Keep in mind, it was the right that largely promotes the military industrial complex and the pork spending associated with it - if you need any examples, just take a look at the history of the F-35.
Then add in to that the insistence against regulation and inspections, against policing of any kind from the right, promoting the notion that it is just being pro-business.
That lax attitude endangers us all, and regulation is not inherently unfriendly to business, but rather keeps all business competition on an even playing field, and safeguards those of us who those businesses are supposed to serve as customers, indirectly or directly. Here is part 4 of the POGO report.
In 2004 and 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, issued reports that criticized DSS’s ability to ensure that contractors were protecting classified information.
A copy of suggested talking points for a speech given by Stanley Sims, the current DSS director, was obtained by POGO last year. According to the suggested talking points, DSS has “been remiss in our fundamental oversight responsibilities to the Department and the U.S. Government.” Among the deficiencies detailed by the suggested talking points: contractors incorrectly processed security violations.
Critics ranging from the DoD IG to the House Armed Services Committee and Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa have raised questions about DSS’s protection of classified information. In 2008, then-DSS Director Kathleen Watson claimed that when she began her tenure, DSS was “broken across the board.” In a 2009 letter to then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Grassley said he was “worried that there are continuing problems with the Defense Security Service and its role in safeguarding our nation’s top secret or sensitive weapons design information and making sure that kind of information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
Other DSS Probes Into Boeing Raise Questions
As for Boeing, one might readily dismiss Conley and Kelly’s allegations based on the fact that criminal investigations by two agencies—the Naval and Defense Criminal Investigative Services—did not support their allegations. But subsequent DSS administrative inquiries launched into classified technology transfer practices within Phantom Works program give these allegations some credence.
DSS opened one administrative inquiry into Phantom Works in 2008, according to a DSS response to a POGO Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Another DSS probe was launched in 2011, POGO has learned. In total, at least three such investigations conducted by three different DSS agents based out of the agency’s Seattle field office have taken place since 2002—all related to Boeing’s handling of classified defense information. An unknown number of security violations occurred in 2009 and 2010, according to the DSS FOIA response. The exact number of violations in both years was redacted.
The IG reprisal investigation report states that reprisal investigators “determined Mr. Conley’s belief in 2006, that Boeing engaged in illegal activity was reasonable.” Furthermore, “testimony from Mr. Conley’s co-workers and supervisors supported the reasonableness of his allegations.”
Given the reasonableness of Conley’s concern and the high stakes of his allegations, the public deserves to know more about what Boeing, which makes tens of billions of dollars in federal contracts each year, is doing to adequately protect classified information.
It's also just as important that Congress examine how DSS, an obscure but vital federal agency, is doing its job protecting our nation’s most sensitive secrets. If an employee like Conley faces retaliation for just trying to do that job, how can American taxpayers have confidence in the agency?
Nick Schwellenbach is a contributing investigator for POGO.
That lax attitude endangers us all, and regulation is not inherently unfriendly to business, but rather keeps all business competition on an even playing field, and safeguards those of us who those businesses are supposed to serve as customers, indirectly or directly. Here is part 4 of the POGO report.
Whistleblower: Boeing Put Classified Information at Risk
Pentagon Watchdog Backs Up Retaliation Claim
By NICK SCHWELLENBACH
DSS: A Long Record of Lapses
The episode involving Conley, Kelly, and Boeing offers an unusual glimpse into an agency that, despite its important mission, has largely flown under the radar of the public. But this isn’t to say there hasn’t been criticism of the Defense Security Service.In 2004 and 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, issued reports that criticized DSS’s ability to ensure that contractors were protecting classified information.
A copy of suggested talking points for a speech given by Stanley Sims, the current DSS director, was obtained by POGO last year. According to the suggested talking points, DSS has “been remiss in our fundamental oversight responsibilities to the Department and the U.S. Government.” Among the deficiencies detailed by the suggested talking points: contractors incorrectly processed security violations.
Critics ranging from the DoD IG to the House Armed Services Committee and Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa have raised questions about DSS’s protection of classified information. In 2008, then-DSS Director Kathleen Watson claimed that when she began her tenure, DSS was “broken across the board.” In a 2009 letter to then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Grassley said he was “worried that there are continuing problems with the Defense Security Service and its role in safeguarding our nation’s top secret or sensitive weapons design information and making sure that kind of information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
Other DSS Probes Into Boeing Raise Questions
As for Boeing, one might readily dismiss Conley and Kelly’s allegations based on the fact that criminal investigations by two agencies—the Naval and Defense Criminal Investigative Services—did not support their allegations. But subsequent DSS administrative inquiries launched into classified technology transfer practices within Phantom Works program give these allegations some credence.
DSS opened one administrative inquiry into Phantom Works in 2008, according to a DSS response to a POGO Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Another DSS probe was launched in 2011, POGO has learned. In total, at least three such investigations conducted by three different DSS agents based out of the agency’s Seattle field office have taken place since 2002—all related to Boeing’s handling of classified defense information. An unknown number of security violations occurred in 2009 and 2010, according to the DSS FOIA response. The exact number of violations in both years was redacted.
The IG reprisal investigation report states that reprisal investigators “determined Mr. Conley’s belief in 2006, that Boeing engaged in illegal activity was reasonable.” Furthermore, “testimony from Mr. Conley’s co-workers and supervisors supported the reasonableness of his allegations.”
Given the reasonableness of Conley’s concern and the high stakes of his allegations, the public deserves to know more about what Boeing, which makes tens of billions of dollars in federal contracts each year, is doing to adequately protect classified information.
It's also just as important that Congress examine how DSS, an obscure but vital federal agency, is doing its job protecting our nation’s most sensitive secrets. If an employee like Conley faces retaliation for just trying to do that job, how can American taxpayers have confidence in the agency?
Nick Schwellenbach is a contributing investigator for POGO.
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