Tainted Boeing Lease Deal Could Cost Taxpayers Billions  

(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today urged the Air Force to scrap its tanker lease plan in light of former Air Force official Darleen Druyun’s apparent decision to plead guilty to conspiracy charges.  Druyun was the Air Force’s No. 2 acquisition official when she negotiated a deal to lease 100 Boeing 767s as refueling tankers.  She then left the government to work for Boeing and was fired two months into the job after emails surfaced indicating a conflict of interest.  The Pentagon's inspector general concluded the plan would cost $4.4 billion more than upgrading existing tankers or buying the planes outright.  The deal is on hold pending several Pentagon reviews, an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a criminal probe.

“The tanker lease is expensive, unnecessary, budget-busting, scandalous, and the worst example of corporate welfare and backroom deal-making in recent memory,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “While the investigations will expose Druyun’s co-conspirators and any wrongdoing, the deal should be tanked in advance of the final outcome because it’s simply a waste of money.”

A frenzied lobbying campaign involving senior Boeing officials, Air Force officers, lawmakers and military retirees led to the deal’s inclusion in the 2002 Defense Appropriations bill.  The plan immediately attracted criticism from Pentagon offices, White House budget officials and outside experts.  Boeing fired Druyun and its Chief Financial Officer Michael Sears Nov. 24.  Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit quit a week later.  According to Reuters, “a ‘criminal case cover sheet’ at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va., shows Druyun faces a single felony count of conspiracy, with a plea hearing scheduled for April 20.”   

“It floors taxpayers to think this plan still has a chance of surviving, even in a scaled-down version” Schatz continued.  “It’s time to permanently trash this insider deal and move on with a new plan that makes military and economic sense.”

Citizens Against Government Waste spearheaded the effort against the Boeing deal after it was surreptitiously approved by Druyun’s boss during his last few hours on the job.  More than 7,500 members of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste have signed a Citizens Declaration against the lease deal, while another 3,500 have generated faxes in opposition to House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) support of the deal.  CAGW applauded the efforts of Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) for threatening to subpoena documents related to the matter.  CAGW also praised Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in February for ordering evaluations by the Defense Policy Board and the Pentagon’s in-house watchdog.  Finally, CAGW named Boeing its “Corporate Turkey of the Year” in recognition of the lease deal and a host of other scandals perpetuated by the company in 2003. 

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.