Proven cases of fraud and corruption cases dropped suspiciously among defense contractors even as funds for defense contractors rose dramatically since 1993, according to a Center for Public Integrity study. The study showed that even as defense contracting doubled from the beginning of Bill Clinton’s first term to the end of George W. Bush’s second term (from $200B to $400B), proven cases of contracting fraud decreased 76 percent. An FBI spokesman said that the terror threat took resources away from efforts to oversee defense contractor fraud. (Center for Public Integrity)
An internal report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Wednesday criticized the way the Director of National Intelligence position is set up, and Director Dennis Blair himself for focusing too much on briefing the President over managing intelligence agencies. Many agencies are riddled with infighting, computer problems and legal uncertainties. The DNI, created in 2004 by President Bush and Congress to reform the U.S. intelligence community following its failures prior to the 9/11 attacks, has not yet found a clear purpose and risks becoming a permanent “additional layer of bureaucracy”, the report said. (LA Times)
In the ongoing effort to crack down on offshore tax evaders, the Justice Department opened criminal investigations into 100 clients of the Swiss bank UBS for evading U.S. taxes, a New York Times source said. Many of those being investigated are not eligible for an IRS program announced last week which would provide partial amnesty to tax evaders in an effort to urge them to disclose tax problems to the IRS. UBS admitted to helping American citizens avoid U.S. taxes by keeping their money in the Swiss bank and repaid $780 million to the U.S. government last month. (New York Times)
The U.S. Army will investigate whether it sent medically unfit soldiers to Iraq from Fort Wainwright in Alaska. The investigation was spurred by a petition signed by a group of Fort Wainwright soldiers recently sent to Iraq, which claimed that a handful of soldiers were deployed before they completed medical tests or could heal from prior injuries. (USA Today)
Blackwater Worldwide – or “Xe”, as it now wants to be known – will be replaced by the Virginia-based Triple Canopy as the State Department’s primary private contractor, State Department officials said Wednesday. Blackwater was harshly criticized in 2007 for its role in a Baghdad firefight that killed 17 Iraqi civilians, which led the Iraqi government to decide not to renew Blackwater’s license to operate in Iraq. Five men who were Blackwater guards at the time of the shooting were charged with manslaughter in December 2008 by U.S. prosecutors. (ABC News)
