From: SYSTEM@batman.bmd.trw.com
Subject: News to be posted to sci.military
Organization: NCR Corporation -- Law Department
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 17:37:27 GMT


From SYSTEM@batman.bmd.trw.com

This article concerns recent discussion on SR-71 replacement aircraft.
The paragraph related to this is possibly the one labeled (92-110).

Stan

 Subject: DOD INSPECTOR GENERAL finds classified programs are poorly run. 
 Posted: Tue, Aug 18, 1992   8:35 AM PDT              Msg: ZPJC-5058-6064/20
 To:     aerospace.daily/TRW
 Subj:   DOD INSPECTOR GENERAL finds classified programs are poorly run. 


Pentagon Inspector General finding classified programs poorly run
     Audits of highly classified programs by the Pentagon's Inspector
General over the past two years indicate such programs don't get adequate
oversight and in many cases are either redundant or unaffordable.
     IG reports on some 15 to 18 programs indicate that managers,
unfettered by adequate congressional or internal Pentagon oversight, often
ignore the Pentagon's acquisition rules and guidelines and persist with
efforts that field users don't need or which are already obsolete.
     Though the audit reports-classified from "Secret" all the way to
"Top Secret/Special Access Required" (SAR) aren't available to the public,
synopses of their findings are included in a list of audit reports issued
every other month by the Pentagon.
     The IG audited one classified program in 1990, seven in 1991 and
five more in the eight months of 1992, with four in the past two months. A
Pentagon official said the IG office has put more attention on classified
programs in the past two years as a result of its own initiative, requests
from Congress, requests from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and
"hotline" allegations.
     Two of the audits-accounts of what went wrong with the canceled Air
Force Short Range Attack Missile II and Tacit Rainbow anti-radiation
drone-were released in "sanitized" form. The IG reported in those cases that
the AF had gone ahead with full-scale development before setting requirements,
and had circumvented the normal DOD oversight system (DAILY, Aug. 9, 1991;
April 1, 1992).
     On only one audit-a followup on a highly classified Army program-did
the IG find that improvements had been made since it previously was found to
be inadequately managed. Among the reports, and the IG findings:
     -- "Navy Counter-Low Observables Programs" (92-117): The Navy went
ahead with "an advanced radar technology" project in the absence of a stated
requirement. "The demonstration used outdated technologies, has limited growth
potential, and does not meet user requirements," the IG found. The information
obtained was "of little use to the Navy," but its proponents are nevertheless
pursuing a "follow-on project which intended users indicate is of no value to
their programs."
     -- "Army Small Aerostat Surveillance System (SASS)" (92-114):
Apparently used in monitoring airborne drug traffic, this program's
"contribution...has been minimal." Its ability to add to the U.S. monitoring
capability in the Caribbean is "limited", and it will be "redundant...when the
Relocatable Over-the-Horizon Radar (ROTHR) and Caribbean Basin Radar Network
(CBRN) become fully operational."
     -- "An Army Special Access Program" (92-111): This program was
canceled during the audit, which found the Army was "not always" providing the
Pentagon acquisition chief with "complete and supportable information" on
which to make decisions. The service was restructuring the program, and "no
longer developing an affordable system to meet the defined threat" when it was
killed.
     -- "Top Secret Program" (92-110): This program, apparently an Air
Force reconnaissance aircraft used in the Gulf War, was audited "to determine
if (it) was responsive to contingency requirements" and to evaluate its
management in peacetime. The IG found "improvements were needed in
transitioning from peacetime operations and for approving peacetime
reconnaissance flights." Also, the AF overstated its budget for "one aircraft
type" by $14.4 million over the six-year budget plan ending in FY '97.
     -- "Island Sun" (92-075): The IG found in this Top Secret/SAR report
that "the Joint Staff did not provide for measuring the system's progress and
spent almost triple the amount originally planned through FY '92 to acquire
and increase the capability of the system."
     Though funded with research, development, test and evaluation money,
"the funds were used mostly for non-RDT&E purposes, which is a violation of
the DOD Budget Guidance Manual." The manual "requires both procurement and O&M
(operations and maintenance) funds for efforts such as Island Sun."
     The audit also "disclosed that Island Sun was omitted from the DOD
Internal Management Control Program" and therefore never assessed for fraud,
waste, abuse or mismanagement. The IG couldn't provide the Secretary of
Defense with "reasonable assurance...that adequate internal controls are in
place."
     -- "Audit of Several Navy Special Access Programs" (91-084): The IG
determined that the Navy never set appropriate cost estimates for research and
production costs on two programs. Also, "there was strong evidence that the
program costs had increased to a point where they met the dollar threshold
necessary to be managed as major acquisition programs."
     -- "Army Submunition" (91-024): The IG found that the program office
made "materiel changes" in the system without getting approval. The changes
would cause it to "duplicate the mission of another special access program
that has already been approved and funded."


 
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Stan Smith, Vax System Manager		|ssmith@oz.bmd.trw.com (801) 625-8163 |
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