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From: CPT "The Alien"
Date: 31 Mar 2001
Time: 21:49:20
I'm a Captain in the Army Reserve in California. I've chosen "The Alien" as my nom-de-plume because after you hear my proposal, you might think I'm from another planet.
Chuck Spinney described in Commentary #407 how uniformed bureaucrats are conspiring with contractors to promote problematic procurement programs. Far too many serving officers have come to see their duties as mere springboards to lucrative post-retirement careers with defense contractors. My proposed solution to this is straightforward: Pass a law prohibiting retired or separated officers from working for defense contractors for, say, five years starting from their separation date. I believe there currently are restrictions on lobbying by former government officials, so this law would not be much of a legal stretch (other than defining terms like "contractor").
The effect would be to force retiring officers to look for a second career outside the military industrial complex. This might even go some of the way to reducing the much-maligned cultural disconnect between the military and civilian society. The career paths in defense companies that these officers used to fill would instead be filled by civilian MBAs.
Why, you ask, would I worry that this idea seems out of this world? It's my impression that many officers have come to see these post-retirement jobs as another entitlement. They've sacrificed financial gain for a 20-year career and some ribbons, so they're entitled to cash in, or so the thinking goes. I can see AUSA lining up testimony already to shoot this down. Their corporate associates won't like it if Congress shuts off the spigot supplying them with former officers. Such a law would also virtually shut down the U.S. government's ability to use MPRI, Dyncorp, and other outfits as plausibly-deniable surrogate forces in the Balkans and Colombia (unless Uncle Sam wants to go completely covert as in Iran-Contra).
What do you folks think? Can we shut the revolving door between the services and contractors? If we can't, what's the alternative?