Private, Public Roles Overlap in Washington

[Dover]

Private, Public Roles Overlap in Washington

Insiders are advising officials and working for businesses that profit from government contracts. It's a growing pattern of networking.


By Walter F. Roche Jr., Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — Suzanne H. Woolsey is a trustee of a little-known defense consulting group that had inside access to senior Pentagon leaders directing the Iraq war. Last January, she joined the board of California-based Fluor Corp.

Soon afterward, Fluor and a joint venture partner won about $1.6 billion in Iraq reconstruction contracts.

Her husband, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, a leading advocate for the war, is serving as a government policy advisor. He too works for a firm with war-related interests.

The Woolseys' overlapping affiliations are part of a growing pattern in Washington in which individuals play key roles in quasi-governmental organizations advising officials on major policy issues but also are involved with private businesses in related fields....cont'd

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-woolsey8aug08,1,3484133.story

[Dover]

1. A neighbor of mine just retired from Fluor and said that the company

had called them and other retirees offering large salaries to go back to work....in Iraq. (My neighbor had worked for them for a short time in Saudi Arabia during his employment).

[Massacure]

2. Nothing wrong with contracting out

Except when they are no bid contracts (IE Halliburton), and when they don't keep a tight clamp on the workers (IE preventing things like Abu Ghraib).

[Dover]

3. It's not a question of contracting out work. It's about

conflicts of interest and influence over policy...particularly decisions about war.

[bemildred]

4. Well, I'm certainly glad we are not corrupt like those other countries.

:puke:

[Dover]

5. "...Woolsey adds much more texture to this trend

since he was the first to allege the still unproven connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda."

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com /

Read the review of this article at this link.