BRAC Cover-up, Part 5
So far in Parts 1-4 OCGJ has revealed a wide and deep cover-up that extends from Greene County Commissioners through Greene County Prosecutor Steve Haller to the Greene County Common Pleas Court to the U.S. Attorney and beyond. In our last segment OCGJ exposed an entirely new dimension to the cover-up…..a breach of national security. Those who would dismiss this as irrelevant or nitpicking clearly hold onto a world view dominated by the notion that nothing is “black and white” and everything is gray. In our opinion, such is the case with many inspectors general (IGs) who often are the best and last hope for whistleblowers to close on justice, the rule of law and due process.
The Air Force promotes three core values; Integrity First, Service Above Self and Excellence In All We Do. Of course these are only guidelines as no officer or enlisted troop has consistently met these lofty expectations to the letter. Having said that, there comes a point that even with our inherent imperfections, duty dictates we make a stand. I reached that point long ago, which fully explains why OCGJ exists.
On three occasions I have gone to an IG to reconcile what I saw as significant departures from appropriate Air Force policies, procedures and actions Air Force professionals knew were wrong and are trained to avoid. The first was in 2005 after the Memorial Day ceremony commemorating our veterans and the inaugural Beavercreek Veterans Memorial event. On that day a senior officer in uniform gave the speech intended to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. Actually he did just the opposite. He began his speech, “I’m going to speak slowly for the Marines that might be in attendance.” This may be appropriate for Friday night banter at the stag bar, but at a veterans’ memorial ceremony it is an outright insult to our sister service. If this wasn’t bad enough, the officer concluded with a “thank you” to Congressman Dave Hobson and State Senator Steve Austria for all they had done to make the Beavercreek Memorial happen, when in fact the Memorial was financed by private citizens. The real reason for that false praise was the part time reservist and full time defense contractor was pandering to elected officials who had influence in awarding government contracts. That is why officers or enlisted troops in uniform are prohibited from publicly expressing their preference for a particular elected official. Not surprisingly, the IG dismissed my complaint, but it is on the record and I’m quite sure that was the last time that officer did his politicking in uniform.
The second incident occurred about five years ago when I received an anonymous phone call from a Wright Patterson AFB employee who claimed Congressman Dave Hobson had intervened with senior leadership on behalf of a major campaign contributor to renew a contract. I filed a complaint with the IG and later turned the information over to the FBI. Can’t say if the disclosure was investigated, but the company is still in business and for years after my disclosure continued to hire former government employees who passed through the revolving door to the private sector.
More recently, as explained in Part 4, I reported concerns with a senior officer in the Pentagon sharing sensitive information with PMA and Greentree Group agents, not to mention inappropriately influencing the 2005 BRAC process. The IG response can be reviewed in this document. Never mind that I wrote a calculated and reasoned rebuttal to the Colonel’s report on my complaint, the real story is that I sent the appeal to a higher headquarters IG where it was ignored. Note the patronizing tone in Paragraph 2; “We appreciate this as vigilance is key to the democratic process and ensuring the integrity of our most valued institutions.” But where is the integrity in an IG review process that invites a response from a concerned citizen who has taken the time and effort to question a higher authority; then totally ignores answering that response? I got the same treatment after a year or so working with the FBI on the BRAC Initiative Agreement investigation. They thanked me for my patriotism, but buried incriminating evidence regarding fraud, waste, abuse and corruption by the political class. These are tactics right out of Army Intelligence Field Manual 34-52; obtain your target’s trust by appealing to his or her loyalty, patriotism and dedication to duty, then use the information to advance the state’s agenda or bury it to protect the political class.
This completes OCGJ’s 5-part series on what appears to be a wide and deep cover-up that started with the political class in Greene County and worked its way to the nation’s capital to include the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. House Ethics Committee and two members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, but more on that later.
