Sen. John McCain on Monday described the relationship between the Air Force and Boeing Co. as “incestuous” and said some high-ranking Air Force officials have been “shameless” in pushing forward with a $20 billion contract tainted by scandal.
Revelations about the contract have cost three top Boeing officials their jobs, including Chief Executive Philip Condit. But the Air Force remains unrepentant even though it bears much of the blame for the brouhaha, McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview.
“Boeing appears to be making an effort to restructure and change the way they do business,” McCain said. “I can see no effort to change the way the Air Force does business nor to resolve this situation.”
McCain, who led the Senate fight against the Air Force’s lease deal for 100 Boeing refueling tankers, was especially critical of recent actions by Air Force Secretary James Roche and Marvin Sambur, a high-ranking Air Force procurement official. Their efforts to push ahead with the contract occurred after their boss, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, voiced concerns about how the deal was reached.
“Just last week, Sambur and Roche were seeking to have the deal signed. They are shameless,” McCain said. “They have such an incestuous relationship with Boeing, they have forgotten their duty to American citizens.”
Last week, the Pentagon said it was delaying the tanker contract until it could investigate Boeing’s evidence that Michael Sears, the company’s chief financial officer, had offered a job to Darleen Druyun while she was the Air Force’s chief negotiator on the lease deal. Sears, a Boeing veteran, and Druyun, who went to work as a company vice president in January, were fired Nov. 24. Sears has denied wrongdoing. Druyun has not been available for comment.
Roche could not be reached for comment Monday. But his spokesman, Will Nichols, said Roche “fully supports” the Pentagon’s decision to delay the contract pending a review.
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An Air Force spokeswoman defended Sambur’s actions as part of the Air Force “continuing to press on contract terms and conditions” after President Bush signed a defense bill authorizing the service to lease 20 tankers and buy 80 more.
That plan was a compromise. The Air Force originally proposed leasing all 100 tankers, which are based on Boeing’s 767 commercial aircraft, as part of a deal that would have cost taxpayers almost $6 billion more than an outright purchase.
McCain said he is far from finished with the tanker issue.
He said he would arrange Senate hearings soon on the large number of high-ranking military officials who move on to jobs at the nation’s defense contractors, including Boeing. The Senate Commerce Committee, which McCain heads, or the Armed Services Committee, on which he sits, could hold the hearings, he said.
McCain also said such hearings will shed more light on the close relationship Boeing has with the Pentagon’s top brass.
“We have an e-mail that shows clearly the secretary of the Air Force calling a lobbyist for Boeing and telling him to put pressure on another guy in the Pentagon. That’s unbelievable,” McCain said.
McCain also vowed to hold up Bush’s nomination of Roche to become secretary of the Army. The appointment requires Senate approval following hearings by the Armed Services Committee, which is headed by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.).
No hearings have been scheduled on Roche’s nomination.
Filling the Army post is a priority for the Bush administration, Washington sources said, because ground troops are bearing most of the burden of the military campaign in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Boeing said it would begin making wings for the refueling tankers Friday, even though its contract with the government is in limbo.
Boeing said it was moving ahead because it remains “focused on meeting the near-term needs” of the nation’s military.
If the Air Force’s plans change, the wings “could be used for one of our other 767 customers,” the company said in a written statement.
Boeing’s machinists union applauded the move.
“It’s good news for the workers on the 767 line because it will keep them working,” said Connie Kelliher, spokeswoman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. “They’re all very excited and have anticipated this deal for two years.”
The wings will be made in the Seattle area, which has been hard hit by Boeing layoffs related to the downturn in its commercial aviation business.
Some workers who received layoff notices were asked to stay on this summer because the tanker order appeared imminent, Kelliher said.
The decision to make the wings may seem like a brash move by Boeing, but it makes more sense than laying off workers and calling them back later if the tanker order moves ahead, said Paul Nisbet, an analyst at JSA Research in Newport, R.I.
“It’s their risk, not [McCain’s] and not the government’s,” he said. “It’s certainly not obligating the Air Force.