Federal and state governments make almost nothing. They push paper, contract with the private sector for what needs making, doing, and delivering. This is appropriate, but leads to two bad habits: ever more paper pushers, and contractors getting very cozy with them. Sometimes, a government leader has to break glass, crack the whip, break the party, and corral the contractors.
Interestingly, having led oversight investigations for five years, founded a company helping law enforcement, drug prevention, and military operations improve strategy, I one day got called back into government to set up police in Iraq, do counternarcotics, and clean up a contractor snake pit.
The place, of course, was the U.S. State Department. The operations overseen by me included the nation’s largest civilian air wing, 250 armed and unarmed Blackhawks, Huey IIs, C-130s, OV-10s, “the works,” plus global police training, Iraq, Afghanistan, Thailand, Jordan, Colombia, Peru, etc.
Like walking into a house hit by a hurricane, that assignment – like being on orders in the military – was operational and, at times, highly frustrating. They say in the Navy, “Always ask for the worst ship,” since you will be the greatest value, and can make her the best, with high purpose. That was this.
What did I find? First, government contractors can hold themselves to a certain standard, or not. Those who have been let go, follow, with no oversight, are hard to get back in the corral, wild and feral.
You may laugh, but it is true, like a dog or cat that knows neither love nor discipline, that thinks it sets all the rules, believes in no higher authority than itself, contractors can get cozy with midlevel bureaucrats and politicians, then call the shots, thinking they are beyond reach. I changed that.
You may be curious how, for reasons historical and current. There is a process. President Trump – and Elon Musk – have been waging a battle against this same accountable bureaucracy. We see these artificial, dark money “No King” protests, but the real “king” has been the bureaucracy.
The same was true, on a smaller scale, when I got called up to dismantle, remake, and deliver results from the remade bureaucracy at State. The mission involved the largest collection of operational programs run abroad, outside the Pentagon, with federal contractors everywhere.
The hurricane I found involved countless non-competed, barely papered, cozy contracts with perpetual contractors; delivery delays for months, no accountability for failure; invoices for loosely documented performance, no crosschecks; trips by bureaucrats on contractor nickel; new task orders suggested by contractors, signed without oversight, more money to contractors; money tucked away by ambassadors to spend later, back ten years, no one challenging it, slush funds.
Guess what I did? Ended it all. You could call me a caveman, too brutal, uncaring about the longstanding habits, practices of allowing non-competed contracts, no penalties for endless delivery delays, free trips to government folks, instant task order approval, slush funds, nod, wink, and carry on. You would be right.
Specifically, with legal means, I took the bureaucracy apart, fired contractors, rescinded contracts, forced immediate recompetes, broke big contracts open for small businesses, imposed $20,000-a-day penalties on major contractors, Fortune 100s, for delays. They winced, but changed their ways.
That was not all. Internally, I reassigned people, so the cozy became less so, in faraway places they had never heard of, then put real CPAs in place to manage the process. I put the inspector general on my own operation, then rode herd on him – to assure all aspects of global operations got investigated. I sent a CPA around the world to breathe fire on each embassy in turn, make it real.
To make clear the message came from where it mattered, I went to the ends of the earth to find out where money was going, Laos, which had never seen an Assistant Secretary before, Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia – over and over – and gradually changed the culture. It worked.
In time, promotions and renewed contracts followed higher efficiency. Dead wood bureaucrats and contractors floated away. Those high in the saddle when no one was leading were suddenly gone.
In a nutshell, corrupt contractors are as much a problem – federal and state – as bureaucrats. They must be confronted, corralled, and kept true – or disposed of. That is another reason Maine is in big trouble, like other blue states. There is no whip cracking. Corrupt contractors need to be corralled.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
Contractors have always been in the hip pocket of politicians, and vice-versa. Lots of money exchange and policy influencing goes on behind closed doors. The number of “Belt Way Bandits” in DC is staggering. Corruption abounds. Just look how the “Green” contractors had Biden strung like a puppet. There needs to be some oversight. Doubt it will happen, to much money loss (hidden income) to the elected officials that would have to establish this precedent. Why would they want to terminate a money stream to themselves? Just as term limits will never be done, to them it’s like poking themselves in the eye. There is a way to fix these things, called convention of states. Maybe one day. In the mean time, you wonder how politicians become millionaires? This is one of the major ways, contractors, influence peddlers. These contractors run the nation as much (or more) than our elected officials.
Robert your qualifications for governor are impeccable. Be sure
that Maine voters are made aware of them.
To many government contractors get the jobs due to nepotism, favoritism that is why it costs so much to pave highways
Contractors don’t exist in a vacuum. After I retired from the Navy, I worked as a contractor. The government officials who had oversight of our contract demanded excellent performance or our contract was not renewed. Maybe my situation was an exception, but it’s time to start holding government officials accountable for how contracts are written and for making contractors perform.
To stop corruption in the bureaucracy and with the contractors involved in corrupt practices with the bureaucracy is the right thing to do
It is something Noble to do. And I do believe that it sends a message to others in society who are not contractors or bureaucrats involved in corruption that they should not be looking to a system that is less than honest as a way to profit. Taking pride in doing business honestly is the right way to think. To eliminate bad influences and encourage honorable approaches to business activities makes for strength of character and gives a good sense of purpose to people — it will encourage the idea of living by a code of conduct . What counts in this life is the betterment of how ordinary citizens conduct themselves Faith in God , good character, sense of purpose and code of conduct all connect .
In these “Last Days”, which I personally all the World has moved into, you will find, when uncovered, Internal Corruption found at every level. The Roman Empire fell due to such corruption. When you have Humanism chosen over a Peronal Relationship with JESUS CHRIST (True Christianity) you have a World in Moral decline. Therefore, you will discover, people making choices outside what is Right vs Wrong. We, as Christians, must strive, more than ever, to be vigilant to uphold Christain Holiness and Truth, destroying the works of Satan and his demonic followers wherever they’re at work, hence, like corruption.
Will see if Trump is serious, when he told Musk a couple a weeks ago that he would take away his govt. contracts & that he was surprised that Biden did not go that during his term. Trump made it sound like eliminating these contracts as a way to stop wasting money. As Trump says, we will see what happens.
There is always the “kick back” factor. Money to that person or corporation and then the donation back to the election campaign.
If what he states it true, congratulations. However, for some reason nothing was ever made public concerning his findings and absolutely no one was brought to trial.
So is this just talk in order to be elected.
Looks like pit of scammer that was call on the carpet and something came from it! Still more needs to be done!