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McCain seeks review of work by retired brass

The Pentagon should rewrite ethics rules for retired generals who work as advisers for the military while representing defense contractors, Arizona Sen. John McCain and other lawmakers said Wednesday.

“The important thing is that they avoid the appearance of conflict,” McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in an interview.

McCain was among several members of Congress who called for changes in the wake of a USA Today investigation published Wednesday. The newspaper found that many retired officers collect their annual pensions, work for defense firms and draw government consulting fees as “senior mentors” to the military services. Of the 158 retired generals and admirals identified as senior mentors, 80 percent had financial ties to defense contractors, including 29 who were full-time executives of defense companies.

Hired as independent contractors, the retired officers working as mentors are not subject to the ethics rules that would apply if they were brought in as part-time federal employees. Nor do they have to disclose, to the military or the public, their ties to defense contractors.

A spokesman for Marine Corps Commandant James Conway said in a statement that the program offers a high return for a modest investment. “We are comfortable that a clear line separates the work our mentors do for us and any outside corporate interests they might have, and to assume otherwise is unfair,” Maj. David Nevers said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Air Force, Army and Navy declined to comment on USA Today’s findings or the reaction from Congress.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who chairs the House subcommittee that writes the defense budget, called for Pentagon officials to explain the mentor programs. “The committee was not aware of this program, and we have told the Defense Department to immediately provide us with the justification and criteria for this kind of work,” Murtha said in a statement.

McCain said he would prohibit officers from mentoring at war games that deal with weapons systems or other issues of interest to the defense companies that pay them. Mentors should also have to disclose their financial ties to defense contractors, McCain said. “I’m sure most of them would have no problem with that,” he said.

Two Democrats on the same panel, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Jim Webb of Virginia, agreed. “There have to be some disclosure rules about potential conflict,” said Reed, a former Army Ranger.

The “interplay between high-level military leaders and the defense industry ... threatens the integrity of the defense acquisition system,” Webb, a Marine veteran and former secretary of the Navy, said in a statement.

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