No wonder there are so many cost over-runs: corruption is 'standard operating procedure'. How many billion dollars (in cash) have been lost in Iraq? Some dollars seem to have never left the States.
The civilian official, Charles D. Riechers, 47, came under scrutiny by the Senate Armed Services Committee this month after reports that the Air Force had arranged for him to be paid about $13,400 a month by a private contractor, Commonwealth Research Institute, while he awaited clearance from the White House for his selection as principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition. He was appointed to the job, which does not require Senate confirmation, in January.
[snip]
Commonwealth Research, registered as a nonprofit organization in Johnstown, Pa., paid Mr. Riechers for two months as a senior technical adviser while he awaited final approval to the Air Force post. During that time, he worked for Sue C. Payton, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, on several projects for which the service had contracted with Commonwealth Research for technical assistance.
Payments to Mr. Riechers totaling $26,788 were confirmed by Mary Bevan, a spokeswoman for the Concurrent Technologies Corporation, the parent of Commonwealth Research, or C.R.I.
Those payments were first reported on Oct. 1 by The Washington Post. In an interview with The Post, Mr. Riechers said: “I really didn’t do anything for C.R.I. I got a paycheck from them.”
The Air Force has defended the arrangement as routine. The matter raised enough questions, however, that the service asked the Defense Department’s inspector general several months ago to review the propriety of such consulting arrangements. A spokesman for the inspector general said Monday that the review was still under way.
[From Top Air Force Official Dies in Apparent Suicide - New York Times]
Too bad there wasn't a hidden camera in his garage - I would not be surprised to discover there were assistants to the suicide.
