Political Skullduggery

A contract for a publicity campaign for perennial air show favorites--the Air Force's Thunderbirds--is at the crux of a federal investigation.

The Pentagon's inspector general and the FBI have launched a criminal investigation into the awarding of a $50 million contract to a Pennsylvania company to produce a high-tech promotional video and do other publicity work for the Air Force's Thunderbirds air show team, a senior Air Force official said yesterday.

The contract was canceled in February after a protest from a losing bidder led the Air Force and the Government Accountability Office to review the manner in which it had been awarded. Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne then asked the Pentagon's inspector general to look into the matter. The inspector general's office asked the FBI to become involved after coming to suspect that a crime might have been committed...

The Arizona Republic reported in March that the Pennsylvania company, Strategic Message Solutions, won the contract even though its bid was almost twice that of a competing proposal by an Arizona company, SRO Media. Retired Gen. Hal M. Hornburg had become a partner in Strategic Message Solutions not long after leaving the Air Force. The newspaper said it had obtained documents showing that Gen. T. Michael Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, had helped steer the contract to Strategic Message Solutions.

The overcharging on the contract must be what the big fuss is all about here. Everybody knows that the defense industry recruits senior military officers upon retirement to procure military contracts for them. They are just not supposed to orchestrate any bid-rigging so sloppily that it makes the press and calls attention to the sweet arrangement.