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Former NAVEUR Arrested on Bribery Charges

Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
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cfam said:
And then there are certain things (commemorative gifts mostly) that end up living in the office forever.
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I worked next door to the Marine attaché manager shop (or whatever it’s called) at the Pentagon for a while and they had cases full of that kind of stuff. Mostly it was the standard “Many thanks from the People’s Army of Ferblakistan” type plaques but there were a few really crazy items.

Anyway, this fucking guy. I get that when you’ve been a really senior Flag for a long time you get used to some rules not really applying to you, and also that in a lot of ethics cases there’s a really fine line between gifts and bribery…but this shit was not only over the line, the line disappeared in the rear-view hours ago. His lawyers are insisting that DoJ is deliberately screwing up the timeline, that the job offer was a long time after the contract was awarded, but I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t have issued the indictment if they didnt have some pretty solid evidence. Particularly after the Fat Leonard cases got so screwed up that almost all the guys, even the ones who’d been convicted, wound up walking, I’d bet DoJ would be extra careful with this one.
 
Brett327

Brett327

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sevenhelmet said:
For sure.

I also imagine when you’re in that powerful of a position, a lot of people are offering you things, not all of which they realize you can’t accept. It’s likely to be as simple as not saying no, and suddenly you’re on the road to corruption. Zero excuse, but I bet it’s incredibly easy to stray when you’re that senior.

Just my theory- I’ve never even been a unit CO, so there are likely pressures I wouldn’t understand.
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It’s actually really tough and awkward sometimes. Most of the time, people are just being nice, or courteous by offering to buy you lunch, or extending offers to attend events, etc, and sometimes you have to get creative in finding ways to pay your own way for this stuff. Ive had to flag down waiters during a “head call” to slip them my card so that things don’t get awkward. Most of the more savvy people you deal with understand the rules, and we’re all just trying to build relationships to work together. You can also weed out those who are obviously being nice to you in hopes of winning influence or thinking that you’ll drive your business their way if they schmooze you up. you can see they coming a mile away.
 
sevenhelmet

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
pilot
Hair Warrior said:
It’s actually pretty straightforward in defense acquisition. Contracting officers have to be certified and receive a contracting warrant from proper acquisition authority to obligate funding. COs of organizations with acquisition budgets/authority should know that there is a contracting officer assigned to their organization, and to run all contracts/procurement actions through that person. The contracting officer follows the defense acquisition process, which almost always involves either 1) fair and open solicitation and competition, or 2) sole source justification. The entire FAR and DFARS is set up to avoid favoritism, nepotism, kickbacks, and other uncompetitive practices. There are also safeguards, and cooling off periods designed to limit the “revolving door” of govt officials who are involved in procurement decisions later working for or benefitting from bidders. There are dollar thresholds and checks & balances built into the system to allow units to buy small dollar supplies as needed without as much bureacracy (e.g. office supplies, MWR events, certain equipment) while ensuring larger dollar procurement actions adhere to the FAR/DFARS. Unfair contract awards can be protested. Pretty much anyone (mil, civ, ctr) can file an IG complaint or call the DoD waste/fraud/abuse hotline if wrongdoing is observed or people are skipping over standard guardrails.

The USAF tends to be the “gold standard” in contracting because they have whole separate AFSC fields (officer and enlisted) dedicated just to contracting, unlike Navy SUPPOs who are sort of generalists as contracting officers and supply logisticians. I worked in the office of an Assistant Secretary of Acquisition in the Pentagon for a number of years and we heard plenty of stories of what was/wasn’t allowed.
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I’ve been working in defense acquisition since 2012- on AD, and as a contractor- so I am fairly aware of most of that. My comment was more of a generalization about how easily corruption can come your way with power, even when sometimes that isn’t the intent.
 
DanMa1156

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
AIRMMCPORET said:
What’s happens to the stuff turned in, DRMO?
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The George H. W. Bush Presidential Library has some that he and his staff were gifted! IIRC they are noted by the Presidential Library as belonging to the American people.
 
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DanMa1156

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
cfam said:
And then there are certain things (commemorative gifts mostly) that end up living in the office forever.
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"Thanks for [X COMMAND'S] support in [NAME OF EXERCISE] 1994!" Still hanging up in the trophy case...
 
wink

wink

War Hoover NFO.
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Brett327 said:
It’s actually really tough and awkward sometimes. Most of the time, people are just being nice, or courteous by offering to buy you lunch, or extending offers to attend events, etc, and sometimes you have to get creative in finding ways to pay your own way for this stuff. Ive had to flag down waiters during a “head call” to slip them my card so that things don’t get awkward. Most of the more savvy people you deal with understand the rules, and we’re all just trying to build relationships to work together. You can also weed out those who are obviously being nice to you in hopes of winning influence or thinking that you’ll drive your business their way if they schmooze you up. you can see they coming a mile away.
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Been covering the tab on a few undesired luaus during this command tour, are ya Brett?
 
snake020

snake020

Contributor
AIRMMCPORET said:
What’s happens to the stuff turned in, DRMO?
Click to expand...
iu
 
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