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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

McCain and Obama on Outsourcing Government

The Federal Diary column in the Washington Post this week asked each of the presidential candidates a series of questions related to the federal workforce. Both columns are worth a quick read if you want to learn more about the candidates (see McCain and Obama), but I wanted to highlight one question in particular. Joe Davidson asked each candidate, "Federal labor leaders complain that outside contractors perform jobs that should be done by government employees. Do you favor any suspension of contracting out activities? Do you favor legislation that would prohibit the IRS from using appropriated funds to hire private tax collectors?" Below are their responses.

McCain:

If programs have a good record, and serve a vital national purpose that the private sector can't, they will receive continued funding. But I will not subordinate my commitment to the American people to ensure their tax dollars are spent wisely to the demands of labor leaders looking to swell the ranks of federal government unions.

I will make every aspect of government purchases and performance transparent. Information on every step of contracts and grants will be posted on the Internet in plain and simple English. We're not going to hide anything behind accounting tricks and bureaucratic doubletalk. Nor will I allow other procurement tricks that divert funds from national priorities. I will expand the use of fixed-price contracts to enforce discipline in the procurement process and ensure that clearly defined requirements are fulfilled, realistic schedules are kept, and costs don't exceed the promised price.

Too often, contractors underbid to 'buy into' a market with little expectation of delivering on schedule and within budget. At the same time, the government's cost estimates are often unrealistic. Fixed-price contracts based on realistic cost estimates with clear, consistent requirements will ensure that the contractor pays for cost overruns, not the taxpayers. We must also limit sole-source contracting and make cost discipline a priority using market competition to keep costs down and innovation up.

Obama:

Sen. Obama is concerned by the rising number of government contractors that are often unaccountable and frequently less efficient than government workers. As president, Obama will restore effective oversight of the government-contracting process and reduce our nation's increasing dependence on private contractors in sensitive or inherently governmental functions. Obama will eliminate the Bush administration's ideological bias towards outsourcing of government services and abandon initiatives, like the inefficient use of private bill collectors to collect federal taxes, that are a demonstrated waste of taxpayer money.

OMB Watch is a 501(c)(3) and does not participate in activities that support or oppose candidates for public office. This information is presented solely for informational purposes.



Posted by Adam Hughes, 03:08:36 PM



Friday, August 15, 2008

More on DCAA Dysfunction

Government Executive's Robert Brodsky, who's been investigating and reporting on the internal machinations of DCAA, has obtained a series of internal DCAA memos. One of the memos betray a DCAA in "duck-and-cover mode" working to recover from a slew of criticisms leveled at the agency in the past month.

In late July, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report affirming allegations by employees that agency managers worked to issue audit findings favorable to several contractors despite lack of supporting evidence for the findings. The GAO report also noted that DCAA managers harassed and threatened auditors to discourage them from cooperating with GAO. A few weeks after the GAO report, GovExec reported the concerns of a dozen former DCAA employees that the agency subjugated audit quality to performance measurement metrics.

According to several agency officials, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity, the [Government Executive] article quickly circulated in DCAA offices and headquarters, causing concern among supervisors.

"Upper management is seriously scared right now," said one DCAA employee, who spoke on his cell phone for fear that the agency would check his office line. "Everyone is in duck-and-cover mode."

...

In the first [memo], issued on Aug. 6, [DCAA Director April] Stephenson announced that August, already almost one week old, had been designated as audit quality month.

"To recognize this initiative, we request that each office hold a stand down-day this month in which audit quality is discussed as a group," the memo stated. "The regional director or deputy regional director will participate in these conferences to further emphasize expectations and answer questions or concerns on audit quality."

One hopes that Stephenson is making a serious effort to right the listing agency, rather than throwing up some window dressing for the public (and congressional) consumption.



Posted by Craig Jennings, 03:11:19 PM



The Greater of Two Evils

I posted on Tuesday this week about a new report from the Government Accountability Office that shows a significant number of corporations are playing fast and loose with their U.S. tax liabilities. Giving further evidence that the BudgetBlog is where it is at, I got a call from a reporter (Carolyn Said) at the San Francisco Chronicle within ten minutes of posting my blog. She was working on a story about the GAO report. I was quoted in her well-written story (see Most U.S. firms paid no taxes over 7-year span) as were many other fine analysts and experts.

One quote in particular was from William Ahern, spokesman for The Tax Foundation, a Washington, DC nonpartisan tax research group with a conservative perspective on taxes. Mr. Ahern said that there was nothing wrong with corporations employing armies of accountants and lawyers to exploit every possible tax loophole. Specifically, he said:

In that respect, they are just like individuals. Don't we all fill out our tax returns as aggressively as we know how and take every deduction and credit we're entitled to, even if they're unprincipled, even if they're in the tax code only because Congress thinks we will appreciate them for subsidizing us?

Now my disagreements with some of the perspectives of the fine folks at The Tax Foundation aside, I couldn't agree with Mr. Ahern more when he says corporations can behave just as illegally opportunistically as individuals. In fact, sometimes they work together. Case in point is an AP story that also appeared in the San Fran Chronicle a few weeks ago (mea culpa from the Budget Brigade for missing this story). Seems the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a report in July identifying two European banks of assisting wealthy Americans evade U.S. taxes. The two banks, UBS of Switzerland and LGT of Liechtenstein, are part of a larger infrastructure that "aggressively" evades U.S. tax laws, either by exploiting loopholes or just by outright cheating - to the tune of $100 billion annually. Yup, that's $100,000,000,000 each year!

The gut-wrenching horror of this entire situation is that we don't need to figure out whether individuals or corporations are to blame. They both are! These banks are exploiting excessively secretive international finance laws, "aggressively" recruiting wealthy Americans to go to pretty much any lengths to intentionally break U.S. tax laws, and our fellow citizens are going along with it. Patriotism just isn't what it used to be. (btw, you can read the subcommittee report, see documents from a subcommittee hearing on the issue, and even watch archived footage (real player format) of the hearing.)

In case that hasn't made you lose your appetite completely, this will. Ellen Miller at the Sunlight Foundation points us to a Washington Post story from last week that details the large increase in political contributions from UBS's PAC and top executives, and other key figures of the Senate investigation, during the 2008 election cycle. Ellen Miller:

The Post article states that officials with the banks have given more than $2 million this year, $98,000 in June alone, to congressional and presidential campaigns. USB spends close to $1 million a year on lobbying and is traditionally a big campaign giver. But so far this cycle the Swiss bank's contributions have surpassed what it gave in the whole 2006 election cycle. The Post quotes a bank spokesperson as saying the bank's giving is in no way related to the Senate investigation. The article didn't say, however, whether it was said with a straight face.

No, thanks. No dessert for me. I'm full.



Posted by Adam Hughes, 10:14:06 AM



Thursday, August 14, 2008

Effective Government

I'm going to reproduce the following post by Think Progress's Matthew Ygelsias, because he's right on about the effectiveness of government per se: some agencies/departments carry out their mission better than others.

One of Megan McArdle's correspondents rants against the evils of the DC Department of Motor Vehicles before snarking " I can't wait for the government to take over our healthcare system."

A common enough sentiment. But look — the government already runs a fleet of air craft carriers. Worse! The government's taken over our national monetary policy — mistakes can plunge the country into recession or a destructive cycle of inflation. And as if that's not enough, they run a vast arsenal of nuclear warheads capable of destroying the entire planet. Which is just to say that if it's not conceivable that there could be a well-managed government agency, then we're all doomed irrespective of what happens with health care. But in fact if you look across the country or around the world, you see some highly effective public agencies and some highly dysfunctional ones. Obviously, you wouldn't want the health care system run like the worst of those agencies, but that's hardly to say that a highly effective government health care agency would be impossible to achieve.

Simply because an entity is a governmental entity guarantees neither success nor failure. However, one advantage that governmental entities do have over private entities is that the former, by definition, are subject to the demands of citizens for better execution.



Posted by Craig Jennings, 06:08:34 PM



Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Looking for Top Notch Interns!

The OMB Watch Fiscal Policy Program is looking for an intern for the fall of 2008. Yup, that's right. This is your chance to get in on the ground floor at one of the most dynamic nonprofit watchdog groups in Washington, DC. We're looking for energetic undergraduate or graduate students who have excellent writing, critical thinking, and communications skills, and who are dedicated to public policy and government accountability (see current intern Josh at right for example).

The internship is unpaid, but you'll have the chance to gain first hand experiences and take on significant responsibilities related to a number of different aspects of policy analysis in DC. Plus, you'll get a chance to write for the BudgetBlog - what could be better?

Interested? Learn more about the position and how to apply.



Posted by Adam Hughes, 05:56:02 PM



Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Corporate Tax Evasion and Transfer Pricing

What We Can Say and What We Can't

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report today showing that an average of two-thirds of companies operating in the United States paid no federal corporate income tax from 1998 - 2005. That's right, I said none. Zip. Zero. Nada.

The report was requested by Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Carl Levin (D-MI) as a follow up to a similar report GAO did in 2004 in which they found similar levels of tax liability reported on corporate tax returns from 1996 through 2000. In fact, in 2004, GAO found that domestically controlled companies and foreign controlled companies "reported tax liabilities of less than 5 percent of their total income, an estimated 94 percent and 89 percent, respectively, in 2000." Wow. Upwards of 90 percent of companies paid at most 5 percent in federal income taxes in 2000, despite the corporate income tax rate being 35 percent.

While you digest that little tidbit (or maybe choke on it), let me tell you about transfer pricing, which is at the heart of these GAO reports and a long time thorn in the side of Sens. Dorgan and Levin, who I guess think corporations should pay taxes.

Read more about transfer prices

Posted by Adam Hughes, 04:43:39 PM



Monday, August 11, 2008

Red Light, Green Light, One, Two, Three

It's been a slow day here at the Budget Brigade, so I thought I'd bring your attention to the lastest round of quarterly "scores" agencies receive on the President's Management Agenda (PMA) scorecard. These scores measure the implementation of the PMA, or how well the major agencies are "executing the five government-wide management initiatives." Robert Brodsky from Government Executive Magazine has a rundown of the latest scores, which are not too good:

Many federal agencies have taken a step backward on the Bush administration's five major management initiatives, according to quarterly grades released on Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget.

There were 14 downgrades on the status section of OMB's management score card for the third quarter of 2008, which ended June 30. And there were only six instances in which grades improved.

The problems were limited to two areas of the President's Management Agenda: human capital and electronic government.

Clay Johnson, OMB's Deputy Director for Management, cautioned that the "scores" shouldn't be seen as "scores," but as opportunities for improvement.

"The score cards aren't about compliance or getting to a score -- it's about results that agencies are producing," Johnson said. "So, a dip in a score shouldn't always be viewed in the negative, but as a way to [make] progress and improve effectiveness."

Hmmmm...

P.S. For all you home-gamers out there, the administration's "competitive sourcing" initiative has been renamed to the new and improved Commercial Services Management initiative. Same waste of money, great new name.



Posted by Adam Hughes, 05:51:46 PM



Friday, August 08, 2008

GovExec Exposes Deeper Problems at DCAA

The problems at the Defense Contract Audit Agency exposed in a GAO report last week that investigated various whistleblower complaints are apparently just the tip of the iceberg at the audit agency. Writing in Government Executive, Robert Brodsky and Elizabeth Newell find that quality problems at DCAA are widespread and that DCAA is a "broken" agency.

"They don't want findings. It makes waves and draws attention so they avoid those types of things so the higher ups don't come down on them," said one former auditor who spent nearly three years at DCAA's Minneapolis branch. "The goal is not to save taxpayers money. People are really too afraid about what they will have to do to back up their findings so they try to avoid them altogether."

The former employees cited a management structure that has sacrificed DCAA's oversight mission on the alter on performance management, rather than simple corruption or malfeasance, as the source of the agency's dysfunction.

"In my opinion, the end result was a massive bloated, soulless bureaucracy that totally lost touch with the taxpayer," the 25-year-employee said, adding that the pressure to close out jobs and produce clean metrics -- or green lights in the stoplight-style measurement system -- was intense and often distracted from efforts to question contractor costs.

"In the end, defense contractors big and small are getting away with murder because they know we at DCAA are slaves to the metrics," the former employee said.

The article reads like a script for "Dilbert Gone Wild", with bosses asking auditors "not to make waves" and to falsify documents because a deadline might otherwise slip. One hopes that congressional hearings are not far behind, because it sounds like there's something seriously wrong in one of the government's most important oversight agencies.

Photo taken by Ansgar Walk; used under a Creative Commons license.



Posted by Craig Jennings, 11:45:00 AM



Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Lurita Doan is Back!

Lurita Doan is back in the news. I know, I can't believe it either. But wait until you hear why and what she is saying now. It seems she is headlining a 15-minute segment on Federal News Radio (1050 AM in DC) where she will share her views on, get this, government leadership. I'm not making this up. That's like having Jack Abramoff lecture on ethical/legal congressional fundraising tactics. The segment, entitled "Leadership Matters," will run at 7:28 am on Tuesday mornings, according to this Federal Times article from last week.

Doan's got a snappy new photo (at least I think it is new) up on the Federal News Radio Leadership Matters website and she's gotten through two segments so far, both of which have some unbelievable jewels that I would be remiss if I didn't ridicule.

The first commentary was on business "guru" Peter Drucker and how to institute cuts to government programs, I mean management reform. The first thing about this commentary is that it seems Doan really believes government is a business. While there at least could be an argument that the General Services Administration, the agency she used to run, should be structured like a business, government is not a business. It isn't. Citizens are not "customers." And pretending these things are true and assuming you can apply successful business practices to government and things will work just fine isn't a good idea. For example, Doan says:

But with a little more Drucker, leaders at all levels can see the wisdom of taking the harder road of moving resources, both financial and human capital, to where they can bring the most value, to redeploy these resources to programs that offer the biggest possible value to American taxpayers, and terminating programs that have continued for years even thought they no longer deliver the originally promised results.

I almost don't know where to being here. This is just too ironic. Let me give it a shot - as Ms. Doan says, nothing happens until you commit to it.

Doan tried to "move resources" to where they can bring the "most value" while at GSA. She interfered twice with contract proceedings while heading up the agency, first to give a no-bid contract to her friend (see here and Washington Post coverage), and then to force the government to continue a contract with Sun Microsystems after evidence had been uncovered that Sun was overcharging the government (see here, here, and this excellent Washington Post coverage).

Doan also tried to "redeploy" resources away from the GSA Inspector General's office, a practically unprecedented move in government, because she was tired of that office launching investigations into her pretty blatant misconduct at GSA Administrator (see here, here and here). After being widely criticized for these actions, Doan fell back on the claim she was simply trying to cut the GSA's budget and save taxpayers money. Is this the type of cuts Doan is thinking of when she recommends the new administration "[put] the responsibility for cutting the budget squarely on the shoulders of each agency head" later in her commentary?

Finally, Doan went so far as to break federal law by attempting to use federal resources (both "financial" and "human") to help elect Republicans to federal office. (see here, here, here, and yet more Washington Post coverage).

None of these decisions were "wise," nor did they "bring the most value" to American taxpayers. Maybe that's why President Bush, of all people, ended up firing Doan with only a few months left in his presidency. You know things are bad when Bush won't stand up for you - case in point - he's still campaigning for indicted Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK).

I'll have to save my reactions to Doan's second commentary for another post - there was just too much to say about the first. One final note. Doan references that there are "barely ten days" to accomplish a more disciplined federal budget at the very end of her commentary. I have no idea what ten days she is talking about here. If you have an idea and can help me out, shoot us an email at budgetblog (at) ombwatch.org.

(h/t to Neil Gordon over at POGO's blog)



Posted by Adam Hughes, 11:08:44 AM



Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Senate Approves GAO Pay Raise, IG Legislation

Just before slipping out the door for summer recess, the Senate passed by unanimous consent an amended version of the Government Accountability Act of 2008 (HR 5683) on Aug. 1. The bill, approved by the House on June 9, would enact a retroactive pay raise for employees affected by a pay structure change implemented in 2006; establish an inspector general's office in the GAO; and require the GAO to report to Congress on how cooperative the Executive branch with GAO investigators and auditors.

And amendment offered by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) to fund retirement contributions for the employees affected by the 2006 pay structure change was approved by the Senate will force the House to approve the modified version of the bill, which it is expected to do in September.

Congress is also on the way to approving legislation that would strengthen the GAO's ability to obtain information from the Exectutive branch. On July 29, the House passed by voice vote a bill that would give the GAO the ability to pursue civil action against the Executive branch in order to obtain information related to an investigation or audit. The Government Accountability Office Improvement Act (HR 6388) would also allow the GAO to interview federal employees under oath.



Posted by Craig Jennings, 10:48:43 AM



Wednesday, July 30, 2008

FedSpending.org Reaches 10 Million Searches

OMB Watch released new federal spending data on contracts and assistance spending on FedSpending.org yesterday. The site now has full spending data for federal contracts from FY 2000 through the first two quarters of FY 2008 and federal assistance data (grants, loans, and related spending) from FY 2000 through the first three quarters of FY 2007. The FedSpending.org database currently contains over $18.7 trillion in federal spending dating back to FY 2000. This update also made minor site improvements, including added advanced search functionality and bugs fixes.

The data update also marks an important milestone for FedSpending.org - 10 million searches - which occured at some point around July 1. The site is a bit less than two years old, but in that time, FedSpending.org has grown to process more than 1 million searches from approximately 400,000 unique visitors each month. On July 1, Alexa.com ranked FedSpending.org 32,259 in traffic among websites on the Internet. Yowza!

The site has continued to surpass all of our expectations that we held when we created it. I hope we can continue to make the site useful and relevant for users in the years to come.

FedSpending.org Reaches 10 Millionth Search



Posted by Adam Hughes, 02:25:51 PM



Waxman Asks Bloch to Step Down

House Committee on Oversight Government Reform chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) has written a letter to Office of Special Council chief Scott Bloch asking him to resign. The letter follows months of allegations of misconduct by Bloch and assertions that Bloch's presence at the OSC is undermining its ability to carry out its mission of investigating personnel policy violations within the government.

Over the past several months, however, it has become clear OSC's mission is not being served as effectively as it could be. Earlier this month, your top deputy, James Byrne, the most senior career official at OSC, resigned his Senior Executive Service position. In Mr. Byrne's resignation letter, he stated that "the mission, independence, and very existence of the Office of Special Counsel are - and shall remain- at risk." He also called for your replacement.

The mission of the agency should be the paramount consideration. It is for this reason that I have concluded that OSC would be better served with new leadership and urge you to step down as the Special Counsel. Such a step would be in the best interests of the agency and federal employees it is charged to protect.

CongressDaily notes that Waxman's call for Bloch's resignation is noteworthy because, despite Republican calls for his ouster, Waxman has remained somewhat of a defender of Bloch. This, apparently, has changed.

Republicans like Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Tom Davis, R-Va., and Rep. Darrell Issa of California, have criticized Bloch's high-profile probes of alleged illegal political activity by Bush administration officials for more than a year, allowing Bloch's defenders to cast their calls for his exit as partisan. But due to his support for Bloch's investigations, Waxman has long defended Bloch, Davis has suggested.


Posted by Craig Jennings, 12:26:13 PM



Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Senators Ask SecDef Gates: WTF?

Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Tester (D-MT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to formally investigate why the Army relived the Defense Contract Audit Agency of its duty to audit the Army's largest Iraq reconstruction contract.

The request for inquiry comes after the Senate Democratic Policy Committee heard testimony from Charles M. Smith, the former official in charge of overseeing the multi billion-dollar contract with KBR. Smith testified that when he refused to OK $1 billion in unsubstantiated charges from KBR, the Army reassigned him (effectively ending his career) and, in an unprecedented move, hired an inexperienced private contractor to perform the audit work.

We are troubled that the Army Sustainment Command would transfer the review of questioned costs on the single largest contract in the Iraq war from its own auditors to a private contractor. We are particularly disturbed that this would be done as part of an apparent effort to excuse KBR's performance problems.

[...]

Given the seriousness of the allegations raised by Mr. Smith, we urge you to promptly investigate the circumstances of the Army Sustainment Command's hiring of contractor RCI to replace DCAA in the review ofKBR's questioned costs. If this was part of an effort to protect KBR and make sure the company was paid for questionable costs, we urge you to take appropriate disciplinary action.



Posted by Craig Jennings, 01:43:22 PM



Monday, July 28, 2008

Waste in Iraqi Reconstruction Continues...

Kahn Bani Sa'ad Corrections Facility, Iraq

The Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction (SIGIR) has released a new audit report today concerning the work (or lack thereof) of Parsons Delaware, Inc., a contractor who was doing design and construction work on Iraqi prisons and civil justice infrastructure. Parsons is a major U.S. contractor, having received over $4.1 billion in contracts since 2000, according to the latest data from FedSpending.org.

The SIGIR report was picked up by the Associated Press, so hopefully the disturbing findings will gain wide attention. Here's the breakdown of what the taxpayer received from the $333 million that Parsons and other subcontractors received through May 21, 2008 on the contract, according to the SIGIR report:

Far less was accomplished under this contract than originally planned; only about one-third of the planned projects were completed. Although the failure to complete some of the work is understandable because of its complex nature and the unstable security environment in Iraq, millions of dollars in waste are likely associated with incomplete, terminated and abandoned projects under this contract. However, precise amounts of funds expended for projects that have not been completed are not easily aggregated because of the uncertain future of incomplete projects. Some measure of the funds expended for which there was not a usable facility is suggested by the fact that slightly more than $142 million, or almost 43% of the contract's disbursed funds, were spent on projects that were either terminated or canceled, although a number of projects were subsequently completed. Contract management weaknesses also played a key role in the contract outcomes.
Parsons isn't the only place to lay blame. The SIGIR report cites that at least four different government authorities had responsibility for oversight of the contract between March, 2004 and May, 2008 and that the extent of SIGIR's findings was severely limited by lack of government documents related to the contract. SIGIR reports that files related to the contract bid and award process, as well as inventory records for items purchased by Parsons to aid in the construction process still have not been found. In fact, SIGIR could not track down anyone who even worked on the contract during the construction period in Iraq.

One particular project funded under this contract was the Kahn Bani Sa'ad Corrections Facility, in Diyala Province (pictured above). The U.S. government canceled Parsons' funding for this project after repeated delays in construction and then attempted to finish the prison by using two separate subcontractors in Iraq. When security became too difficult to complete construction in June, 2007, the government walked away, having spent $40 million on a half finished prison that the Iraqi government has no plans to use. The efficiencies of the free market at work.

SIGIR sums up the problems pretty succinctly - not enough oversight and management of the contractors:

The reconstruction projects under this contract were executed in unstable security conditions and were beset by insufficient contract management and oversight personnel. Because of poor security conditions and limited personnel resources, it was difficult for responsible government officials to visit project sites, plan and define project requirements, and oversee contractor performance once construction began. These conditions created a high-risk contracting environment and approaches that ultimately led to a high level of project failure and waste.



Posted by Adam Hughes, 05:02:47 PM



Thursday, July 24, 2008

GAO Report Details Disturbing Lack of Independence of Pentagon Contract Auditors

The GAO has released a report written as part of its investigation into complaints that the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) acted improperly in making some contractor audit decisions. Specifically, GAO looked into whistleblower allegations that, in 14 audits of seven contractors, DCAA worked to suppress findings of contractor waste, fraud, and abuse.

...we substantiated the allegations and auditor concerns that (1) workpapers did not support reported opinions, (2) DCAA supervisors dropped findings and changed audit opinions without adequate audit evidence for their changes, and (3) sufficient audit work was not performed to support audit opinions and conclusions. In addition, we also found that contractor officials and the DOD contracting community improperly influenced the audit scope, conclusions, and opinions of some audits—a serious independence issue....Moreover, during our investigation, DCAA managers took actions against their staff at two locations, attempting to intimidate auditors, discouraging them from speaking with our investigators, and creating a generally abusive work environment.

Not only did DCAA supervisors work hand-in-hand with contractors to create audit findings favorable to the contractors, but they followed the military-industrial complex handbook to the letter by trying to keep whistleblowers from opening their big yaps. Of course there's really nothing new here. The Pentagon has made a habit of making life hard for those dedicated civil servants who would prefer not to see DoD turn into an outright racket.

But, hey, Magic of the Market® and all that.



Posted by Craig Jennings, 01:55:53 PM




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