of Defense contracts that neither company was permitted to receive. Officials said neither company had any manufacturing capabilities in the United States. If convicted, Calik faces up to 20 years in prison and $1 million or more in fines."

9/13/14 Contractors Ready to Cash In On ISIS War, by Eli Lake, The Daily Beast. "Obama pledged that the war against ISIS won't be fought with U.S. ground troops. He didn't say anything about contractors, who see this as 'the next big meal ticket.' ... President Obama has asked Congress to authorize $500 million to train a new Syrian opposition out of Saudi Arabia. That money would be part of a $5 billion fund Obama requested this spring from Congress to help train and equip U.S. allies to fight terrorists. One U.S. military contractor working in Iraq who asked not to be named said, 'I can tell you the contractor-expat community is abuzz thinking this will lead to more work. We expect a much larger footprint than he is showing right now.'"

8/18/14 How Many Big Contractors Are Actually Posing As Small Businesses?, by Charles S. Clark, Government Executive. "The Petaluma, Calif.-based American Small Business League's new study of fiscal 2013 procurement data concluded that of the top 100 companies receiving the highest-valued small business federal contracts, '79 were large companies that exceeded the SBA's small business size standards, five were anomalous and 16 were legitimate small businesses.' ... The large corporations that received the contracts in question in fiscal 2013 included Lockheed Martin Corp., General Dynamics Corp., Boeing Co., General Electric, Oracle Corp., Apple Inc., Verizon, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., PepsiCo, Comcast Corp., Intel Corp., John Deere Co. and many more, said the league, which published brief company-by-company profiles."

8/15/14 DynCorp Hit With $150M Fraud Suit For Northrop Subcontract, by Andrew Westney, Law360. "DynCorp's practices and markups on labor charges by DynCorp or Northrop caused over $50 million in damages to the U.S. government, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs seek treble damages, reaching over $150 million under the False Claims Act, plus a civil penalty of between $5,500 and $11,000 for each violation. ... In June, DynCorp was hit with an FCA suit by a former deputy project manager alleging it scored hundreds of millions of dollars in false payments from the DOD via its massive logistical support contract in Afghanistan."

8/14/14 Google executive who ran Pentagon agency under scrutiny in ethics case, by Josh Hicks, The Washington Post. "Regina E. Dugan, who ran the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency from July 2009 until March 2012, was cited by the Defense Department Inspector General's office for endorsing a specific product, service or enterprise, a breach of ethics. ... Dugan's connection to RedX was first examined in a March 2011 story by Wired magazine. The story, which was cited by the inspector general, said that in a June 15, 2010, financial ethics report, Dugan stated that she was owed $250,000 by RedX, which she co-founded with her father. DARPA had just awarded a $400,000 research contract to RedX six months before  after she already was running the agency."

8/1/14 The Black Hole of Government Contracting, by Danielle Marie Mackey, Counterpunch. "KBR is also the private military contractor that has made the most money from the U.S. government's 'war on terror': $39.5 billion over the past decade. Despite its legal battles, the company continues to be one of the three main private military contractors that the U.S. government hires for work on military bases in Iraq.... Additionally, three of the four top recipients of reconstruction money in Afghanistan  Dyncorp, PAE Government Services Incorporated, and Civilian Police International, as named in a recent report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction  have all been accused of a range of civil and criminal violations, including corruption, tax evasion and human trafficking, according to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO)."

7/8/14 Former Navy Officer Guilty of Bribery - Defendant Admits Overcharging Navy by up to $2.5 Million for Port Services in Japan, by MAREX, The Maritime Executive. "Edmond A. Aruffo, who retired in 2007 at the rank of lieutenant commander after a military career spanning more than 20 years, is the seventh defendant charged  and the fourth to plead guilty  in the expanding corruption scandal involving GDMA's illicit relationships with Navy officials. GDMA is a Singapore-based contractor that has serviced Navy ships and submarines in the Pacific for decades."

6/29/14 Workplace secrecy agreements appear to violate federal whistleblower laws, by Scott Higham and Kaley Belval, The Washington Post. "Lawyers who represent whistleblowers like Busche say they are seeing a rise in the use of overly restrictive nondisclosure agreements, which prevent employees from reporting fraud, even to government investigators. The agreements incorporate language that goes beyond those that had traditionally protected proprietary information, the attorneys said. In recent months, agreements criticized as overly restrictive have surfaced at Kellogg, Brown and Root, one of the nation's largest defense contractors, and International Relief and Development, a nonprofit organization in Arlington County, Va. The nonprofit collected more than $1 billion in tax dollars for war-related projects funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development."

6/30/14 BLACKWATER WAS A GROUP OF KILLERS THAT THREATENED GOVERNMENT WORKERS, by Joshua De Leon, Ring of Fire Radio. "The Government Accountability Office said in a recent report that the Pentagon 'continues to obligate significant amounts on one-offer awards'  contracts that receive only one bid. In 2013, $22.6 billion was awarded in contracts that only had a single bidder, the GAO found."

6/25/14 Is $48 too much for the federal government to pay for a hammer?, by Christian Davenport, The Washington Post. "The Government Accountability Office said in a recent report that the Pentagon 'continues to obligate significant amounts on one-offer awards'  contracts that receive only one bid. In 2013, $22.6 billion was awarded in contracts that only had a single bidder, the GAO found."

6/19/14 Contracting officers given overly high marks by Army - Appraisals don't match output, by Jim McElhatton, The Washington Times. "Out of 5,670 contracting officers, just two received an unsatisfactory performance rating in fiscal 2011, while more than 60 percent of the Army's procurement workers were given the highest rating of 'role models,' according to a previously undisclosed 2013 Army Audit Agency review that found 'there are few, if any, consequences for unfavorable contracting practices.' Even personnel working in 'high-risk' offices often managed to score above-average job-performance ratings, according to the report, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, which officials said signaled widespread problems of job ratings in government reviews. ... 'It's very, very hard to believe there were only two low performers among 5,600,' said David Van Slyke, a professor at Syracuse University and co-author of Complex Contracting, which investigates the Coast Guard's multibillion-dollar Deepwater modernization program. He said correct job ratings are critical to making sure the government is getting value for its money."

6/19/14 Former N.H. state rep from Alstead sentenced to prison in fraud case, by Kyle Jarvis, SentinelSource.com (NH). "David A. Young, formerly of Alstead and Langdon, pleaded guilty to one count of disclosure of procurement information, and one count of money laundering related to a kickback scheme that netted him nearly $10 million from military training contracts, according to court documents. ... He must also forfeit 11 properties in Hernando Beach, Fla., and two more in New Port Richey, Fla., along with more than $1.63 million in various bank accounts held by his business ventures, $5,371 from the sale of a 2006 Hummer, $4,663 from the sale of a 2002 Sea Ray Mercruiser, a 1999 Jaguar, 225 1-ounce American Eagle gold coins and 175 1-ounce South African gold Krugerrand coins. He served in the N.H. House from Alstead from 1985-93, and again from Langdon from 1999-2000."

6/18/14 Despite fraud allegations, Adams Produce awarded $41 million government contract one month before 2012 bankruptcy, by Kent Faulk, Al.com (Alabama). "Adams Produce got the contract from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) despite questions raised by a former Adams employee, Charles Hall, in a 2009 lawsuit that claimed the company had fraudulently billed the agency on a previous contract, records show."

6/12/14 Moorestown man charged in connection with $3M in fraudulent contracts, by Joe Sorensen, The Trentonian (NJ). "Richard Melton, 44, the founder, owner, and former president of a Burlington-based defense contracting business, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud after allegedly receiving $3 million in fraudulent contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). According to the press release, Melton's business, Partz Network, had several small-dollar contracts with the DoD to supply the military with trucks, trailers, and engineering equipment. A term on most of the contracts required that the products had to be manufactured by DoD-recognized companies. ... [A]n inspection conducted by the DoD determined that the materials were from an unapproved source."

5/13/14 Former Army Contracting Official Indicted on Federal Charges in Bribery and Kickback Scheme, Press Release, FBI.gov. "WASHINGTONIn Seon Lim, a former contracting official for the U.S. Department of the Army, was arrested today following his indictment on federal bribery and other charges in a scheme in which he allegedly accepted more than $350,000 in cash, along with vacations and other benefits, from favored contractors."

5/13/14 Decades later, military still unable to account for its spending, by Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes. "Nearly three decades after U.S. taxpayers gasped over $640 toilet seats and other Cold War military waste, the Department of Defense remains the last federal department still unable to conduct a financial audit despite laws passed in the 1990s that require the accounting. After another era of military buildup following 9/11, Congress mandated in 2010 that the DOD be ready for an audit by 2017. ... The DOD spends roughly $2 billion per day and has $1.5 trillion in physical assets. Various agencies inside the department have been considered at high risk for fraud and waste by the GAO since 1990."

5/9/14 Boeing subcontractor admits contract fraud, by Robert Patrick, Los Angelese Times. "From November 2009 to February 2013, [William] Boozer got Boeing's procurement officer, Deon Anderson, to provide inside information on prices and competitors' bids.... In exchange, Anderson, 47, of St. Louis, got cash.... Boozer used that information to prepare and submit bids to Boeing, eventually winning seven purchase orders to supply parts worth $1.5 million. The 'net benefit' on the orders was $116,339, prosecutors said."

5/9/14 Obama's New Helicopter Fleet Could Cost $20 Billion, by Kyle Mizokami, The Daily Beast. "Each helicopter will probably cost at least $400 million. The entire project, to build at least 23 helicopters, has been estimated to eventually cost between $10 billion to $17 billion. By comparison, the project could pay the combined defense budgets of Finland, Norway, and Sweden for one year ($16.9 billion). The passengers for this enormously expensive helicopter fleet? The President of the United States and his entourage."

5/7/14 I-Team investigates Afghanistan waste, by Justin Gray, WHIO-TV News (Dayton, OH). "Hospitals with no running water, schools with melting walls...billions of dollars wasted in Afghanistan according to government auditors. It is enough money to build a high speed rail system between Los Angelos and San Francisco, build 500 new schools, and still have billions of dollars left for roads, bridges and highways. 'This is more money than we have spent on any other single country in the history of the United States,' said John Sopko, Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Sopko said it adds up to more than one hundred billion dollars and counting that the U.S. has spent on buildings and infrastructure in Afghanistan."

5/7/14 Recruiting fraud 'pervasive' across Army, Guard advocacy group says, by Staff, Military Times. "The G-RAP [Army National Guard Recruiting Assistance Program] netted tens of thousands of desperately needed soldiers for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also became a place where thousands of troops and others are believed to have defrauded the government of as much as $100 million in taxpayer money. ... More than 800 soldiers are under criminal investigation for cheating Army, Guard and Army Reserve programs that paid a bonus to soldiers and civilians between $2,000 and $7,500 for referring each new recruit."

5/6/14 Gaming government contracts: Column, by Jonathan Turley, USA TODAY. "Braulio Castillo seemed exactly what the government was looking for. He was CEO of a Virginia company who was listed as a service-disabled veteran. That status allowed Castillo to secure $500 million in government contracts under special rules. Castillo described his terrible disability as just one of the 'crosses that I bear due to my service to our great country.' Others now describe it as a shameless scam. ... As for Castillo, his contracting days are over. Not because of any reform, mind you. Last month, police charged him in the death of his wife in his Northern Virginia mansion. Despite his classification as 30% disabled, police say he was able to use the other 70% to beat his wife to death and then hoist her to the ceiling to fake a suicide."

4/29/14 Contracts - Army, Contract Awards, U.S. Department of Defense. "DynCorp International LLC, McLean, Va., was awarded a $49,898,634 modification (P00034) to cost-plus-fixed-fee contract W91CRB-11-C-0053 for mentoring and training in support of the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior and Afghanistan National Police. Work will be performed in Afghanistan with an expected completion date of Dec. 31, 2014. "

4/28/14 More than Two-Thirds of Afghanistan Reconstruction Money has Gone to One Company: DynCorp International, by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov. "If not for the federal government, contractor DynCorp International wouldn't be in business. Virtually all of its revenue (96%) comes from government contracts. That includes the vast majority of the taxpayer dollars that the State Department has awarded to companies to help rebuild Afghanistan. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says that of the $4 billion allotted by the State Department from 2002 to 2013, 69.3% went to DynCorp. In terms of actual dollars, DynCorp took in $2.8 billion. Giving so much to one company might not have been a good idea, given DynCorp's record. ... The second largest recipient of contracts for work in Afghanistan has been PAE Government Services, which received $598 million (or 15% of all State Department reconstruction funds). PAE has also had its troubles, according to POGO. The former subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, one of the biggest defense contractors in the U.S., saw a former program manager, Keith Johnson, and his wife, Angela Johnson, go to prison for conspiring to defraud the military over purchases of vehicle parts. In addition to jail time, the Johnsons were fined $2 million for funneling taxpayer money to a shell company they controlled and to subcontractors in exchange for kickbacks."

4/23/14 Former Simi Valley CEO Convicted of Selling Navy Knock-Off Batteries Used on Subs and Aircraft Carriers, News Release, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "LOS ANGELES  A federal jury has convicted the former CEO of the Simi Valley-based battery distributor Powerline Inc. of defrauding the government by selling more than $2.6 million in cheap, knock-off batteries to the U.S. Department of Defense. Didier De Nier, 63, who lived in Simi Valley until he fled the U.S. nearly two years ago, was found guilty Wednesday of five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. ... According to the evidence presented during a six-day trial, De Nier and his employees disguised the bogus nature of the batteries by affixing counterfeit labels that falsely identified the batteries as originating from approved manufacturers. Powerline employees also used chemicals to remove 'Made in China' markings from the knock-off batteries."

4/18/14 Fourth U.S. Navy official charged in bribery investigation, by Marty Graham | Reuters, Chicago Tribune. "SAN DIEGO (Reuters)  The fourth U.S. Navy official charged in the widening corruption investigation of a Singapore-based defense contractor made his first court appearance on Thursday, accused of accepting gifts of cash, electronics and luxury hotel stays. ... He is accused of accepting payments of $1,000 a month, plus expensive electronic gadgets and luxury hotel stays, in exchange for information he provided on Navy ships' schedules to Glenn Defense Marine Asia, the company at the center of the scandal. The company's CEO, native Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, is charged with plying Navy officials with cash, concert tickets, prostitutes and other gifts to win business. ... In 2011, the company won a contract that officials estimate was worth at least $200 million."

4/11/14 Extradition looms for Canadian accused of building faulty trucks for U.S. military, by Douglas Quan, Postmedia News, Calgary Herald. "Canadian armoured-truck builder William Whyte once touted his 8,000-kilogram tactical vehicles as among the 'most protected,' ready to charge into the world's danger zones. And in 2006, he and his company, Armet Armoured Vehicles, scored a multimillion-dollar deal to build nearly three dozen of them for the U.S. military in Iraq. But the former cop is now weeks away from possible extradition to the U.S., accused of failing to deliver on that deal. Not only were not all the vehicles sent, but the ones that were did not have the required bullet and blast protection, say federal prosecutors in Virginia, where Armet based part of its operations."

4/2/14 Sikorsky Aircraft to pay $3.5 million to resolve allegations it overcharged Army for Black Hawk helicopter spare parts, by Courtney Howard, Avionics Intelligence. "WASHINGTON, 2 April 2014. Officials at helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford, Conn., have agreed to settle a suit brought by U.S. government representatives alleging that the company charged inflated prices for spare parts used to maintain the U.S. Army’s current fleet of Black Hawk military helicopters. Sikorsky, part of United Technologies Corp., will pay $3.5 million, federal prosecutors say. ... Paul Jackson, director of communications at Sikorsky Aircraft, has been quoted as saying that Sikorsky 'is pleased to have reached an agreement to resolve this matter' and 'looks forward to continuing to work closely with the Army to maintain its fleet of Black Hawk helicopters.'"

4/1/14 KBR is asked to release internal corporate files, signaling a widening fraud investigation, by Scott Higham, The Washington Post. "The lawmakers asked KBR to turn over copies of complaints submitted to KBR between 2002 and the present, including copies of confidentiality agreements and internal policies relating to the use of the agreements. They also asked for descriptions of complaints filed with KBR, steps taken to investigate the complaints and the disposition of the complaints. The whistleblower case was brought by Harry Barko, a former KBR employee who claimed that Halliburton and KBR inflated the costs of services provided to military bases under a multibillion-dollar logistics contract in Iraq. The suit was filed in 2005, when Halliburton was the parent of the company, then known as Kellogg, Brown & Root.Between 2002 and 2011, KBR was the largest U.S. contractor operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, winning nearly $40 billion worth of work."

3/7/14 Two plead guilty to defrauding U.S. Army, by Steve Rosen, Kansas City Star. "Two businessmen have pleaded guilty for their roles in a $1 million fraud that involved selling allegedly counterfeit and modified computer equipment to the U.S. Army. Roland Evans, of Lee's Summit, and Mark Morgan, of Newport Coast, Calif., were among several defendants charged in a 12-count federal indictment last May."

3/5/14 Bringing Home the Big Bucks in the Public Sector, by David Cay Johnston, Newsweek. "Research by many scholars, notably Professor Paul C. Light of New York University and the Brookings Institution, has shown that privatization does not save taxpayer money. The total cost for federal contract employees averages twice that of what civil service workers cost; for military contractors, the figure is three times as much, Light showed from official pay data."

3/5/14 Retired Colonel Accused Of Conspiring To Defraud Air Force, by Andy Sheehan, CBSNews Pittsburgh. "Federal prosecutors say Col. Gerard Mangis used [his position] to enrich himself, allegedly conspiring with a co-defendant to defraud the Air Force of more than $200,000. ... The indictment says 59-year-old Mangis, of Shaler, conspired with Robert St. Clair, of Bel Air, Md., to reap tens of thousands of dollars in Air Force pay for days not worked and duties not performed."

3/4/14 President Requests Unprecedented Spending on Nuclear Weapons Maintenance, Design, Production, Press release, Los Alamos Study Group. "Albuquerque, NM  Today's Department of Energy (DOE) budget request for fiscal year (FY2015) includes a requested $8.315 Billion (B) for nuclear 'Weapons Activities' in the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous component of DOE. This does not include pro-rata administrative costs for NNSA's warhead program, which come to about $293 million (M). Total warhead spending is thus $8.608 B, not including $504 M in potential additional warhead spending (see below). This is a 7% increase from the current year (FY2014). The request is far higher, in constant dollars, than the $8.13 B spent in 1985 for comparable work at the height of President Reagan's surge in nuclear weapons spending, which was also the highest point of the Cold War. (See graph, below.)...."

2/25/14 Secretary Hagel's Cuts Don't Translate into Less Spending, by Mattea Kramer, National Priorities Project. "Meanwhile new five-year spending projections at the Pentagon show that it plans to exceed the spending caps of sequestration by $115 billion over the next five years. What's more, the Pentagon receives many tens of billions in additional funding to operate wars overseas, and that money isn't subject to caps. In fiscal 2014 that war budget, known officially as 'Overseas Contingency Operations,' totaled $85 billion  and was widely criticized for containing funding that wasn't actually meant for war operations but instead would function as a slush fund for the Pentagon."

2/20/14 The Case of the Missing Military-Industrial-Complex Money, by James Hall, 21st Century Wire. "Jonathan Turley in Pentagon Plugs: New Study Finds Pentagon Has Hidden Trillions In Missing Money And Equipment, references an example on how the overall avoidance of financial accountability, outright fraud and intentional concealment operates. 'A new report has detailed how the military has cooked the books to hide trillions, that's right trillions, in missing money and equipment. The military calls them "plugs," a curious term for fraud. These are knowingly fake figures used to hide the fact that there is no accurate record of the money. The plugs are generally the work of the office of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the Pentagon's main accounting agency. Required to complete an audit, the staff simply faked the numbers.' ... 'The Pentagon is the only federal agency that has not complied with a law that requires annual audits of all government departments. That means that the $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996, the first year it was supposed to be audited, has never been accounted for.'"

2/20/14 Lawsuit brings to light secrecy statements required by KBR, by Scott Higham, The Washington Post. "One of the nation's largest government contractors requires employees seeking to report fraud to sign internal confidentiality statements barring them from speaking to anyone about their allegations, including government investigators and prosecutors, according to a complaint filed Wednesday and corporate documents obtained by The Washington Post. ... For years, Halliburton has been one of the biggest players in U.S. government and U.S. military contracting, and the company was headed by Richard B. Cheney before he became vice president. In 2006, Halliburton separated from Kellogg Brown & Root, which is now a stand-alone company known as KBR. Between 2002 and 2011, KBR was the largest U.S. contractor operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, winning nearly $40 billion worth of federal work, according to the U.S. Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. KBR has been the subject of numerous lawsuits and allegations of fraud relating to contracts with the U.S. government, according to the war commission and the Justice Department."

2/20/14 'Windfalls of war': Companies with spotty records making billions off Afghanistan, by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Fox News. "The United States government has paid a company based in Switzerland more than $5 billion to feed the troops in Afghanistan, and thanks to a succession of no-bid contract extensions, the company, Supreme Foodservice, overcharged American taxpayers as much as $757 million, officials say. ... The biggest American benefactors of contracts in Afghanistan in recent years have been DynCorp International, KBR and Fluor Corporation.... DynCorp has continued to get police and military training contracts worth millions."

2/18/14 Virginia-Based Contractor to Pay $6.5 Million to Settle Allegations of False Claims on Navy Contracts, Press Release, eNews Park Forest. "Washington, DCVector Planning and Services Inc. (VPSI), an information technology, systems engineering, program management and consulting firm headquartered in Chantilly, Va., has agreed to pay the government $6.5 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that the company inflated claims for payment under several Navy contracts, the Justice Department announced today. ... The government alleged that, from 2005 to 2009, VPSI inflated its indirect cost billings to the government by improperly including direct costs, for which it had already been paid, in indirect cost accounts that were then allocated across its government contracts and billed again. "

2/13/14 Government Contractor Pays $229,060 to Resolve Allegations of Improper Claims, Hawaii Reporter. "REPORT FROM THE US ATTORNEY - HONOLULU - J.M. Waller Associates, Inc. ('JMWA'), a corporation headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, will pay $229,060 to settle certain civil claims under the federal False Claims Act in an agreement signed on February 5, 2014. ... [A]ccording to the settlement agreement, the United States alleged that during the period from October 1, 2008, through November 30, 2010, JMWA submitted false or fraudulent claims for payment that included..... While JMWA agreed to the settlement, it did not admit that the allegations were correct."

2/13/14 Defense Contractor MPRI Settles $3.2 Million Lawsuit Brought by Whistleblower, by The Wallace Law Firm, L.L.C., Sacramento Bee. "According to a press release issued by the Department of Justice last night, the Department of Defense had contracted with MPRI (now known as Engility Corporation) to provide training and support services for the army in Afghanistan. Under the contract, MPRI only was entitled to bill the Army for hours that its employees spent actually working on the contract."

2/11/14 Waste and Fraud in Afghanistan: A Greatest Hits Collection, by Jordain Carney, National Journal. "The government watchdog has 318 ongoing cases, according to its latest quarterly report. ... The military is livid over SIGAR's reports, accusing it of missing the mark and even setting up its own '4 Phase Plan of Action to be 1st with the truth' aimed at defending its programs and point of view. ... Here are some of SIGAR's highlights: $1.6 Billion... $486 Million... $36 Million...."

2/11/14 The Staggering Costs of Kickbacks, Bribery, and Theft in the Military, by Lauren Kirchner, Pacific Standard. "The structure of the military means that when people high up in the chain of command aren't held responsible for the crimes they commit, that message will quickly ripple down the ranks."

2/11/14 U.S. geospatial firm Sanborn to pay $2.1 mil' to settle fraud allegations, by by SPAR Point Group staff, SPAR Point Group. "Geospatial firm Sanborn Map Company, Inc. will pay $2.1 million to resolve allegations it fraudulently billed the U.S. Defense Department for aerial mapping work of U.S. military supply routes in Iraq by using cheap, Chinese labor to produce the 3D maps."

2/6/14 The military has cataloged its ethical failures, and they're kind of awesome, by Gordon Lubold, The News Tribune. "The thing is, those aren't jokes. They're true stories. And they point to a growing problem within the military: a pattern of misconduct, misbehavior and outright thievery by senior generals, top Pentagon civilian officials and of course, the rank-and-file. The laundry list of wrongdoing, in the Defense Department and in various other government agencies, is contained in a surprisingly readable but unknown document compiled by the equally unknown Defense Department's General Counsel's Standards of Conduct Office. The name of the July 2013 report says it all: "The Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure" [Download MS-Word document, 456 KB "assembled...for use as a training tool"] [later 2013 Updates, 18 KB], a 164-page who's who of bureaucratic ne'er-do-wells that details all of those government personnel who have tried to fleece the government, line their pockets with public money, use government property for their own use or demand loans from subordinates."

2/3/14 [VIDEO, 8:18] The Jet That Ate The Pentagon, by BraveNewFilms, F35BadDeal.com. "You're talking about one-and-a-half trillion dollars! One-and-a-half trillion dollars for a plane so far that has not worked." "...it's never been in combat..." "The airplane is so complex and horrendously designed..." "The biggest beneficiary of the F-35 is Lockheed Martin..." "War profiteering is a very easy source of money, if you don't worry about what's right and wrong..." "Lockheed Martin is getting 36 billion dollars a year of our tax money, and much of that rolls over into profit..." "...basically legalized greed..." F-35 Cost to Date - 2001: $233 Billion; 2013: $397 Billion. ... "They have a thousand lobbyists, or more, about two for every member of Congress..." In 2012, Lockheed Spent Over $15.3 Million Lobbying Congress... "In fact, [the F-35] is a terrible weakening of American air power. Every extra F-35 we buy...will be essentially useless in combat and a danger to the pilot..." "Much of this is not defending us. It's just defending their [contractors'] bottom lines; it's not defending the country." THE F-35 IS A BAD DEAL.

2/3/14 You Won't Believe Who's Cheating the Government Now, by David Francis, The Fiscal Times. "Military brass has been taking a lot of criticism for ethical violations lately, including the suspension of 92 Air Force officers for cheating on a nuclear missile test. A shocking new DOD document shows this cheating is just the tip of the iceberg. 'The Encyclopedia of Ethical Failure,' published by the Pentagon's General Counsel's Standards of Conduct Office, fills 164 pages with case after case of DOD personnel behaving badly. In the majority of cases, this unethical behavior was somehow connected to money. ... The characters in most cases are anonymous, but the problems unearthed in the report are a reflection on the Pentagon's irresponsible financial culture. They include credit card abuse, gift violations, gambling, bribery, fraud, time and attendance violations and outside compensation, among others. Here's a sampling of what the report contains...."

1/30/14 Former Hill AFB official gets 2 years in contract scheme, by Kristin Davis, Air Force Times. "A former procurement manager at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, who gave confidential budget information to a military contracting company in exchange for more than $185,000 in payments and gifts was sentenced to two years in prison, the Justice Department announced this week. Between 2008 and August 2011, Jose Mendez accepted cash and wire payments, a laptop and computer accessories from Sylvester and Maria Zugrav of Atlas International Trading Corporation. In turn, Mendez steered business to the Zugravs by disclosing budget and bid information, according to an affidavit in the case. ... Mendez admitted to receiving payments when he was confronted with the information found on his computer. Atlas sent Mendez multiple $5,000 cash payments via FedEx and wired nearly $104,000 to a bank account Mendez set up in Mexico, according to the affidavit. Mendez traveled to Florida, Georgia and the Ukraine to collect in person another $13,600 in cash."

1/24/14 KBR Accused of Kickbacks, False Claims in Iraq, by Joe Harris, Courthouse News Service. "ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (CN) - Federal prosecutors accuse Kellogg, Brown & Root Services of filing false claims for work in Iraq. ... Prosecutors claim KBR employees took kickbacks from La Nouvelle and First Kuwaiti in 2003 and 2004 for subcontracts awarded to them. KBR then claimed reimbursement from the government for costs it incurred under the subcontracts that were inflated, excessive or for goods and services that were grossly deficient or not provided at all."

1/24/14 Pentagon Unveils Plan to Keep 10,000 Troops in Afghanistan, by Bill Van Auken, World Socialist Web Site. "The senior US commander in Afghanistan, General Joseph Dunford, presented the proposal to a recent White House meeting of the National Security Council. He argued that 10,000 troops was the minimum force needed to secure strategic bases across Afghanistan. US intelligence and State Department officials seconded the recommendation, according to media reports, insisting that the proposed troop level was required to protect their continued operations as well. The Pentagon is determined to keep control of Afghan bases, which provide the American military with the means of projecting military force against neighboring China, Iran, South Asia and the oil-rich former Soviet republics of Central Asia."

1/23/14 GHOSTS OF BAGHDAD: AMERICA'S ARMY OF CONTRACTORS HASN'T GONE ANYWHERE THEY JUST WORK FOR IRAQI GOVERNMENT, by Dan Lamothe, Foreign Policy. "One example of a company staying in Iraq despite the change in who pays its bill is Triple Canopy, the behemoth defense firm based in Herndon, VA. It has made a fortune as one of Washington's primary security providers in war zones, and is one of eight companies with a piece of the State Department's five-year, $10.8 billion Worldwide Protective Services contract, which was signed in 2010 and lays out the terms by which contractors provide security to U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel across the world. But Triple Canopy also had a variety of smaller contracts with the Pentagon for other work in Iraq, and intends to continue working there now. ... With virtually no U.S. troops left in Iraq, the remaining contractor force handles a variety of missions that would have once been handled by the military. Dyncorp International, for example, signed a five-year deal with the State Department in 2010 that could be worth up to $894 million to provide a private air force that includes UH-1 utility helicopters and DHC-8 planes."

1/21/14 'Godfather' of Pendleton admits to bribery, by Kristina Davis, San Diego Union-Tribune. "A construction supervisor who referred to himself as the 'Godfather of Camp Pendleton' for his influence over millions of dollars in contracts on the Marine base pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court Tuesday to bribery and conspiracy. ... U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Major took Cervantes' plea and set his sentencing date for April 18, when he faces a maximum term of 20 years in prison. Cervantes is being allowed to remain free on $20,000 bond. He is accused of extorting nearly $107,000 in bribes from 2008 to 2011 for lucrative contracts on base, including cash, a job for his granddaughter and remodeling work on two of his homes, according to court records."

1/9/14 Florida Couple Sentenced for Roles in Procurement Contract Bribery Scheme, by FBI, 7th Space Interactive. "A Florida man was sentenced to serve 15 months in prison, and his wife was sentenced to 24 months of probation for their roles in a bribery and fraud scheme involving federal procurement contracts.... [Also] a procurement program manager for the United States Air Force Foreign Materials Acquisition Support Office (FMASO) at Hill Air Force Base, in Ogden, Utah, was charged in the indictment with conspiracy, bribery, and procurement fraud and has since pleaded guilty to all charges and agreed to forfeit more than $180,000 he received as part of the bribery scheme. ... The case was investigated by the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations."

1/6/14 Two officials sign plea deal in Texas military contract scheme, by Associated Press, Topeka Capital-Journal. "Two former officials of a San Antonio military medical center have signed plea deals to admit their guilt in a fraudulent scheme involving more than $7 million in military contracts. ... Prosecutors say they steered contracts to two Kansas companies run by [Dr. Heidi L.] Webster that she registered as defense contractors."

12/31/13 Top 6 Ways to Burn Taxpayers' Millions in Afghanistan, by Lee Ferran, ABC News. "There's the half-billion dollar aircraft fleet that sits unused on the cracked tarmac. There's the $230 million in spare vehicle parts that are unaccounted for. There are the handful of waste incinerators, priced at a few million dollars each, that have never burned much beyond holes in taxpayer pockets. When the U.S. embarked on its massive war fighting and nation building effort in Afghanistan, there was bound to be waste and fraud, but a look back at the reports and letters compiled in 2013 by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) shows U.S. taxpayer money dumped down the drain, sometimes tens of millions at a time, more than a decade since the first American troops landed in the Southwest Asian nation."

Defense Department Statement to ABC News Regarding SIGAR Reports 12/30/13 Op-Ed: US defense department and spending on toilet tissue, by Ken Hanly, Digital Journal. "From 2000 to 2010 the Pentagon bought an average of $2 million 'toiletry paper products' annually. Suddenly in 2012 the figure jumped to $130 million. No doubt liberal conspiracy theorists will attribute this to the fact that most of the toilet tissue bought by the military comes from Georgia Pacific owned by the Koch Industries. ... We do know that in 2012, Koch Industries had a contract with the Department of Defense worth $51,278,354."

12/29/13 I worked on the US drone program. The public should know what really goes on, by Heather Linebaugh, The Guardian. "Few of these politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue of what actually goes on. I, on the other hand, have seen these awful sights first hand. I knew the names of some of the young soldiers I saw bleed to death on the side of a road. I watched dozens of military-aged males die in Afghanistan, in empty fields, along riversides, and some right outside the compound where their family was waiting for them to return home from the mosque."

12/23/13 UNACCOUNTABLE: The high cost of the Pentagon's bad bookkeeping - Part 3: Why the Pentagon's many campaigns to clean up its accounts are failing, by Scot J. Paltrow, Reuters. "Seven years and $1.03 billion taxpayer dollars later, the Air Force announced in November 2012 that it was killing the project. ECSS had yielded 'negligible' value and was 'no longer a viable option,' the Air Force said. It would have taken an estimated $1.1 billion more to turn it into a system that could perform about one-quarter of its originally planned tasks, and couldn't be fielded until 2020. ... That seven-year exercise in waste was not an anomaly. It was the norm for the U.S. Defense Department's effort in recent years to upgrade the way it keeps track of money, supplies and people."

12/20/13 Golden Hammer: U.S. paid $5 million for incinerators that sit idle in Afghanistan, by Phillip Swarts, The Washington Times. "The Army paid full price for two incinerators at the Sharana forward operating base in Afghanistan that, despite a 30-month delay, have yet to be switched on, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the U.S. top watchdog for the country. 'We spent $5.4 million dollars, the machines were never turned on and never used. So basically, the only thing that was ever burned in that incinerator was taxpayer dollars,' John Sopko, the special inspector general for the Afghan mission, told The Washington Times.

12/20/13 Navy Secretary Mabus expects bribery scandal to widen, by Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post. "Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said Friday that he bluntly told criminal investigators to pursue a widening bribery scandal 'wherever it leads' and that he expects more people to get swept up in a case that has already tarred several senior officers and exposed an international, multimillion-dollar fraud scheme. ... The Navy has been tarnished by a succession of embarrassing revelations over the past three months about its relationship with a major foreign defense contractor, Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia, that has provided port services to U.S. ships and submarines in the Pacific for a quarter-century. ... Despite lingering suspicions, the Navy continued to sign lucrative business deals with Glenn Defense Marine, including a $1 million no-bid contract extension in July. Mabus defended the arrangements, saying Navy contracting officials were intentionally not told about the law enforcement investigation. He also said that suspending contracts with the company while the probe was still unfolding would have tipped it off 'that something was wrong.'"

12/17/13 3 former soldiers plead guilty in Army fraud case, by Paul Foy, Associated Press, KITV-TV News. "SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Three former Special Forces soldiers have pleaded guilty to charges of using inside bid information to win more than $50 million in Army contracts in Afghanistan in a case that shows how easily contractors can profit from military business. All three defendants could face prison time, but federal prosecutors say they are recommending leniency because the Army awarded the contracts on short notice with little scrutiny while trying to fight a war. The case started in Utah as a money-laundering investigation when one of the men was questioned about withdrawing large amounts of cash. The partners ultimately were paid $54 million to service U.S.-supplied weapons for Afghan troops and provide logistical training for the country's national army."

12/15/13 Contracting Out PTSD, by Mark Thompson, TIME. "Contractor fraud and waste in Afghanistan and Iraq has run rampant, costing U.S. taxpayers something between $31 billion and $60 billion, according to the congressionally created Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it also has cost many of those contractors too: a new report from the Rand Corp. (Out of the Shadows: The Health and Well-Being of Contractors Working in Conflict Environments, released Dec. 10) says such private workers suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder and depression at rates similar, if not higher, than the troops they serve alongside. ... The fact that contractors serving alongside soldiers are suffering from many of the same mental ailments shouldn't come as a surprise. It stems from a Pentagon effort to reduce the number of troops deployed to war zones by shifting many jobs that they used to do  ranging from security to cooking  to hired help. That way, Pentagon officials could declare there were 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq in 2008, instead of the 300,000 personnel actually there, waging war at the U.S. government's behest, and on the taxpayer's dime."

12/15/13 Blank Spots on the map: Almost all the U.S. Army's secret military bases across the globe revealed on Google and Bing, by Staff Reporter, The Daily Mail (UK). "The U.S. military can be a sensitive lot when it comes to the location of their military facilities. With military bases on every continent, in every corner of the world, for the kinds of tasks they perform, it's no wonder that many of the locations are blacked out and hidden from public view. The Pentagon says there are around 5,000 bases in total with around 600 overseas. Josh Begley, a data artist, decided to set himself the task of mapping all known U.S. military bases around the world, and collect satellite pictures of them using Google and Bing Maps. ... Begley has found the coordinates for 650 bases, and published pictures for 644 of them. The pictures can be viewed at http://empire.is/."

12/12/13 Kuchera brothers seek leniency for upcoming sentencing, by David Hurst, The Tribune-Democrat (Johnstown, PA). "Both men admitted guilt earlier this year to fraud against the government and conspiracy to avoid paying taxes  acts stemming from their years running the firm Kuchera Defense Systems. At its peak, the company employed 400 workers and was awarded for its work on military projects. But prosecutors noted  and the Kucheras have since admitted  that they also claimed lobbying costs, hunting trips and a private airplane as business expenses. '(William Kuchera) took advantage of a sloppy Department of Defense contract administration system ... and benefited from it,' Johnson added...."

12/9/13 Utah defendant pleads guilty in military fraud case, by Brooke Adams, The Salt Lake Tribune. "A second defendant implicated in a multi-million dollar military fraud case entered a guilty plea Monday to conspiracy to commit government procurement fraud and money laundering. Christopher Harris, 49, who once lived in southern Utah, faces a penalty of up to five years on the first count and up to 20 years on the second charge and total fines of up to $500,000."

12/7/13 Russia tops Boeing in $1 billion U.S. chopper deal, by Richard Lardner, Associated Press, HeraldNet. "To outfit Afghanistan's security forces with new helicopters, the Pentagon bypassed U.S. companies and turned instead to Moscow for dozens of Russian Mi-17 rotorcraft at a cost of more than $1 billion. ... More than two years since the Mi-17 contract was signed, a veil of secrecy still obscures the pact despite its high-dollar value, the potential for fraud and waste, and accusations the Pentagon muffled important information. ... Overall, 63 Mi-17s are being acquired through the 2011 contract. It was awarded without competition to Russia's arms export agency, Rosoboronexport, even though the Pentagon condemned the agency after Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces used Russian weapons to 'murder Syrian civilians.'"

12/5/13 Watchdog faults U.S. military's oversight of aid to Afghanistan, by David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times. "KABUL, Afghanistan  A federal watchdog agency on Thursday accused the U.S. military in Afghanistan of failing to conduct an adequate risk assessment for managing and accounting for $3 billion in military aid spent by U.S. taxpayers on Afghan security forces in their fight against Taliban insurgents. ... In the 23-page report, SIGAR said its review of $4.2 billion designated as of September for the Afghan military  and $3 billion already paid  found weaknesses in the way the U.S. military identifies potential risks to the money. The agency criticized U.S. military financial management assessments of Afghan ministries."

12/4/13 Army general's report defe