Troops Pay Cost for Pentagon Mismanagement

By Diane M. Grassi


Staff Sergeant George T. Alexander, Jr. suffered injuries in an October 17, 2005 explosion in Iraq. He died of his sustained wounds on October 22, 2005 in San Antonio, TX near his home of Killeen, TX. Unfortunately, his death will be earmarked as the 2,000th United States soldier confirmed dead, serving in the War in Iraq. There have also been approximately 16,000 wounded soldiers who have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them now permanently disabled.

The U.S. military has called upon the media to refrain from making a political issue of the number of dead service members, but it is expected to remain a political hot potato on Capitol Hill. To wit, Staff Sergeant Alexander died on October 22, 2005 and it was not reported to the American people until October 25, 2005 as the administration wished to wait for the ratification of Iraqi votes on passage of the new Iraq constitution.

But the Pentagon as well as the costs associated with the War in Iraq has come under repeated scrutiny. The political haggling in the Congress over various defense appropriations and authorization bills, still yet to pass for Fiscal Year 2006, as well as the lack of oversight of the Pentagon’s database management system for personnel, have plagued some of the wounded troops returning stateside from both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Much has been reported over the past couple of years regarding deficiencies in body and vehicle armor for soldiers in the battlefield and of the families of soldiers who were supplying various pieces of protective equipment for their loved ones in the field. However, a recently revealed snafu in the system now includes the miscalculation of service members’ paychecks. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the Congress, a recent audit disclosed that over 90% of Army Reserve and National Guard units have experienced some type of payroll error during the course of their deployment. As a direct result, the Pentagon has authorized collection agencies to contact military personnel whose pay was erroneously garnished.

Gregory D. Kutz, the GAO’s Managing Director for Forensic Audits and Special Investigations, has stated that the Department of Defense’s computer system that separates pay records from personnel data is outdated. “They’ve been trying to modernize it since the mid-1990’s. They have not been successful.”

To date there have been 331 wounded soldiers who have incurred debt. For example, Robert Loria of Middletown, NY, lost his hand in Iraq and lost the use of his legs for some time due to an explosion while serving in Tikrit, Iraq in 2003. He was sent to recover at Walter Reed Army Medical Center at such time he left the war zone. He remained at Walter Reed for 13 months. Upon returning stateside the Pentagon reduced his pay. Nine months later, Loria’s pay was garnished for a total of $6200.00. A collection agency started to call him just prior to his leaving the military demanding payment for $650.00 worth of military housing and several hundred dollars for equipment which could not be located after he was wounded, in addition to $2200.00 in travel expenses related to hospital aftercare treatment as well as vacation pay.

It was not until Loria brought his unfathomable problem to the attention of the GAO after his credit rating had been damaged, that members of Congress got involved. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) in October 2005 wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld requesting he “immediately suspend all collection efforts directed at wounded service members, whether still on active duty or released to the care of the Veteran’s health system.” Additionally, Representative Thomas Davis (R-VA) told the Washington Post in October 2005, “This is financial friendly fire.” Davis, Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, added, “It’s awful.” He termed the pay problems as systemic and that “pay problems have been an embarrassment all the way through the war.”

The crux of the problem is that the Pentagon’s computerized system for pay is set up to maximize debt collection and does not include a way to prevent such bills from going to the wounded according to G. Eric Reid, Director of the U.S. Army Finance Command. So far, the military is in the process of eliminating the debts of 99 of the 331 wounded. However, earlier in the year 129 wounded, still active in the military, were identified with debts. Fortunately, those have been resolved, but without a way to pinpoint the total number of wounded active-duty troops, debts remain on their records.

As the War in Iraq has proceeded since 2003 with no finite date of withdrawal, and with nearly 50% of those deployed consisting of Reserve and Guard members, many database problems regarding benefits and pay were not anticipated. Similarly, the $50 billion allocated by Congress to run the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through March of 2006 to be formally signed over to the Pentagon by Thanksgiving, exactly how the funds will be spent remains unclear.

With the War in Iraq alone costing approximately $6 billion per month and in Afghanistan another $1 billion per month, the GAO has also cited that the Pentagon’s financial records are in shambles. “Neither DoD nor Congress can reliably know how much the war is costing,” according to a September 21, 2005 GAO report. And with that comes a lack of assurance that Pentagon purchased weapons and equipment will be delivered on time for troops in the field. Also of note, the GAO reported that the “lack of accountability results in waste of billions of dollars annually.” The Senate Appropriations Committee has acknowledged that the amounts included in the $50 billion dollars although specified by category, are “estimates” according to past cost structuring and “detailed discussions” with officials at the Pentagon.

And while the Pentagon and the Congress continue to deliberate on when to release funds and which contractors to hire while soldiers in the battle zone continue to wait for redesigned body armor and armored Humvee vehicles, they additionally continue to become victims of antiquated computers systems and oversight, as they transition back to civilian life or with a continued military career. Complacency and inertia in a time of war with only down payment guarantees will no longer suffice for the indefinite sustenance and well-being of our military service members. Indeed, they are owed far more as they place their lives on the line for the American people.

First-Responders Still Await Radio Upgrades

By Diane M. Grassi


Beginning October 19, 2005, the United States Senate Commerce Committee will readdress legislation passed in 1996 which would free up analog television 700 MHz transmission signals for public safety communications. The U.S. House of Representatives Commerce Committee is set to examine it the following week.

Simply, this means that television broadcasters would no longer have an indefinite amount of time to convert their analog frequencies to digital broadcast capabilities. Congress originally passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in January of 1996 and it was promptly signed into law in February of 1996 by then President Bill Clinton. It provided that broadcasters must convert their analog frequencies into digital broadcast signals by December 31, 2006. However, since that time nothing about it has been prompt as the National Association of Broadcasters successfully lobbied for a change in the law thereafter, calling for no change to take place indefinitely unless 85% of U.S. homes are able to receive such digital broadcasts. Thus far only about 12% of U.S. homes have digital television sets.

In order for consumers to receive digital television broadcasts they will necessarily need to purchase digital television sets or invest in a converter box to enable their analog televisions to receive digital signals for what is currently referred to as “free” television or non-digital cable or digital satellite programming. But the matter of the conversion of television frequencies has far broader implications and matters of importance than whether or not consumers need invest in a digital television in the near future.

Historically, the Act goes back to the 1980’s when the electronics industry was intent upon improving picture definition and its import in what eventually became to be known today as “high-definition” television. Such is widely available to consumers today, but high-def remains out of reach for many household budgets. Digital sets, however, are now largely affordable for the average consumer as analog sets are being permanently phased out by manufacturers.

But since the telecommunications legislation became law, the terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 emphasized the need for the interoperability of radio communications between the New York City Police Department, the New York City Fire Department, the New York-New Jersey Port Authority Police, as well as emergency medical personnel. And it is the increased need to upgrade emergency radio frequencies which was a primary intent of the original law.

Now in 2005, on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, first-responder communication problems came to light once again, but it is not new to what the government has admittedly known for at least the past decade. However, the lack of communications technologies between first-responders has become an issue for the Department of Homeland Security, since established in 2003, as well as the obvious matter of urgency in preserving human lives in natural disasters. The lack of interoperability of radio communications, however, is a multi-faceted problem and cannot merely be accomplished with additional funding.

The legislation requires that first-responders nationwide become direct beneficiaries of the freed spectrum of television signals in order for agencies to communicate between each other not just locally but regionally. Hurricane Katrina illustrated that regional emergency service personnel were still unable to communicate once they reached the stricken areas of Louisiana and Mississippi due to variations of equipment and software technologies.

The law provides for 24 MHz of analog spectrum in the upper 700 MHz band to be dedicated to public safety agencies with the rest of the spectrum to be auctioned off to the private sector, primarily to increase consumer access to alternative wireless broadband technologies. The auctioned spectrum, to be conducted by the Federal Communications Commission, has been stated by experts in the technology field including Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates, that it would help to grow the economy with proceeds estimated at close to $30 billion. And given the recent directive by the Bush administration for the Congress to eliminate $408 billion from the federal deficit, many on Capitol Hill are now anxious to expedite an end date for the analog television conversion.

The secondary cost however is the purchase of new and compatible equipment and software for municipalities and regions, which would be way beyond the means of local and state communities. Interoperability communication grants distributed by the Department of Homeland Security totaled close to $1 billion in 2004 alone. And while the Senate and House are close to agreement for a deadline conversion date with the Senate aiming for April 7, 2009 and the House offering a December 31, 2008 cut-off date, much work remains on the funding costs for communications upgrades. Initially the Senate has considered up to $1 billion to be allocated to local municipalities for such.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) estimates that approximately $15 billion will be required to get the necessary equipment distributed nationally. And while most large cities at least have police and fire departments that can communicate, additional agencies and jurisdictions create the need for expansion in the midst of a disaster. According to the U.S. Conferences of Mayors, a maximum of 10% of U.S. cities have the capability to communicate with any of the necessary federal responders which includes the National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Finally, availability of the analog spectrum and new equipment will only be as good as the strategic plans put in place in order for the equipment and networks to communicate with each other. Once again, as was evidenced in both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, systems and hierarchies must be in place before they are translated to technology networks. Without a plan, the most high-tech equipment will falter and do emergency responders little good in a crisis.

Therefore, the Congress will have a difficult task not necessarily in resolving dates but in financing expenditures. But lawmakers must also keep in mind not only lessons learned from 9/11 but the lack of communication between federal, state and local agencies in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which was largely one of administrative failure as well.

There is no simple solution, but one which must be comprehensive in scope in order to avoid future pitfalls when American lives are at stake. It would also serve the American people well to be reeducated by their local representatives that concerns over investing in new television sets or satellite dishes is not the primary reason for this legislation’s urgency. And we can only hope that the Congress keeps politics to an absolute minimum when addressing first responders’ communications capabilities. When it comes to the security of the U.S., there is little time to waste.

MIDDLE CLASS LOSSES FROM KATRINA UNDERESTIMATED

By Diane M. Grassi

The media has been both praised and admonished for its Hurricane Katrina coverage over the past weeks, and particularly during the first week of the crisis in New Orleans, LA. And media coverage was largely criticized by political appointees and lawmakers who felt the wrath of scrutiny concerning the lack of coordination of relief efforts by local, state and federal governments. The dust continues to settle concerning the costs of relief efforts and the entire toll of human life and life as it once was in southern Louisiana southern Mississippi, as well as parts of Texas, which suffered from Hurricane Rita some four weeks after Hurricane Katrina. But missing from most government assessments and coverage of myriad problems the disaster wrought, is the affect on middle class survivors.

Homeowners who lost their homes and had jobs with employer provided healthcare have predominantly been left on their own and prevented from getting funds and ongoing assistance during these weeks after Hurricane Katrina. They suffer from a web of problems and there appears to be no end in sight to their dilemmas.

First there is the issue of insurance companies assessing damage from homes and whether or not their homeowners’ policies will be honored. There is a continuing problem of getting enough insurance assessors into the disaster areas, many of which were not accessible for the first couple of weeks. Then there is the issue of whether damage resulted from wind or floodwaters. In Mississippi there is a pending lawsuit filed by Attorney General, Jim Hood, who has sued major insurers on behalf of Mississippi residents. He said that “A standard homeowner’s policy should cover hurricane damage, whether the loss came from wind or wind-driven water such as a storm surge.” It will be hard for insurers to deny that all damage was caused by floods, especially in the areas not in the flood plain, and for that reason as well, Hood believes that those without flood insurance are still entitled to coverage. Unfortunately, the onus is on the plaintiff to prove otherwise.

But home loss is not the only problem for these individuals and their families. Many have permanently lost their livelihoods in southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi due to businesses being destroyed. Along with their job loss is loss of their healthcare benefits. While some companies were able to extend some benefits a month or two, those employees who have any kind of chronic health condition, such as asthma, are in danger of losing all their benefits indefinitely as there is a waiting period for those enrolling in new plans with preexisting conditions. In addition, there is a probationary period for joining a healthcare plan with any new employer, provided they are able to find a job with healthcare benefits.

And while homeowners wait for insurance assessments with the possibility of not being covered at all if they had not previously purchased flood insurance from the federal government, the ability to declare bankruptcy is no simple option either. First, the mortgage payments on destroyed homes do not simply disappear even though the house may have. Various lending institutions and banks have given some hurricane victims some leniency by way of 30 or 60-day extensions to pay. That however will not go very far for those who have had to pay for their own living accommodations over the past six weeks and may be short on their mortgage payments.

With the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 to become effective October 17, 2005, while it would make sense for some to declare bankruptcy prior to then when the law becomes much more restrictive for filers, most homeowners cannot yet assess their damages or evaluate their assets. But the U.S. Department of Justice through its U.S. Trustee Program has temporarily waived for one year one of the provisions necessary to declare bankruptcy in the new law, specifically for residents in the disaster areas of southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi.

However, the waived provision just eliminates the need to undergo credit counseling prior to filing. All other provisions remain which makes it far more difficult to declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy or liquidation. Unfortunately, the bankruptcy law will require repayment or re-organization based on the prior year’s income. For those who have permanently lost income, this new measure is hardly consoling. And in order to file bankruptcy the filer must retain an attorney, and given that many have temporarily re-located out of state with little paperwork at their disposal, that task alone is now far more complicated than it would have ordinarily been.

It is not only bankruptcy court which may discriminate against those most in need at this time. Most homeowners who have had regular incomes are not eligible for housing assistance or Medicaid benefits which would cover their healthcare. It is primarily those people in New Orleans proper who have enjoyed the federal benefits such as housing vouchers and Medicaid benefits, as many were already receiving such benefits from the federal government. Such was another matter which the media failed to mention time and again in their reports. For those who have credit and paid their bills in 2004, there will not be much help from the federal government, if any, as again the prior year’s tax return and assets are used in qualifying for benefits. Adults without children will be the hardest hit, especially with personal savings only taking them so far.

On September 15, 2005, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee introduced a bi-partisan measure, the Grassley-Baucus bill, which would have opened up Medicaid services for single, childless adults who have been displaced and have lost their health insurance from employers, for up to 10 months. Medicaid does not cover working adults without children. But the White House has raised objections to the Grassley bill stating it is too expensive.

Many lessons are still being learned after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita with respect to distribution of services. And while emergency funding is in place for those usually taken care of by public assistance, there clearly is no support system in place for working and middle class people who are hit with immediate devastation. Responsible, law abiding, and tax paying individuals who also may have good educations, need not apply.

The story being logged has not been complete in its depiction of victims from the storms and subsequent malfunctioning levees in southern Louisiana. All residents need food, shelter and healthcare. Yet the government and media alike would like us to believe that there are the poor and the rich in the U.S. Unfortunately, casting a blind eye does not make a problem go away, but rather usually makes it worse.

We have been subject to picture after picture of shelters for the people of New Orleans proper, but perhaps the most disenfranchised of all in this disastrous situation is the middle class. It will be nearly impossible to recover from the sudden and simultaneous loss of home, job and healthcare without help. Most of these people who would never have entertained a thought about turning to public assistance may however eventually wind up on it. Giving people no option but to apply for public assistance once their assets are completely depleted may prove shortsighted, and in the long run may ultimately prove one which the federal government can ill afford.

Hurricanes Delay Passage of Spending for Troops in Iraq

By Diane M. Grassi

It has now become clear that the devastation done in the U.S. Gulf region by Hurricane Katrina, the subsequent flooding in New Orleans and the additional damage by Hurricane Rita has delayed priority legislation on Capitol Hill. The Defense Authorization Bills and the Defense Appropriation Bills in both the Senate and the House of Representatives were temporarily tabled prior to the summer break taken by Congress. But the Congress was not counting on any natural disasters to impinge upon its schedule, which is short on time normally, in order to get spending bills and budgets ratified before the new fiscal year which began October 1, 2005.

In an effort to expedite the two defense bills pending in the Senate, which includes 200 pending amendments in the Defense Authorization Bill, Senators John Warner (R-VA), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and ranking committee Democrat, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), have taken the unconventional step of attaching the Defense Authorization Bill to the Defense Appropriations Bill by way of the Warner-Levin Amendment. Whether the House will follow suit with their bills is largely in question.

“Time is short. We must be reasonable in the time we spend debating. It is too important to our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines for the Senate not to complete action on this bill,” according to Warner. By combining the two bills, it is feared that the Armed Services Committee would become less relevant, and would erode the power of certain lawmakers. However, the appropriations for defense are crucial to defense contractors in supplying weapons programs.

Although increasing military pay and benefits is part of the authorization bill, the Warner-Levin Amendment will provide for it. And part of the thinking of the amendment is to limit time spent on debate on the remaining amendments which the Senate must still address, with the hope of completing such legislation by sometime around October 7, 2005. The double bill would exceed 650 pages and Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee is not thrilled with the merging of the two bills but said, “There are many items funded in the appropriations that require authorization before money could be spent.” He is willing to go along with it, however, "if it proves to be the only way to get the measures passed.”

One of the amendments added to the Defense Appropriations Bill has just been introduced by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), re-requiring the Pentagon to reimburse families up to $1,100.00 for provided body armor and other protective gear and health and safety equipment for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan which they purchased from 9/11/01 to 7/31/04. In legislation passed in October of 2004, the Pentagon was to have instituted a reimbursement plan for such families, but never complied. Dodd plans to “take the issue out of the hands of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and give control to the military unit commanders in the field” in deciding which equipment is eligible for reimbursement. Additionally, the amendment would extend the cut-off date indefinitely as troops are still dealing with equipment shortages in 2005.

Under the law passed in October 2004, Congress had until February 25, 2005 to develop a way to implement the Pentagon reimbursement plan, but did not require the military to reimburse expenses for equipment purchased by families not normally supplied by the military. Dodd’s new law hopes to circumvent the lack of teeth in last year’s legislation with his new amendment. Dodd “wonders whether the Pentagon intends to actually reimburse anyone.”

At the heart of the defense bills still needing ratification in Congress, is the remaining need for proper body armor and vehicle armor for troops in combat almost a year since December 2004, when Secretary Rumsfeld was questioned over such shortages. There was both public outcry and scrutiny over such, for which funding and production problems linger. In May 2005, the Marine Corps recalled 5,277 combat vests issued to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan because of concern that they might fail bullet penetration tests. And in August 2005, the Pentagon for the second time since the War in Iraq began decided to replace body armor for all U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new armor would be an upgrade in the protection used by soldiers as well as civilian employees and news reporters.

Unfortunately, the replacement processes were met by more delays than anticipated, primarily because the manufacturing of bullet-resistant ceramic plates to fortify the vests was stalled. Major General William D. Catto, head of the Marine Corps Systems Command, said that he “wasn’t happy about the year-long delay to replace the armor” and blamed the delay “partly on a shortage of the raw material that is needed to strengthen the plates.”

The lack of a strong military industrial manufacturing base has come up many times previously in Congressional hearings this year concerning the manufacture of ammunition and armor for Humvee vehicles. The Pentagon hopes to continue rolling out 25,000 vests a month until all 500,000 military troops are supplied. But it still leaves immediate needs with a shortfall as not all troops will be supplied until the spring of 2006.

And the Pentagon last week changed courses on its plan to borrow from procurement funds earmarked specifically for buying better armored vehicles for troops in Iraq. Over $300 million was to be transferred to meet year-end operating costs for the Army when fiscal year 2005 ended September 30th. Due to the additional costs from Hurricane Katrina, the Army needed some adjustment to be made.

Without transferring funds totalling $1.43 billion the Pentagon said that the Army would fail to pay its bills. In lieu of borrowing from accounts used to protect forces in Iraq and to restore damaged equipment, which includes the purchase of mortars and trucks and armored vehicles, the Army’s request has now been adjusted to borrow from the Air Force’s capital account and a secondary generic account known as the Iraq Freedom Account, which comes under the direct control of Secretary Rumsfeld. The stopgap measure was headed to Congress the last week of September and was not expected to meet with much resistance.

The federal disasters the U.S. endured during August and September 2005 have but exacerbated the budget and manufacturing deficiencies for troops serving in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, as exhibited by the Congress and the Pentagon. But largely there have been political and communication problems since the onset of the War in Iraq between the two entities and it would be less than fair for lawmakers and public officials to use the storms and floods as an excuse. For after all, both the House and the Senate deferred progress on the defense bills days before they actually broke for their August vacations and went on to other legislation, for fear they would perhaps have to delay their five-week holidays.

Perhaps the remnants of the disasters in the Gulf region will be a reminder to the American people that legislation not only affects certain people, such as the soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the families without homes in the Gulf, but all of us. For the powers-that-be in Washington sometimes are faced with decisions which are a matter of life and death, when we least expect it. And because they have the political power along with control of the purse strings, they must be taken to task and held accountable by all of the people.

GOV CONTRACTS FOR HURRICANES REQUIRE KEEN OVERSIGHT

By Diane M. Grassi

Hurricane Katrina was the first and greatest blow to the United States Gulf Coast region when it set down on August 29, 2005, but it was subsequently followed by failing levees in the greater New Orleans, LA area, only to be hit again by Hurricane Rita some four weeks later, leaving New Orleans, southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi and now southeast Texas in dire need of emergency assistance. All three episodes combined have but complicated the clean up and restoration of a vital region of the country, a major U.S. port. In addition, over 300,000 homes were permanently lost with at least 200,000 families requiring federal housing, not to mention the loss of thousands of jobs.

The U.S. has a challenge on its hands, like no other, in terms of the expanse of uninhabitable land and infrastructure which is has been destroyed. In that effort, local, state and federal governments along with the private sector have been urged to proceed cautiously and as equitably as possible, according to numerous government officials and business leaders hit hardest in the communities most badly hurt.

Congress has thus far approved appropriations of over $62 billion for the emergency financing of Hurricane Katrina. Figures for Hurricane Rita to date are just now being discussed so there will be more emergency funding for it as well as President Bush is expected to ask the Congress for a third special appropriation within the next three weeks. Of concern however, is how the money will spent, which contractors will be the recipients of these monies, how much the local communities will be able to have a fair chance of partaking in the restoration process and the essential oversight to alleviate waste and fraud.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) which monitors public spending on behalf of the Congress is expected to audit the contracts won by U.S. firms. Contracts have so far been secured for repairing the New Orleans’ flood levees, rebuilding naval facilities, providing temporary housing and mobile homes, providing trucks, ships, buses and planes and the immense task of removal of debris and hazardous materials. Contracts were awarded by the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA. More than 15 contracts exceed $100 million with five worth $500 million or more. Additionally, more than the 80% of those contracts executed by FEMA were no-bid contracts or with limited competition in addition to guarantees that contracts will be given a certain profit.

“You are likely to see the equivalent of disaster profiteering,” according to Danielle Brian, Director of the Project on Government Accountability, a non-profit government spending watchdog group. Richard L. Skinner, the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security, overseeing Hurricane Katrina contracts said, “When you do something like this, you increase the vulnerability for fraud, plain waste, abuse and mismanagement.”

Skinner’s comments were in reference to two major contractors, also no-bid contracts, utilized in Iraq as well. One is Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton, now represented by Joe Allbaugh, President Bush’s former campaign manager, former Director of FEMA and friend of recently resigned FEMA Director Michael Brown. KBR is repairing damage to three naval bases as well as damage assessments, repairing roofs and restoring power. Skinner also said, “Bills have come in for deals that apparently were clinched with a handshake, with no documents to back them up.”

The other contractor to which Skinner refers is the Shaw Group, also represented by Allbaugh. It is a Louisiana construction firm which won a $100 million contract from FEMA for housing and support services and a $100 million contract from the Army Corps of Engineers to pump floodwaters out of New Orleans. Additionally, AshBritt, Inc., a Pompano Beach, FL company, was awarded a $568 million contract for clean up in Mississippi as part of an ongoing contract with the Army Corps of Engineers, signed in 2003. In addition, Ashbritt was a client of the former lobbying firm of Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

Also of concern is the track record of recent work done in Iraq by KBR, including a five-year oil infrastructure contract instead of the standard one-year contract. Whistleblower, Bunnatine Greenhouse, was the chief contracting officer for the Army Corps of Engineers, and has since been demoted after her protest to what she saw as unethically awarding such a contract to KBR. In addition, KBR was cited for lost property and equipment in Iraq as well as leaky pipelines, necessary to carry water to the oil fields which still are not working properly, thus delaying the production of oil to date. KBR also was responsible for rebuilding a pipeline network in Northern Iraq but could not complete the project for non-specified reasons. A government audit is presently in play regarding that project. Iraqi officials also have been critical of KBR for using foreign contractors and shoddy equipment, overseen by U.S. officials with little experience in the oil industry.

Given the risk of graft and the need for accountability, Richard Skinner has just appointed Mathew Jadacki to the new Office of Hurricane Katrina Oversight. Jadacki was a former FEMA auditor. The Department of Homeland Security is one of 13 different agencies and departments to have inspector generals auditing hurricane contracts. President Bush recently said. “We’ll make sure your money is spent honestly by sending a team of inspector generals down there to review all expenditures.” The Congress also is drafting additional legislation in this oversight effort and also to investigate what went wrong with both Hurricane Katrina preparedness and its aftermath.

The Office of Management and Budget wants its say in oversight too as well as the various local and state governments in the Gulf region. However, due to the potential for more bureaucratic overkill, resident businesses of the affected communities may get lost in the mix. While all government contracts supposedly require the preference for work going to the affected communities, many small businesses feel they simply cannot compete with multi-billion dollar corporations with contracts already in place.

Will Nelson of the National Association of Minority Contractors, a non-profit trade association, said that he went to Biloxi, MS two weeks ago to submit a bid on behalf of minority contractors and was shut out by local officials. “The door was slammed in our face,” he said. Additionally, access to key government personnel for small contractors in the region is nearly impossible for those left only with toll-free phone numbers to call. It will be largely left to the discretion of the large corporations to subcontract with those most in need who have the capability to work and to hire local workers, in an effort to get back their livelihoods.

And it will take a great deal of perseverance and integrity on the part of all levels of government, agency officials and the private sector in order for hurricane contracting oversight not to become as entangled and as unwieldy as the relief effort itself. What is of concern to many in Congress is for proper oversight while contracts are being negotiated and not for a call for investigations after the fact. And others in Congress are wisely calling for revisiting pork barrel legislation recently passed by Congress for fiscal year 2006 such as the $286 million transportation bill which was cited for $24 billion in special projects or about 9% of the entirety.

There will be so very many expenses yet to be realized at this juncture in the hurricane recovery effort which will require serious thinking on the part of our lawmakers, not for the benefit of their political lives, but for the benefit of the lives of the American people most tragically at a loss and for the future health of the U.S. economy. Hopefully, many this time will be up to the task.