DefenseWatch This article is provided courtesy of DefenseWatch, the official magazine for Soldiers For The Truth (SFTT), a grass-roots educational organization started by a small group of concerned veterans and citizens to inform the public, the Congress, and the media on the decline in readiness of our armed forces. Inspired by the outspoken idealism of the late Colonel David Hackworth, SFTT aims to give our service people, veterans, and retirees a clear voice with the media, Congress, the public and their services. Related Links DefenseWatch Website Article Archive Hot Discussions Have an opinion on this commentary? Sound off. Get Breaking Military News Alerts An Insider's Guide to Joining the Military

  Email this page to friends

[Have an opinion about the views expressed in this article? Sound off in the Hot Issues with Defensewatch Forum.]

By Michael S. Woodson

It was a January 9th article about non-competitive Department of Defense bidding, and my editor echoed a country-western title: "Who Gets the Gold while Troops Get the Shaft?"

In the spirit of the GAO report that inspired our nifty title, Ms. Bunnatine Greenhouse (Below - Photo: US Gov), a former top procurement official at the Army Corps of Engineers, told a Congressional Committee that a Halliburton contract award was "the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career."

Three weeks later she was demoted after eight years in the position, and 20 years in procurement. If the facts support her side of the story, she ought to have a wing of the Pentagon named after her.

A "no-bid" contract might be wisely granted for emergencies, like armor for all convoy and patrol participants in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example. However, a no-bid contract for contracts which have shown porky tendencies in the past might steal funds that could otherwise have greased a faster track for emergency armor production. If subjected to a competitive bidding process back in 2004, with other unexplained no-bid contracts, perhaps we would have more armor faster, I speculate.

In criticizing the award of a no-bid contract to Halliburton subsidiary Brown and Root, Co., Ms. Greenhouse appears to have shown the nation the sort of moral courage SFTT has been calling for from the highest levels at the Army and Pentagon since it was founded. (And besides that, she is Elvin Hayes' sister, the great basketball pro, which makes her doubly cool in my book.)

So the Army demotes her from the highest executive level while claiming her bad performance was essentially due to her tendency to judge items coming across her desk, rather than collaborate, according to the L.A. Times report.

Funny how bad performance gets crack supervisory attention three weeks after someone blows the whistle in the course of an eight year position. Had she made up the facts about Halliburton's subsidiary getting a no-bid nod, this scandal would smack of pure politics. However, if true, she blew the whistle to the tune of the truth. You know, like a Soldier for the Truth .

You know what else the Army command alleges? She makes handwritten notes on paperwork! Say it isn't so. This could get people killed! Or, it could be discoverable.

Ms. Greenhouse has some 20 years of experience in procurement, and her lawyer has said that her demotion was a pretext for retaliation, while the General that hired her says her gender and race (African American) ruffled feathers in the Army Corps of Engineers Command. If true, this is a double-whammy political slam dunk against the Pentagon for approving her demotion. If the race card is not honestly played, it could detract from the retaliation claim, which Greenhouse's attorney emphasized according to the L.A. Times report. "They went after her to destroy her," said Michael Kohn, her attorney, who added that the demotion was "absolutely" in retaliation for her complaints about the Halliburton contract."

In case it matters, Ms. Greenhouse also reportedly proposed a massive workers compensation insurance savings proposal that thoroughly miffed among the largest insurance companies in the nation, according to the L.A. Times report.

©2005 DefenseWatch. Michael Woodson is a Contributing Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at singingmountains@yahoo.com. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.