This is good!

[ProSense]

Every effort to dismantle the BS structure put in place in the name of the "war on terror" is a step in the right direction.

Kerry Measure Adds Accountability to TSA Contracting1 hour, 23 minutes ago

To: National and Business Desks, Transportation Reporter

Contact: Kathryn Seck, 202-224-9431, for Sen. Kerry, or Alex Formuzis, 202-224-7340, for Sen. Lautenberg

WASHINGTON, July 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Sen.
John Kerry (D- Mass.) secured an amendment to the
Homeland Security Appropriations Bill today that will repeal the Transportation Security Administration's (
TSA) exemption from federal contracting laws. The provision, cosponsored by Sens. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), adds increased transparency and accountability while also helping to level the playing field for smaller firms who want to compete for contracts.

"America's safety and security has to be the number one priority. TSA has a long record of contract mismanagement, and they should no longer receive special treatment. Our safety and security are in their hands," said Kerry. "Washington shouldn't be fleecing American citizens to protect them. We need to put an end to multi-billion dollar no-bid contracts. My amendment will hold TSA to the same rules as every other federal agency and increase contracting opportunities for small businesses."

"The
Department of Defense isn't exempt from contracting laws, and the TSA shouldn't be, either. The TSA can protect travelers without wasting tax dollars," said Sen. Lautenberg.

Nearly every other federal agency, including the Department of Defense, must abide by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which includes the Competition in Contracting Act and the Small Business Act. Because of the urgent need for airport screening equipment in the aftermath of 9/11, the TSA was exempted from these regulations.

Yet over the last five years, TSA's contracting record has been harshly criticized by the agency's inspector general and the General Accountability Office -- giving no justification for a permanent exemption from the FAR.

For instance, in 2003 Boeing received $82 million to cover $39 million in costs -- a 210 percent return -- for its "cost-plus-a- percentage" contract that it awarded in violation of federal law. In 2002, a contract awarded outside the normal process tripled to $3 billion after a computer networking company failed to complete the task and over-billed the government for 117,000 man hours. The TSA also allowed one contract to expand from $104 million to $741 million because they insisted on recruiting airport screeners in lavish hotels like the Waldorf-Astoria.

The Kerry-Snowe-Lautenberg amendment strikes the section of the U.S. Code that currently exempts TSA from the FAR and requires the agency to comply within 180 days.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060712/pl_usnw/kerry_measure_adds_accountability_to_tsa_contracting144_xml

So there are other capable companies!

US Army to end contract with Halliburton: report

Wed Jul 12, 12:02 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Army reportedly will not renew its contract with Halliburton, the oil service giant formerly run by Vice President
Dick Cheney.

Army spokesman Randy King told The Washington Post Halliburton had done "an outstanding job," as the chief defense contractor in
Iraq but
Pentagon chiefs had decided they did not want "all our eggs in one basket."

He said the Texas-based, the US military's biggest contractor in Iraq, would be replaced when its contract comes up for renewal at the end of September.

After that the work will be split among three companies with a fourth firm hired to oversee the work of the other three.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060712/ts_alt_afp/usiraqmilitary_060712160219

[blm]

1. GD, please. Inform the masses that some real work is still being done

in DC and in the name of just doing what is right for the country.

[ginnyinWI]

2. good for them

Anything they can chip away from the neo-con agenda helps.

[ProSense]

3. Interesting! SFRC next Wed.

The Times July 13, 2006

US marshals with handcuffs await suspects in Texas
From Tom Baldwin in Washington

WHEN David Bermingham, Gary Mulgrew and Giles Darby arrive in Houston, Texas, they will be handed over to US marshals, who will most likely handcuff and fingerprint them.

Tony Blair said that a deal had been reached between Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney-General, and the US Department of Justice, which should ensure that the NatWest Three secured conditional bail. Sources in Washington, however, suggested last night that any such negotiations were continuing.

The case has attracted virtually no attention in America. There is unlikely to be much public sympathy for the defendants. The collapse of Enron wiped out savings and destroyed livelihoods.

Snip...

But the Senate’s powerful Foreign Relations Committee has announced plans to hold a second set of hearings with Irish-American opponents of the treaty next Wednesday. Senatorial aides said that such hearings must be completed before any vote can take place.

Members of the committee include Chris Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, who has made it clear that he is against ratifying the treaty, and former presidential candidate John Kerry, who is understood to have conscerns.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2267795,00.html

Insights!

[karynnj]

4. Their understanding of the current balance of power is not good

"The Government has largely absolved the US Administration of blame for the delays, as the President, George Bush, can do little to control the Senate. "

Is there anything the administration wanted that the SFRC didn't give them - they didn't confirm Bolton, but that was, I think the only exception. I assume if Bush wanted it, Lugar wouldhave pushed it through. It is more likely the Republicans don't want to annoy Irish Americans pre-November.

[ProSense]

5. This also caught my attention:

the name Bermingham.

December 14, 1999
Hyde’s Blind Eye: Contras & Cocaine

By Dennis Bernstein & Leslie Kean

Henry Hyde, who starred as chief House manager in President Clinton's impeachment, played a very different role a decade earlier.

In 1987, instead of the grim prosecutor set on punishing Clinton for his sex-and-lies offenses, Hyde was the glib defense attorney searching for reasons to spare President Reagan from possible impeachment over the Iran-contra scandal and related drug crimes implicating the Nicaraguan contra army.

Snip...

One of the Illinois Republican’s principal contributions to the contra-cocaine cover-up was his championing of a bogus 1987 investigative report largely clearing the contras of drug-trafficking suspicion.

The 900-word memo, drafted by Iran-contra committee staff member Robert A. Bermingham, claimed that a thorough investigation into the drug-trafficking charges had found no evidence that the contra leadership was implicated in narco-trafficking. Bermingham submitted the memo to Iran-contra committee chairman, Rep. Lee Hamilton, on July 23, 1987.

"During the course of our investigation, the role of U.S. government officials who supported the contras and the private resupply effort, as well as the role of private individuals in resupply, were exhaustively examined," Bermingham wrote.

"Hundreds of persons, including U.S. government employees, contra leaders, representatives of foreign governments, U.S. and foreign law enforcement officials, military personnel, private pilots and crews involved in actual operations were questioned and their files and records examined. …

“There was no information developed indicating any U.S. government agency or organization condoned drug trafficking by the contras or anyone else.”

More broadly, Bermingham disparaged the contra-cocaine allegations as self-serving claims coming from disreputable individuals.

"During the course of our investigation, we examined files of State, DOD, NSC, CIA, DEA, Justice, Customs and FBI, especially those reportedly involving newspaper allegations of contra drug trafficking,” he said. “We have discovered that almost all of these allegations originate from persons indicted or convicted of drug smuggling."

Bermingham also reported that "contra leaders have been interviewed and their bank records examined. They denied any connection with or knowledge of drug trafficking. Examination of contra financial records, private enterprise business records, and income tax returns of several individuals failed to find any indication of drug trafficking."

Bermingham then concluded, "additional investigation of these allegations is unwarranted in view of the negative results to date."

While Bermingham's description of his investigation sounded impressive, the memo offered virtually no documentation from -- or even identification of -- the "hundreds" of witnesses supposedly questioned.

There were no excerpts from depositions, no quotes from the files, no references to specific records examined, no citation of which foreign governments had cooperated or how, no detailing of the witness accounts alleging contra-drug trafficking and how those stories were debunked.

Though the Democrats soon realized that Bermingham’s sweeping claims were not supported by the evidence, Hyde signed off on it and used the memo to disparage anti-contra evidence coming from other investigators.

Hyde cited the memo as proof that the Democrats had “left no stone unturned” in efforts to hurt the contras, but still had come up empty.

With Hyde’s backing, the Bermingham memo galvanized a Washington conventional wisdom that the contra-cocaine charges had been thoroughly investigated and discredited.

What is now even more troubling about the memo -- and Hyde’s endorsement -- is that recent internal investigations by the CIA and the Justice Department have revealed that the agencies and the groups cited by Bermingham actually possessed significant proof of contra-connected drug trafficking in their files.

The agencies also knew that criminal investigations had been sidetracked for political reasons. For example, the CIA and Justice Department acknowledged that investigative leads into a 1983 drug-smuggling case in San Francisco were dropped after CIA officials expressed concerns that contra leaders in Costa Rica could be implicated.

more...

http://www.consortiumnews.com/1999/121499b.html

This story shows Repigs will do anything to cover for criminals.