Defense Contractors

Andrea Stone

Homeland Security Trade Show Deserted Even As Industry Keeps On Growing

HuffingtonPost.com | Andrea Stone | Posted 05.17.2012

WASHINGTON -- More than a decade after 9/11, it isn't easy to stage a "first-of-its-kind" event centered on homeland security and counterterrorism. ...

America's Shame: The U.S. Government's Human Trafficking Dilemma

Joe Newman | Posted 05.08.2012

Joe Newman

This human trafficking pipeline wasn't benefiting some shadowy war lord or oppressive regime. No, these are workers who were feeding, cleaning up after and providing logistical support for U.S. troops -- the standard bearers of the free and democratic world.

Air Force Lifts Booz Allen Suspension, Contractor Admits to "Broader Systemic Ethical Deficiencies"

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 04.19.2012

Project On Government Oversight

From now on, Booz Allen will require all new hires to certify they do not possess non-public or proprietary information from a past employer and that they have not brought, nor intend to bring, such information to Booz Allen, which exceeds current DoD revolving door requirements.

Feds Investigating Big Contractor's Ties to Blacklisted Iranian Companies

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 04.09.2012

Project On Government Oversight

A major defense contractor is the focus of an apparent ongoing federal probe into its business dealings with Iranian companies -- dealings that could violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Controversial DARPA Chief Regina Dugan Bolts for Job With Google

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 05.14.2012

Project On Government Oversight

By JOE NEWMAN Cross-posted on POGO's blog. Regina Dugan's tenure at the Department of Defense's shadowy research arm is apparently over with news that...

How Many House Staffers Went on to Lobby for Top Government Contractors?

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 05.07.2012

Project On Government Oversight

POGO has long been concerned about the revolving door phenomenon, and Sunlight's analysis sheds light on its continued prevalence on the Hill.

Fear and Loathing In the Pentagon Budget

Ben Freeman | Posted 04.18.2012

Ben Freeman

Since President Obama released his FY2013 budget request on Monday, proponents of Pentagon waste and inefficiency have been working overtime.

The Risky Business Of Post-War Contracting

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 04.03.2012

Project On Government Oversight

Given current security conditions in Iraq, including a string of bombings since late December more lethal to civilians than any seen in the last year of the U.S. presence, many could be nervous enough to be trigger-happy. Is this war really over or have we just outsourced it?

Spending Big On Lobbying May Help Net Bigger Profits

The Huffington Post | Alexander Eichler | Posted 12.17.2011

You need to spend money to make money, as the saying goes. It's an idea lobbyists might find particularly resonant: Companies that spend money on appe...

War and Private Contractors: Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them

David Isenberg | Posted 11.02.2011

David Isenberg

Anybody who was dreaming that that the military was going to divest itself of contractors can put that fantasy to rest. Now that the CWC has said the government is over-reliant on contractors, you can see that we have a bit of a contradiction.

War Budget Cuts Possible if We Counter Contractors' Multimillion-Dollar Campaign Spending

Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe | Posted 10.11.2011

Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe

The deal worked out to allow a rise in the debt ceiling gives us our first real chance in more than a decade to make significant cuts to our country's out-of-control war budget, but we are going to have to fight for them.

DSS Director: Defense Security Service "Remiss" in "Fundamental Oversight Responsibilities"

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 05.25.2011

Project On Government Oversight

Cross-posted on POGO's blog By Nick Schwellenbach "We have been remiss in our fundamental oversight responsibilities to the Department and the U.S. G...

Amanda Terkel

Pentagon Paid Billions To Contractors Suspended For Fraud

HuffingtonPost.com | Amanda Terkel | Posted 05.25.2011

WASHINGTON -- The military paid a total of $285 billion to more than 100 contractors between 2007 and '09, even though those same companies were defra...

Shadow Elite: Eisenhower's Dark Vision Realized - The Military-Industrial Complex At 50

Janine R. Wedel | Posted 05.25.2011

Janine R. Wedel

While Eisenhower was certainly dead-on about the big picture of the military-industrial complex, we can imagine even he might be surprised by the dirty details of how that "complex" has evolved since his farewell speech in 1961.

Shadow Elite: Should We Believe Chertoff On Cyber-War?

Linda Keenan | Posted 05.25.2011

Linda Keenan

In the shadow elite age, when power brokers can have a dozen roles of influence, criss-crossing and sometimes overlapping, sorting through them to pick the most telling ones is both more difficult -- and more imperative -- than ever before.

Army Awards $250 Million Contract To Tiny, Inexperienced Firm Due To 'Alaska Native' Status

Washington Post | Posted 05.25.2011

In summer 2008, the U.S. military had a major problem. More than 2,400 service members had reported being sexually assaulted the previous year, and th...

Efforts To Prosecute Blackwater Collapse

New York Times | Posted 05.25.2011

Nearly four years after the federal government began a string of investigations and criminal prosecutions against Blackwater Worldwide personnel accus...

Contractor Deaths Exceed Military Deaths In Iraq, Afghan Wars

ProPublica | T. Christian Miller | Posted 05.25.2011

More private contractors than soldiers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent months, the first time in history that corporate casualties have ...

Dana Priest's Expose On 'Top Secret America'

washingtonpost.com | Posted 05.25.2011

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive ...

Shadow Elite: What Blackwater Sells (and the Government Wants): Deniability

Janine R. Wedel | Posted 05.25.2011

Janine R. Wedel

Ever heard of a private security contractor name Paravant? XPG? No? Well, that's just as Blackwater, the parent company of Paravant, XPG and dozens of other "subsidiaries", would have it.

Shadow Elite: Selling Out Uncle Sam: Government Contracting -- A Free Market Farce

Janine R. Wedel | Posted 05.25.2011

Janine R. Wedel

The deep scandal of government contracting goes far beyond the actions of a handful of bad actors and products that can seen and touched. It is systemic, insidious, potentially damaging to national security -- and perfectly legal.

U.S. Military Loses Control Of Subcontractor Spending, Warlords Benefit

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund | Posted 05.25.2011

By Nick Schwellenbach and Lagan Sebert This piece is a collaboration between the Huffington Post Investigative Fund and the Center for Public Integr...

Shadow Elite: Selling Out Uncle Sam - The Collision of State & Private Power

Janine R. Wedel | Posted 05.25.2011

Janine R. Wedel

When government contractors hire former directors of intelligence and defense-related government agencies, they are banking on coincidences of interest between their hires and their hires' former (government) employers.

Shadow Elite: Selling Out Uncle Sam -- Who's Overseeing the Contractors?

Janine R. Wedel | Posted 05.25.2011

Janine R. Wedel

How far does the crisis of government contracting oversight go? Apparently, it extends deep into some of America's most hallowed ground: Arlington National Cemetery.

U.S. Contractor Recounts Iraq Kidnapping

AP | JULIE WATSON | Posted 05.25.2011

SAN DIEGO — A U.S. Army contractor kidnapped in Iraq earlier this year described how his captors easily maneuvered past Iraqi checkpoints as he ...