Aerospace Daily, February 5, 2004

The Pentagon will take "appropriate action" if it finds wrongdoing in U.S. Air Force negotiations with the Boeing Co. over the lease and purchase of 100 KC-767 tankers, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 4.

"... We are proceeding in an orderly and systematic way to try to come to the truth as to what took place," he said. "I assure you that if there has been wrongdoing, as there appears to have been, we will take appropriation action."

However, he refused a request from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who insisted Rumsfeld give the committee copies of emails between Air Force and Boeing officials.

"It is a matter of long-standing practice [of] the Department of Defense and other executive branch departments of not turning over internal documents that reflect advice and opinions of employees as they advise senior decision-makers," Rumsfeld said.

He appeared before the panel, and its House counterpart later in the day, to defend the Bush Administration's $401.7 billion fiscal year 2004 defense budget request.

The Air Force's plan to lease and buy 100 tankers has been placed on hold pending an investigation into the deal by the Defense Department's inspector general (DAILY, Dec. 3, 2003).

Boeing executives Michael Sears and Darleen Druyun were dismissed after Boeing said Druyun still was an Air Force official when Sears recruited her, and did not recuse herself from decisions affecting Boeing. Druyun was the Air Force's chief negotiator on the tanker deal before she joined Boeing.

"Doesn't all of this bother you, Mr. secretary, that this incestuous relationship that went on between Boeing and the United States Air Force and the secretary of the Air force in particular ... and none of these people have been called to account for this kind of behavior?" McCain said.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote in his testimony to the House committee that based on the results of the investigation the Air Force would recommend a cost-effective strategy for acquiring a suitable replacement for the older tanker fleet.

Myers was absent from the hearings due to a family emergency, Rumsfeld said.

Other questions

Rumsfeld appeared before the Senate panel with Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and undersecretaries of defense Dov Zakheim and David Chu.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), said he was shocked that the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were not a part of the $401.7 billion budget. Rumsfeld told the committee that Congress asked him previously to request war funds in the form of a supplemental request.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), said he wants to make sure the F/A-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) are on track and within budget.

Myers said the JSF is in the third year of its 11-year development program and has encountered some weight problems, but "the weight issue is within normal parameters of design fluctuation, and this issue will be worked out through the development and design process." The DOD said earlier this month it plans to delay the purchase of some JSFs to give the program time to solve the weight problem (DAILY, Jan. 7).


See Also:

House Armed Services Committee Considers Air Force Tanker Lease Agreement
July 22, 2003

The proposed deal is to provide for delivery of a total of 100 KC-767 aircraft, leased for $131 million per aircraft. - www.house.gov/apps/list/press/nd00_pomeroy/AF_Lease.html.