Congressional oversight thy name is Henry Waxman.The watchdog from California has uncovered another Republican-orchestrated multi-billion dollar swindle of the American people and the men and women who protect us.
The name of the swindle is "Deepwater," a bundle of contracts that give sweetheart deals to defense contractors without meaningful oversight:
Waxman challenged the deals, saying they gave contractors too much power and taxpayers too little oversight. As of December, he said, 65 of 98 people hired by DHS to oversee the border project, known as SBInet, were themselves contract employees. So were 76 of the 135 tracking Deepwater, reflecting a dearth of government specialists, he said.
"There seems to be no task too important to be outsourced to private contractors," Waxman said. Federal agencies "outsource thinking through what they even want, then they outsource doing it, then they outsource oversight."[1]Once again the Republican Party proves that there is no aspect of our national security that they incapable of mismanaging. Not content to stop at lying us into wars or bungling the response to natural disasters, the Bush administration has apparently targeted the Coast Guard for destruction-by-incompetence.
Here we are, five-and-a-half years after 9/11, when we need the Coast Guard more than ever, and the Bush administration is providing the Coast Guard with ships that don't work! The details are damning.
In the latest chapter in this disgraceful performance, the Coast Guard did not inform Congress that it was warned two years ago by its chief engineer that a proposed National Security Cutter, meant to be the flagship of its fleet, had "significant flaws" in its structural design and should not be started until the problems were addressed. The Coast Guard began construction anyway. It plans to reinforce the first two versions that are being built and change the design on the remaining six.No less than eight Coast Guard vessels have been rendered INOPERABLE by the "upgrades" performed on them. These vessels are now tied to the dock, unable to go to sea and defend our nation. The Bush administration is sinking more of our ships than the enemy!How could this happen? Mostly because the Coast Guard, in an astonishing abdication of responsibility, gave two large military contractors, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, near total freedom to plan, supervise and deliver the new ships and helicopters. In some cases, the contractors made boneheaded decisions, as when their shipyard partner ignored warnings by Coast Guard engineers that the converted patrol boats might buckle under the extra weight.[2]
I want to know more about the lobbying of the Republican Congress that led to these contracts.
I want to know more about the people hired by DHS to oversee this project. Were they political appointees? Is this yet another "Brownie" moment for the Bush administration?
I suspect it is, and if it is you can be sure Henry Waxman will get to the bottom of it.