Senators slam Air Force over $35 billion tanker contract

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Senators slam Air Force over $35 billion tanker contract
By Rob Hotakainen | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — Senators from both parties lambasted the U.S. Air Force Thursday after military officials acknowledged that they'd accidentally disclosed secret data to competing bidders as part of their effort to award a $35 billion contract to build a new fleet of aerial refueling tankers.

At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., called the incident "a debacle" and asked what punitive action had been taken. She said those involved in the error should be fired.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called it "a fiasco" and part of an ongoing "saga of mismanagement."

"Thank goodness it wasn't classified," said Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., who also expressed wonder that it has taken the Air Force more than a decade to award the contract. "It's only the federal government that would take 10 years to do a contract. ... It just makes no sense to me."

"This is not the finest moment for the Air Force, and I am part of it," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a colonel in the Air Force Reserve.