Retired general advised Corps, pitched gear

[unhappycamper]

Records and e-mails show that retired Lt. Gen. Emil "Buck" Bedard (standing) simultaneously served as an adviser for Joint Forces Command while also marketing a video surveillance system to the Corps, USA Today reports.


Retired general advised Corps, pitched gear
By Tom Vanden Brook and Ken Dilanian - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Dec 15, 2009 9:34:55 EST

WASHINGTON — After retiring from the Marine Corps in December 2003, Emil “Buck” Bedard headed back to work — for both the Pentagon and defense contractors.

Two months after leaving the service as a lieutenant general, Bedard became an adviser for the Pentagon’s Joint Forces Command, a job that this year paid him about $1,600 per day to help run war games and mentor high-level commanders on how to lead troops in battle. Bedard also signed on with seven defense contractors as a corporate director or consultant.

For one of those firms, Bedard marketed a video surveillance system to the Marines during the time he was getting paid by the Pentagon for mentoring, even after a general concluded that the technology “did not work as advertised,” a USA Today investigation found.

Bedard’s activities present a case study of the kinds of situations that arise when retired senior officers become paid Pentagon advisers even as they market products to the military as consultants for defense contractors. USA Today reported last month that roughly 130 retired generals and admirals have held taxpayer-funded military jobs as “senior mentors” while also working for defense contractors.

Bedard’s case goes beyond getting paid to advise the government and industry at the same time. E-mails and interviews show that Bedard pushed for his former service branch to buy the video system, including sending e-mails while on mentoring assignments.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/12/gns_military_generals_contractors_121509/