POGO/GAP Urge Senate to Investigate MRAP and Other Delays, Retaliation Against Gayl
The Government Accountability Project and POGO have sent a letter (pdf) to the Senate Armed Services Committee today (SASC), urging the SASC to hold a hearing on the lack of responsiveness to urgent requests for equipment from troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We also recommend that the Marine Corps be held accountable for their disgraceful treatment of Marine Corps whistleblower and science advisor Franz Gayl, who has disclosed problems with the Marine Corps' rapid acquisition system. Gayl is now being asked to stop his research into the failures at the Marine Corps--who are apparently sweating under the heat of public scrutiny.
Though it is a good thing the Marine Corps has announced they have requested the Pentagon inspector general investigate Gayl's allegations--which have been substantiated to some degree by a Naval Audit Service report--the IG is not equipped to ask all of the hard, bigger questions. As noted by CNN's Jamie McIntyre:
...this is unusual because the Pentagon Inspector General normally looks at you know instances of crime or misconduct or wrongdoing, bribes, that sort of thing. What they're really asking here is for someone to render a judgment on their judgment.
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