The Commercialization of the Uniformed Military Services.

[seemslikeadream]

http://baltimorechronicle.com/2006/071106STANTON.shtml

Nationalize the U.S. Defense Industry
Public Good Should Trump Private Greed
by JOHN STANTON

.....

Finally, the American public doesn't hear too much about the Lockheed Martin contracts to upgrade Chinese air traffic control systems. “We Never Forget Who We Work For,” says Lockheed. Boeing recently deployed the Sea Based X-Band radar system that's floating off the coast of Hawaii. The platform for that technological marvel was built by Vyborg Shipping, a Russian firm. Is it really North Korea the Missile Defense people are interested in, or is it the Russian arsenal?

....

Some of the more troubling public cases include William H. Swanson, Chairman and CEO of Raytheon, who lifted major portions of his book Unwritten Rules from another author. He was censured and had his paycheck cut by the Raytheon Board of Directors. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, former U.S. Congressman and Chair of the U.S. House Intelligence Subcommittee, is serving an 8.4 year sentence in federal prison for fraud and taking bribes. Jerry Lewis, the Chair of the US House Appropriation Committee, is under investigation by the FBI. Porter Goss, former US Congressman and CIA Director is also the subject of an FBI investigation. In May 2006, Reuters reported that the FBI was investigating allegations that four-star USAF Generals Michael Moseley and John Jumper helped to steer a Thunderbird contract (the USAF equivalent of the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels stunt flying team) to a friend, retired USAF General Hal Hornburg, who once commanded the Thunderbirds.

Corporate Watch is an invaluable tool for tracking the activities of the players in the DIB. The group reported on what, perhaps, is more frightening than the explosion of corruption in the U.S. national security arena: the commercialization of the uniformed military services to the point where distinguishing between corporate operative and uniformed government employee is impossible.
“One of Raytheon's more secretive subsidiaries is E-Systems, whose major clients have historically been the CIA and other spy agencies like the National Security Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. An unnamed Congressional aide told the Washington Post once that the company was 'virtually indistinguishable' from the agencies it serves. Congress will ask for a briefing from E- Systems and the (CIA) program manager shows up, the aide is quoted as saying. 'Sometimes he gives the briefing. They're interchangeable.''
What is the US Military? What is being Defended?
Ultimately, the entire national security apparatus is going to have to make some decisions. Is it country before agency? Is it profit before country? Is it the U.S. Congress saying “No” to campaign contributions? P.W. Singer, who monitors the DIB for the Brookings Institution, put the issue into perspective:
“The final dilemma raised by the extensive use of private contractors involves the future of the military itself. The armed services have long seen themselves as engaged in a unique profession, set apart from the rest of civilian society, which they are entrusted with securing. The introduction of private military firms, and their recruiting from within the military itself, challenges that uniqueness and the military professional identity. Its monopoly on certain activities is being encroached on by the regular civilian marketplace.”


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1600797
Washington Babylon this is your final day, this is your final call