Friday, June 04, 2004
Rumsfeld prefers "opaque and closed" kind of democracy
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has sharply limited the information he is willing to let Congress see on a controversial defense contract that is the focus of multiple investigations.
Rumsfeld took a hard line even with fellow Republicans who want information from him about a proposed $23 billion deal for the Air Force to buy and lease 100 Boeing 767 aerial refueling tankers. Rumsfeld's refusal to give senators all the materials they requested could provoke a rare congressional subpoena.
Senators, led by John McCain, R-Ariz., have been demanding that the Air Force hand over internal e-mails and other communications on negotiations with Boeing and efforts to slide the deal through Congress. Critics contend that the deal was laden with conflicts of interest and that the planes may not be needed.
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The Boeing deal, which for a time looked like it was heading for a fast passage through Congress, descended into scandal when it was revealed that the Air Force's chief negotiator with Boeing on the deal, Darleen Druyun, also had negotiated a vice president's job for herself with the aircraft manufacturer. Druyun last month pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges, and a grand jury in northern Virginia is investigating.
Rumsfeld put a hold on the tanker lease-purchase deal while the Pentagon's inspector general and other agencies and boards looked into various parts of the deal, including whether there was any urgent need to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of KC135 tankers.
The Defense Science Board found that Air Force complaints that the old tankers had serious and insurmountable corrosion problems were unfounded. The inspector general auditors could find no reason why the Air Force should lease the Boeing tankers at a cost billions of dollars higher than buying them.
Story.
posted by chris at 12:26 PM
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