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Retired officer's dual roles for Pentagon raise questions - USATODAY.com By Tom Vanden Brook and Ken Dilanian, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON ? After retiring from the Marine Corps in December 2003, Emil "Buck" Bedard headed back to work ? for both the Pentagon and defense contractors.

Two months after leaving the service as a lieutenant general, Bedard became an adviser for the Pentagon's Joint Forces Command, a job that this year paid him about $1,600 per day to help run war games and mentor high-level commanders on how to lead troops in battle. Bedard also signed on with seven defense contractors as a corporate director or consultant.

For one of those firms, Bedard marketed a video surveillance system to the Marines during the time he was getting paid by the Pentagon for mentoring, even after a general concluded that the technology "did not work as advertised," a USA TODAY investigation found.

Bedard's activities present a case study of the kinds of situations that arise when retired senior officers become paid Pentagon advisers even as they market products to the military as consultants for defense contractors. USA TODAY reported last month that roughly 130 retired generals and admirals have held taxpayer-funded military jobs as "senior mentors" while also working for defense contractors.

Bedard's case goes beyond getting paid to advise the government and industry at the same time. E-mails and interviews show that Bedard pushed for his former service branch to buy the video system, including sending e-mails while on mentoring assignments.

"In the corporate world, this ... would not be tolerated," said Kirk Hanson, director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California.

"It is not uncommon for someone to consult with their former employer, but it is a major concern if they are simultaneously representing groups that sell to or try to influence their former employer."

CASHING IN: Ex-officers paid well for advice
MILITARY MENTORS: 158 retired generals and admirals
PROBES: Inquiries look into use of advisers
LEGAL LOOPHOLE: Mentoring deals bypass ethics law

Because senior mentors are brought in on contract, they don't have to adhere to the conflict-of-interest provisions that would apply if they were hired directly by the government as temporary employees.

No rules prohibit them from collecting fees to represent defense firms before the same officers with whom they have worked as paid military mentors. And the mentors continue to receive their military pensions, which can reach $220,000 a year.

There is nothing illegal about the mentors' dual roles. Members of Congress and the military services are reviewing the mentor programs, however, following the disclosures by USA TODAY. ahhhh the entitled few!