Customer Reviews

WHEN THE PENTAGON WAS FOR SALE: Inside America's Biggest Defense Scandal

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book chronicles the way major weapons procurement was done during the Reagan administration. This was a period of massive military spending. Big defense contractors had to work through lobbyists to get contracts just because that's how the game was played in many instances.

Right from the beginning, the story got my attention with an unfortunate human interest story. After that the subject was purely on corruption in federal procurement and how rampant it was at the time. As a taxpayer, it made me angry. I stayed angry for most of the book and wasn't surprised that justice never prevailed.

For all of you who suspected this was going on - this will verify your suspicions. The bad thing is - while the fines to the businesses involved looked big, in terms of the contracts they got from the government, the fines were just a cost of doing business. Any one in the government today will be able to tell that this is not only still going on, but in terms of what the government is currently contracting out - it has gotten worse by multitudes. This book will educate you on how hard it is to develop a case against this type of "crime" and why it continues. It get's slow at times and some of the terms are used incorrectly, but this is the proverbial look at sausage being made. If you wonder why certain things are going on in government, this will certainly help you understand. A MUST read for all career government managers.

OK, everyone who's heard of Monica Lewinsky raise your hand... Now, everyone who's heard of Melvyn Paisley raise your hand... That's odd, everyone knows who Monica Lewinsky is but no one has ever heard of the central figure in the most costly scandal in U.S. history. I guess if Melvyn had performed a sexual act with a high ranking official instead of screwing the tax payers out of millions of dollars he'd have made the news.

How does a scandal like this get swept under the rug? This book chronicles this mess from beginning to end, explaining how we as tax payers actually paid companies to bribe members of our government. (It turns out that many companies included the cost of the bribes in the final tab for the weapons systems they sold us, many of which ranged from severely flaw to totally useless) All of this under the nose of the Gipper, of course. I guess Nancy's astrologer didn't see it coming.

A good read that will leave you shaking your head not only at what went on but at the fact that it flashed through our collective consciousness without leaving so much as a ripple.