GAO, DOD inspector general to investigate Pentagon’s propaganda program
GAO, DOD inspector general to investigate Pentagon’s propaganda program
Last Thursday, the House passed an amendment to the defense authorization bill mandating that the Defense Department and the GAO investigate the Pentagon’s propaganda program, which was first revealed by The New York Times on April 20. The Times reports today that the DoD inspector general has announced an investigation and GAO has already started one:
The inspector general’s office at the Defense Department announced on Friday that it would investigate a Pentagon public affairs program that sought to transform retired military officers who work as television and radio analysts into “message force multipliers” who could be counted on to echo Bush administration talking points about Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo and terrorism in general. [...]
The G.A.O. said it had already begun looking into the program and would give a legal opinion on whether it violated longstanding prohibitions against spending government money to spread propaganda to audiences in the United States. [...]
The inspector general’s office said its inquiry would specifically look at whether special access to Pentagon leaders “may have given the contractors a competitive advantage.“
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“…special access to Pentagon leaders “may have given the contractors a competitive advantage.“
I don’t think there was much in the way of any competition, it was simply advantage.
May 24th, 2008 at 7:05 pmThis is just like when the DoE paid the news reporter to take their propaganda and make it look like news. Nothing new here, this regime is as slimy as a snot bucket.
May 24th, 2008 at 7:10 pmThey had to keep the gravy train rolling. Greased the skids, catapulted the propaganda. The GOP sure knows how to clean out a treasury and bankrupt a country.
May 24th, 2008 at 7:11 pmfound a lot of dirt on the Hillary Obama RFK assasination remark,
news media at its ugliest.
Hillary sealed her fate
May 24th, 2008 at 7:17 pmTP,
Have you heard anything about those outrageous Hillary Clinton comments being reported in the MSM? About dead Kennedy people and stuff?
You know, the comments that will stop her entire political career?
Just asking…???
May 24th, 2008 at 7:22 pmPick one: a) slow roll; or b) white wash
May 24th, 2008 at 7:41 pmUH………….., they’re investigating themselves?????
I think an Independant Cousel is due here.
May 24th, 2008 at 8:12 pmAnother investigation.
May 24th, 2008 at 8:16 pmWhat was the result of the last investigation?
What investigation?
Which one?
When?
The inspector general’s office at the Defense Department announced on Friday that it would investigate…
Yes, I’m sure that the DoD investigating itself is going to yield results. This blatantly illegal propaganda program requires independent investigation.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
May 24th, 2008 at 8:48 pmAnd I’m supposed to trust this because…..??????
May 24th, 2008 at 9:30 pm… and the bushco dept. heads looked at all they had created
May 24th, 2008 at 9:33 pmand proclaimed that all was right and good in the land…
It’s about @#$%^&* time that the GAO started doing something about this. Investigating corruption and unethical conduct is supposed to be part of their job, after all — although given the manner in which Dubya has deliberately interfered with other federal agencies and made them less efficient than before, the fact that the GAO seems to have been asleep at the switch with regard to the shenanigans of the Bush administration probably shouldn’t surprise me any.
I only hope that the GAO will continue its investigation largely independent of the Department of Defense…because if not, I have the sinking suspicion that the DoD will try to find some way of impeding or sabotaging it. Expecting an organization to police itself properly and investigate itself thoroughly is not particularly realistic, never mind smart.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:31 pmDOD IG ~ Yes, there was impropriety, but they didn’t really mean it and they stopped. End of Investigation.
GAO ~ Yes there was impropriety, and it was illegal, please forward results to AG’s office for shitcanning.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:42 pmInvestigators:
May 24th, 2008 at 10:45 pm“We didn’t want to slap their wrists to hard, if at all, ’cause we sure don’t want to annoy them……’
Bluestocking @ 12
Unless it is a smoke and mirror operation, investigate and find no problems before January 2009. Then if new investigations are proposed the remaining repugs will have those findings to hold on to while screaming foul at the Dems. Hopefully we’ll obtain a 2/3 majority in both the House and Senate, then it won’t matter how loud they yell.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:46 pmPropaganda own its own people. It is a crime! One of the many of the Bush’s JUNTA.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:51 pmI’m with 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
May 24th, 2008 at 10:52 pmOMG! Stern letters incoming at four oclock!!
May 24th, 2008 at 10:53 pmThe Agencies could combine, pool their acronyms, and become
May 24th, 2008 at 11:07 pmDog, DOA
The ‘message force multipliers’? These guys are big on fancy descriptitudes when it comes to stuff.
May 24th, 2008 at 11:44 pmFox investigating the hen house again…
May 25th, 2008 at 12:03 amEven if GAO finds indictable evidence I wouldn’t count on Mukasey even reviewing the evidence. Just as Mukasey will not enforce Rove’s subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee. We are in a Constitutional crisis.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:17 amI realize this may not be the best place to ask this, but I’m not sure what would be a better place to get opinions from like-minded people.
May 25th, 2008 at 6:27 amI’m not a Ron Paul-ite or anything but some of what they’ve been talking about has alarmed me, particularly since it focuses on big business’ stranglehold on government.
My question is: what do you New Deal liberals think of the Council on Foreign Relations? Through what I have learned about it over the last week or so I have personally come to believe that they are our actual leaders, seeing as they virtually control this country’s foreign policy. They are a relatively small group of incredibly rich men, most notably David Rockefeller, who “advise” government and in particular the presidents. They are the ones behind the CIA assassinations, coups and other activities, and some claim even wars, that try to control events and governments around the globe and mold them to fit an American globalist world-view. It is my firm belief that ALL Democratic presidents since Roosevelt (not to mention the Republican ones) have been in their pockets. Most especially Carter and Clinton. What really worries me is that both leading Democratic candidates also have very close ties with this think tank (again, not to mention the Republican candidate) and is what has led me to believe that the Democratic party is not to be trusted; neither party is. The last truly Democratic president we’ve had was FDR. I wish Obama could be like him, but he clearly is not. He is supposedly an expert on the Constitution, but in my eyes he has forgotten about what that document stands for and sold out to the corporations.
What do you think/know about this? Am I just being paranoid?
Sorry, I don’t mean to hijack this comment thread but I simply must know what some sympathetic ears may have to say about this.
The inspector general’s office said its inquiry would specifically look at whether special access to Pentagon leaders “may have given the contractors a competitive advantage.“
All In The Family
Company Official Defends No-Bid Army Contract
Sept. 21, 2003
Lewis says the best example of these cozy relationships is the defense policy board, a group of high-powered civilians who advise the secretary of defense on major policy issues - like whether or not to invade Iraq. Its 30 members are a Who’s Who of former senior government and military officials.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but as the Center For Public Integrity recently discovered, nine of them have ties to corporations and private companies that have won more than $76 billion in defense contracts. And that’s just in the last two years.
If that is not bad enough; then what the government does is demote people that speak out against no-bid contracts.
Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted August 29, 2005
Known as a stickler for the rules on competition, Ms. Greenhouse initially received stellar performance ratings, Mr. Kohn said. But her reviews became negative at roughly the time she began objecting to decisions she saw as improperly favoring Kellogg Brown & Root, he said. Often she hand-wrote her concerns on the contract documents, a practice that corps leaders called unprofessional and confusing.
Ms. Greenhouse fought the demotion through official channels, and publicly described her clashes with Corps of Engineers leaders over a five-year, $7 billion oil-repair contract awarded to Kellogg Brown & Root. She had argued that if urgency required a no-bid contract, its duration should be brief.
Ms. Greenhouse had also fought the granting of a waiver to Kellogg Brown & Root in December 2003, approving the high prices it had paid for fuel imports for Iraq, and had objected to extending its five-year contract for logistical support in the Balkans for 11 months and $165 million without competitive bidding. In late June, ignoring warnings from her superiors, Ms. Greenhouse appeared before a Congressional panel, calling the Kellogg Brown & Root oil contract “the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career.” She also said the defense secretary’s office had improperly interfered in the awarding of the contract.
But on July 14, the Army secretary approved Ms. Greenhouse’s demotion, effective Aug. 27. With his request to proceed, General Strock had provided an unsigned nine-page memorandum, reviewing Ms. Greenhouse’s recent performance ratings and responding to her allegations of impropriety.
If anyone has any morals they are demoted and taken out of the process. The rapid growth in no-bid contracts has made full and open competition the exception, not the rule. As of August of 2007, we had awarded 207 billion in no-bid contracts, up 60 billion from the year before. Neither the DOD or GAO can be trusted; they need a true independent review board and investigators. Most have found ways to circumvent the system, to make it look legal. Halliburton is a great example.
May 25th, 2008 at 7:36 am>>The G.A.O. said it had already begun looking into the program and would give a legal opinion on whether it violated longstanding prohibitions against spending government money to spread propaganda to audiences in the United States.<<
How far must one look when an avalanche of evidence stares us in the face? Sorry, the Bush Administration is completely incapable of investigating itself. Either Congress grows gonads in a hurry or their is no recourse for these violations of the law.
May 25th, 2008 at 9:01 amAnd what is an independent review board going to do? Make suggestions? And who do we expect to act on these suggestions?
May 25th, 2008 at 9:11 amWe can’t win, it’s already too late.