For weeks now, Mike DeKort, a former Lockheed Martin engineer, has been calling shenanigans on the firm for alleged ethics breaches. What started as a crude stand-up on video-sharing site YouTube has escalated into something of a media frenzy. Now the Coast Guard and Lockheed Martin are calling shenanigans right back.
Their contention is that DeKort, who hasn't worked on Deepwater in 18 months, is out of touch ... and citing outdated documents to corroborate his claims.
The lynchpin of DeKort's case is his contention that LockMart botched a program to upgrade Coast Guard patrol boats. To back up his claim, DeKort has been citing a Coast Guard Inspector General report (PDF!). But the Coast Guard says that report relies on data that are six months old. Since then, the service has addressed all the problems, according to spokeswoman Mary Elder:
The report addresses challenges relating to certification and accreditation of Deepwater [command and control] equipment, specifically on WPB 123 [patrol boats]. Subsequent to the audit, the Coast Guard has received class-wide Authority to Operate (ATO) these patrol boats while conducting secure communications. This certification followed testing by independent, third-party examiners working to standards used and endorsed by the U.S. Navy and National Security Agency.
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin spokesman Troy Scully stresses that the company has investigated each of DeKort's issues -- some more than once -- and has corrected any faults. "I'm not sure what will make him happy," Scully says of DeKort.
DeKort told me what would make him happy: to put his conscience at ease, he wants to see the findings of all investigations. But Lockheed (perhaps rightly) says those are proprietary.
--David Axe
