Generals turned fatcat lobbyists

About three-quarters of all retired three- and four-star generals in recent years have gone into the defense business, natty Bryan Bender of the Boston Globe reports in a terrific bunch of articles.

I’d always known this double-dipping was bad, but I didn’t realize how bad. “The revolving-door culture of Capitol Hill — where former lawmakers and staffers commonly market their insider knowledge to lobbying firms — is now pervasive at the senior rungs of the military leadership,” he concludes. Some of them serve on Pentagon advisory panels without even disclosing to fellow panel members that they are paid to advocate certain weapons programs. That stinks.

I wonder what George Marshall, who went to work for the Red Cross when he retired, and then was recalled to government service, would think of these people. Not much, I bet.

Not nauseous yet? How about this: Your tax dollars are used to teach them how to get on the gravy train. “Since the early 1990s, the Navy and Air Force have been sending retiring senior officers — in some cases a full two years before they leave the military — to taxpayer-funded career seminars on Coronado Island near San Diego. They are taught how to write a resume and to network in private industry.”

Here is a summary of other takes on it.

A Best Defense salute to those, like Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who became professors or went into other non-lucrative endeavors, or who simply retired to live on their full salaried pensions and offer their expertise for free as needed. I mean, one reason for the pension is the sense that you can be recalled to active duty. If someone’s counsel is really needed, why not activate him for six months and make him a special assistant?

Meanwhile, there is a controversy over whether Northrop Grumman should bill the government for sending Navy officials to Paris, Singapore and on a golf outing, but apparently everyone is saying it is OK because the Navy is picking up the tab. Seems to me that the taxpayer shouldn’t pick up the tab.

WWGMD?