Pentagon’s Watchdog Clears Acting Defense Chief in Ethics Probe

The Pentagon’s watchdog has cleared acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan of allegations that he violated his ethics agreement by favoring his former employer Boeing while serving in government, The Hill reported.

The inspector general wrote the following in a report that was released on Thursday:

‘’We did not substantiate any of the allegations. We determined that Mr. Shanahan fully complied with his ethics agreements and his ethical obligations regarding Boeing and its competitors.’’

Shanahan’s spokesman Lt. Col. Joe Buccino was asked for an opinion on the 43-page report, to which he replied:

‘’Secretary Shanahan has at all times complied with his ethics agreement, which screens Boeing matter to another DoD official and ensures no potential for a conflict of interest with Boeing on any matter. Secretary Shanahan remains focused on retooling the military for great power competition, executing the National Defense Strategy, and providing the highest quality care for our service members and their families.’’

Acting Inspector General Glenn Fine also had an opinion on this, as he said that Shanahan fully complied his ethics agreement.

‘’The evidence showed that acting Secretary Shanahan fully complied with his ethical obligations and ethical agreements with regard to Boeing and its competitors,’’ Buccino said.

Politico reported that Shanahan bashed Lockheed Martin’s handling the F-35 fighter jet program, saying the plane is “f—-d up”.

The F-35 program is the most expensive weapon system in history as it costs $400 billion. Its price sparkled a lot of controversies as President Donald Trump called the costs “out of control” three years ago, even though he recently praised the whole thing.

Nearly 5,600 pages of unclassified and 1,700 pages of classified data related to the accusations were reviewed by the Inspector General as he said that Shanahan did not make anything from the accusations.

“While Mr. Shanahan did routinely refer to his prior industry experience in meetings, witnesses interpreted it, and told us, that he was doing it to describe his experience and to improve the government management of DoD programs, rather than to promote Boeing or its products.’’