Monday, May 12, 2008

An insulting question, but one that must be answered
Posted by Peter A. Stinson

(Updated 5/12/2008 @ 1745)I recently came across a Washington Post article by Spencer S. Hsu and Renae Merle about the revolving door between government employees and government contractors. Their year-old piece, Coast Guard's Purchasing Raises Conflict-of-Interest Flags, examined the Coast Guard's Deepwater project along with policy and decision makers moving from the Coast Guard and DHS to Deepwater contractors. Deep in the article was this nugget:

Retired Coast Guard Adm. James M. Loy, who helped formulate Deepwater as the Coast Guard's commandant, said that to his knowledge "that array of players, either in their political positions, or civilian commercial positions, or in retired Coast Guard positions" has never been linked "to undue influence." Loy served two years as DHS deputy secretary, then joined Lockheed's board of directors in August 2005.

Asked whether he ever faced improper influence on Deepwater decisions, Loy said: "The question is almost insulting. I will pass on giving you any kind of answer."

Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008
   

Labels: by Peter Stinson, Deepwater

9 comments:

At Monday, May 12, 2008 2:49:00 PM EDT Anonymous said...

indignation? The answer is clear. Loy was knee deep in this long before he retired and likely knew full well what a mess he was involved in.

He had a clear choice, join in the mess for profit under the the "who knows more about this me, and I can fix from the outside-in."

He didn't fix anything but he did continue to line his pockets with taxpayer dollars and still is doing so.

Is that wrong? It depends on which end of the paycheck you're at.

 

At Monday, May 12, 2008 5:32:00 PM EDT Michael DeKort said...

Relevant issue - but the article came out 13 months ago - not last month

 

At Monday, May 12, 2008 5:48:00 PM EDT Anonymous said...

In my opinion, the question asked of ADM Loy directly insults his integrity. He spent a career (no small sacrifice) striving to improve the Coast Guard. I see this as an opportunity for Loy, as a subject matter expert, to continue to improve the Coast Guard in a position of influence.

I doubt that ADM Loy deviously planned the whole thing for his benefit. If it was me, I'd answer the same way. If you're going to throw out slanderous comments, look in the mirror and ask, "What did I do for the Coast Guard to earn my paycheck today?"

 

At Monday, May 12, 2008 6:00:00 PM EDT Peter A. Stinson said...

Anonymous asks me to look in the mirror and ask, "What did I do for the Coast Guard to earn my paycheck today?"

Well, since I'm on leave today, the bar is pretty darn low, let me tell you.

I guess the main thing I did to support the Coast Guard was to blog, even if my posts were snarky, in order to both continue the dialog with the Service's stakeholders and to push for transparency in it's many and varied forms.

How about you?

 

At Monday, May 12, 2008 6:00:00 PM EDT Peter A. Stinson said...

Michael,

Thanks for letting me know I was in a time warp. I've updated the post to reflect my RCI.

/s/ Peter

 

At Monday, May 12, 2008 8:17:00 PM EDT Thomas Jackson said...

This is an absolutely relevant question and to suggest as anonymous did that Loy had not part in this debacle is only an indicator that anonymous has not either read much on this issue or done no research on this issue. Loy is a root contributor. Yes in his current private sector job that could influence the direction of the program and he in fact could protect “his” services interests in this program. He has done neither. If anonymous knows of something we don’t then say so and let us become informed on Loy’s “good.”

As for now, Loy represents his own self interests and not those of the service he led for so many years.

 

At Monday, May 12, 2008 10:14:00 PM EDT Sally Brice-O’Hara said...

Loy fails to answer the question, not out of a question of honor, but more out of concern about the statute of limitations. His signiture is all over the original Deepwater specifications and he was ntegral in the early days of Deepwater getting all fouled up. He does not want to address the questions, and he does not want people to know that he went to work for the contractor to whom he gave the project originally.

Loy should be insulted by the question, it is a kick to the groin. When you add his glad-handing of Lockheed and ICSG there comes questions that he needs to answer with straight answers, and stop with the posturing and non-answers.

He was Allan's sugar-daddy, and Loy alone is the primary reason that Allan got promoted to his current position.

Interesting because it appears that Loy is in Lockheeds pocket, but it could just be an error caused by him pretending to be insulted.

 

At Monday, May 12, 2008 10:20:00 PM EDT Peter A. Stinson said...

An editorial comment follows: Just thinking aloud here, but I ought to warn you that the above post, while provocative, is probably not by the Sally Brice-O’Hara who is a Coast Guard flag officer, but is more likely by some other Sally Brice-O'Hara. We appreciate the post, Ms. Brice-O'Hara, even if you do have a name so close to an admiral's.

 

At Tuesday, May 13, 2008 1:22:00 PM EDT Anonymous said...

I agree with Sally even if Sally isn't Sally. Thad will eventaully have to answer the bell on this. He may ring true, or he may be ringing the chow bell at the Federal Prison in Kentucky.

While that will never happen, I still predict he'll bag out after the November elections.

Could be wrong, but that's my bet.

 

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