Seminars teach (military) senior officers how to land industry jobs

[unhappycamper]

Seminars teach senior officers how to land industry jobs
By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / December 26, 2010

WASHINGTON — President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned in 1961 about undue influence of the “military industrial complex’’ on Pentagon policy. Were he alive today, 50 years after that famous speech, he might be stunned at how completely his prophetic warning has been ignored.

Former officers and specialists say the defense industry’s political might is getting a new boost from an accelerating flow of retired generals and admirals.

“Ike would have a problem with it,’’ said retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni.

The Department of Defense does not. In fact, it runs an exclusive job service to teach soon-to-retire generals how to land jobs in the defense industry. And military firms routinely recruit elite officers while they are still in uniform.

In rare cases, generals have gone so far as to establish their own consulting firms before retirement.