In a last-ditch effort to block a controversial US$20 billion proposal by the US Air Force to lease a fleet of Boeing 767 aerial tankers, Senator John McCain's office has released documents showing a high-level lobbying campaign by the Air Force and Boeing to fend off critics as well as potential competitors.
The documents, made public over the holiday weekend and first reported in The Washington Post and elsewhere, come as two Senate committees are planning to hold hearings this week on the US$20 billion leasing plan, which McCain has long criticized as corporate welfare.
In releasing the documents, which include Boeing and Air Force e-mail messages and internal memos culled from some 8,000 documents, he is trying to show that the Air Force and Boeing assisted each other in structuring the program, promoting it in Washington and setting requirements so that no other competitors could qualify.
Much of this new information was to be examined yesterday at a Senate Commerce committee hearing to be led by McCain. Today, the Senate Armed Services Committee, whose members generally have a more positive view of the proposed lease, will also hold hearings on the plan, which is intended to replace aging aerial refueling tankers with a fleet of 100 specially outfitted Boeing 767s.
The documents, congressional staff members said, raise questions about whether the Air Force overreached in assisting Boeing. They show that one top Air Force official, who now works for Boeing, gave the company important financial data about a competing bid from Airbus. In addition, the documents show how the Air Force relied on Boeing to provide it with arguments that could play well with influential members of Congress as well as in the White House and with the news media.
Boeing's relationship with the Pentagon is coming under increasing fire. Last month, Boeing was sanctioned by the Air Force for having obtained 25,000 proprietary Lockheed Martin documents and using them to win Pentagon satellite contracts. Boeing was denied government business estimated to be worth US$1 billion.
One of the more revealing memos among the newly released documents showed that Darleen Druyun, then the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition and management, told Boeing to "keep in mind" that an Airbus bid was US$5 million to US$17 million cheaper per airplane than a basic Boeing 767. The information was disclosed in an April 1 meeting of Air Force and Boeing officials after Boeing had been selected over Airbus.
Druyun is now deputy general manager of Boeing's missile defense systems. If the information given by Druyun was proprietary, she could possibly be in violation of the US Trade Secrets Act as well as other federal regulations.
In a statement, Boeing on Tuesday defended Druyun as a "truly tough negotiator." The company declined to comment specifically on the memo, but said Druyun was using the April 1 meeting as "an opportunity to send us a clear message that we needed to sharpen our pencil."
A member of the Commerce Committee staff, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said McCain, its chairman, and some other committee members saw it otherwise.
"Generally, the documents tell a story of the extent to which the Air Force overreached to assist Boeing," the staff member said. "The program was signed off by the Air Force when the outcome was determined from the start with help from Boeing."
One of the internal Boeing e-mail messages described a meeting between Boeing lobbyists and members of the staff of Air Force Secretary James Roche. It shows the head of Air Force acquisitions, Marvin Sambur, turning to Boeing for help: "He [Sambur] indicated that the USAF is desperately looking for the rationale for why the USAF should pursue the 767 tanker NOW ... It was clear he was looking to find a path forward."
Other memos provided a bird's-eye view of a powerful lobbying effort by the Air Force and Boeing. A Boeing lobbyist, after meeting with top Air Force officials, said the Air Force "urged us to have our friends on Hill, think tanks, etc. get more visible/vocal" with pro-tanker arguments. It contended that Roche, the Air Force secretary, was particularly keen on anything Boeing could do "especially if it helps drown out McCain."
Another memo delineated other elements of this lobbying campaign, including enlisting the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, a strong supporter of the plan, to talk to President Bush and other White House officials. It also described an effort to line up unions in a plan that Boeing said was "aimed at executive branch as well as Congress."
"We are in touch with Andy Card and White House political operation," a Boeing lobbyist wrote in a memo to James Albaugh president of a Boeing division; Card is the White House chief of staff.
"They see increased pressure and realize a political downside to not moving forward with tankers," the memo continued.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS