quote:

... thousands of rounds of ammunition, ...

Frickin' rank amateurs! Thousands I tell you, not hundreds of thousands, or even tens of thousands, but mere thousands. Totally PATHETIC!

On a more serious note, wasn't there an officer somewhere in charge of what they were doing? Maybe I am confused, but I thought that officers could be recalled at any time due to "needs of the Navy." If I'm not misinformed, I'd vote for recalling every SOB who was in the chain of command when the mischief happened for as long as it took for the investigation to get to the bottom of it. Once figured out, I'd vote for the responsible party or parties to lose any pension, spend serious time in Leavenworth, and whatever else the JAG's best can throw at them under the UCMJ. Allowing this kind of nonsense to pass is just like not burying the Hag underneath a Federal prison - it sends a clear message that the law doesn't matter.

In the article what wasn't mentioned was the most telling. Clearly this was not a rogue operation by some wanna-be security guards. This was approved by the commander of Norfolk and the Navy police. Obviously the real police knew that these guys were carrying guns and driving Tahoes with police markings and lights. The civilian Army and Navy police are way under funded so I am sure the higher ups saw this as a creative way to get more police while circumventing the rules.

After reading the article twice, I figure one of two things happened.

1. These security guards are absolutely brilliant. I mean they'd have to be to obtain all of these things without anyone noticing.

or

2. They are normal security guards that had the blessing of their superiors.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

This is why I could never be a criminal: I simply cannot scheme like that. They had a scam for everything.

Speaking of shipyards and fraud...

Ingalls Shipbuilding repays $9.2M to US government to settle overbilling

quote:

One of the nation’s largest military shipyards is paying $9.2 million back to the federal government after a former employee alleged the Mississippi shipbuilder falsified records to maximize contracting bonuses.

...

FYI- Ingalls was just awarded the Fitzgerald repair contract

It's government money, it just appears out of nowhere right into the federal reserve. There's so much of it that it can't even be stolen. You take a dollar and another magically appears.

How and the hell can none of it be accounted for? When they retired they each took a Suburban and loaded it up and drove off? Unreal.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4859,

Is there any one not ripping off Uncle Sam and us tax payers?

As I remember there is just no where for congress to cut a 4 Trillion dollar budget - oh except close some national parks for the day.

So fire them, sell off the equipment, charge them with misappropriation of government funds, fine the hell out of them and lock them up. Easy peazy.

$21 million gone. Without a trace. Anyone want to bet why no one is in a hurry to investigate?

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
After reading the article twice, I figure one of two things happened.

1. These security guards are absolutely brilliant. I mean they'd have to be to obtain all of these things without anyone noticing.

or

2. They are normal security guards that had the blessing of their superiors.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Could be a retired Master Chief is the mastermind, but I agree with #2. Prosecution for the expenditures is going to be impossible because someone in the chain approved. Someone senior had to believe they were enhancing security for them to continue to receive support for so long. Outright theft can be prosecuted but you have to show a loss to the government. Hard to do when there is no record showing where the property came from in the first place. A great example of what happens when no one is watching the cookie jar.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
After reading the article twice, I figure one of two things happened.

1. These security guards are absolutely brilliant. I mean they'd have to be to obtain all of these things without anyone noticing.

or

2. They are normal security guards that had the blessing of their superiors.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Could be a retired Master Chief is the mastermind, but I agree with #2. Prosecution for the expenditures is going to be impossible because someone in the chain approved. Someone senior had to believe they were enhancing security for them to continue to receive support for so long. Outright theft can be prosecuted but you have to show a loss to the government. Hard to do when there is no record showing where the property came from in the first place. A great example of what happens when no one is watching the cookie jar.

This case goes deep. Betcha there will be a bunch of retirements soon from the Chain of Command.

quote:

Originally posted by 2012BOSS302:
Is there any one not ripping off Uncle Sam and us tax payers?

As I remember there is just no where for congress to cut a 4 Trillion dollar budget - oh except close some national parks for the day.

Notice, particularly at the local level, that government cuts the most popular programs. Police, fire, libraries...Its never the clerk in the admistratives assistant's office.
Last election the fire levy was in doubt. When an accident resulted in a fire that burned two cars, the fire chief released a press release bemoaning the cutbacks and how so few firemen would be n the call. From the photos everyone went.
Years ago the country did get a tax raise. They then stopped cutting the grass at libraries, schools etc. courious, on day I offered to organize a grass cutting effort. The librarian gave me the fish eye, told her aide"record another complaint about the grass" then walked off.

I will wager the:

- security company is a disadvantaged small business, located in a HUBzone, and is owned by a minority female disabled veteran, and

- contract was a set-aside (i.e., no competetion).

We can kiss that missing $21M goodbye, but understand, that is not the contract value to date. It is just what the IG determined was misspent. There was probably another $80M.

quote:

Originally posted by GarandGuy:
I never had the opportunity to serve in the military. Why doesn't the military supply it's own security? Is that not what military police units do? Marines guard embassies?

all branch parcel out security to secondary police forces? Color me confused?

We used to. With cuts in troop strength they started using contractors because they were short on bodies. Then they discovered that contractors further saved money because there were no legacy costs involved. Then KRB/Halliburton and the rest is history.

There is a move right now to cut down the DOD police force on Army bases and use more MP's. We'll see how long that lasts.