Word: cheneys
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...Cheney reached his dramatic decision to scrap the A-12 after a tense six- hour debate in his Pentagon office. Navy Secretary Lawrence Garrett and his top acquisition officials tried to persuade the Defense Secretary and Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell that the Avenger should be saved even though the program was running $2.7 billion over its fixed-price contract cost of $4.8 billion for development alone. It was also 18 months behind schedule...
...Navy suggested the usual fix. It would buy fewer planes than planned and stretch out the delivery dates. Cheney could ask Congress to provide $1.4 billion in extra costs; the two manufacturers, McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics, would then be covered and content. Development of the advanced plane could proceed. That was the way contractors and their military supervisors had long done business...
...Cheney was not buying. If he did go to Congress and managed to scrape up - the $1.4 billion, he kept asking, would the contractors then develop the eight prototypes and meet all the contract terms? Or would they run over budget again? "The bottom line was that no one could tell Cheney how much money it would take to finish the development program," explained a defense official. "They couldn't say that $1.4 billion would be enough. And he wasn't going to write any blank checks...
...Cheney decided he would not beg Congress for the money now, only to return later and plead for more. He ordered the Navy not to try an end run by seeking out friends on Capitol Hill to find the funds. Then he courageously killed the program. Said Cheney: "If we cannot spend the taxpayers' money wisely, we will not spend...
When top Navy and Pentagon officials belatedly learned of the Avenger mess, they downplayed it and ignored the implications. That led Cheney last April to assure Congress that the program was on track in both time and cost. After he learned that this was untrue, two high Navy officers were removed from supervising the contract and censured; in addition, an admiral was fired, and the Pentagon's top procurement officer resigned. The Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation of whether the contractors overcharged the Navy. And the Pentagon said it will try to recover the funds already spent...