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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
House says beret buy flouted law
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A House Armed Services Committee report states that the Pentagon
sidestepped a key provision of a federal "buy American" law to award
contracts for Army black berets to Third World factories, including one in
communist China.
The report conflicts with the Defense Department´s internal report,
which said it did nothing wrong in bypassing American companies for factories
in China, Sri Lanka, Romania and South Africa.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department plans to cancel three of the
foreign-production contracts as early as today due to missed deadlines and
shoddy workmanship, according to a source familiar with the beret-buying
contracts. The source did not know if one of the canceled contracts pertains
to the factory in China.
The source also said the General Accounting Office is prepared to
testify that the Pentagon cut corners in trying to follow the law but still
meet the Army´s deadline for 1.3 million black berets by June 14, the
branch´s birthday.
The new disclosures come as Gen. Eric Shinseki, Army chief of staff, on
Wednesday presents his first public explanation to Congress on his decision
to put a black beret on virtually every soldier´s head. The House Small
Business Committee is also scheduled to hear testimony from top Pentagon
acquisition officials to explain why they waived the buy American requirement
for U.S. military uniforms to procure berets from low-wage Third World plants.
Gen. Shinseki´s universal beret policy has drawn protests from the
special operations community, which contends it cheapens the symbol of elite
status for what had been the only beret-wearing units: airborne, Rangers and
Special Forces.
A number of lawmakers also are angry over the Pentagon buying military
gear from China, a potential foe that detained 24 American crew members for
12 days on Hainan island after the U.S. EP-3E surveillance plane collided
with a F-8 Chinese fighter over the South China Sea.
The House Armed Services Committee staff report said the Defense
Logistics Agency (DLA) decided to waive the buy American law, or the Berry
Amendment, last fall after Gen. Shinseki announced the policy in October and
set the June 14 deadline for all soldiers to wear a beret. Only one American
firm makes berets to Army specifications and it could not meet the deadline.
The agency had acquired the needed secretary of defense authorization.
However, the waiver had a glaring omission, the committee report said. The
Berry Amendment states that the secretary of defense must attest that
"satisfactory quality and sufficient quantity of any articles clothing ...
cannot be procured as and when needed at United States market prices."
The House committee report, however, concluded, "None of the waivers
addressed the test of meeting 'satisfactory quality.´ The legislation
specifically states that the secretary must make a determination of
satisfactory quality and sufficient quantity."
The committee staff came to a different conclusion than one reached by
the Pentagon, which ordered an internal review of the beret purchases at the
request of President Bush. The office of the Pentagon´s top acquisition
official investigated the matter and wrote an internal report. It concluded,
"Given the Army requirement for 1.3 million berets to be delivered by June
14, 2001, and to issue a second beret to every soldier by Oct. 2001, (the
DLA) executed all procurement actions in a reasonable manner. No significant
deviation from law, regulation or policy were identified."
The committee report says the Army plans to buy 4.76 million black
berets for $30 million at per-cap cost ranging from $7.20 in Canada to $4.36
in Sri Lanka.
The Chinese factory is producing 617,936 berets for $4 million at $6.33
each. This is 3 cents more per hat than the 1.2 million berets being produced
by the lone U.S. manufacturer, Bancroft Cap Co. in Cabot, Ark. The Pentagon
has said that the Chinese factory has shipped or delivered more than half its
berets.
Gen. Shinseki sought to make peace in the special operations community
by announcing last month that the Rangers will keep an exclusive beret. Its
new color will be tan instead of black.
But the agreement with the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga.,
has not settled the issue in Washington. Some House Armed Services members
want to amend the fiscal 2002 defense authorization act to terminate the
foreign contracts and cancel the entire beret handout.
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