Book Description
In April 1990 the U.S. Navy's
A-12--a replacement aircraft for the outdated A-6 Intruder--had the
support of the Secretary of Defense before Congress. Nine months later
Secretary Cheney cancelled the A-12, making it the largest weapons
program ever terminated by the Pentagon and the first cancelled for
default with the Pentagon making demands that the contractors return
the money already paid them.
Ten years later, questions remain unanswered and lessons are still
to be learned. With access to a wealth of government and contractor
documents and more than a hundred players at all levels of involvement,
James Stevenson takes readers into the once-forbidden world of "special
access" programs to examine the demise of the A-12, charging
that the documents exposed fraudulent and even illegal activity.
He faults the navy not just for mismanagement but for ignoring the
statutes and regulations that require Congress to appropriate money
before entering into contracts. Rather than a single big mistake,
he finds the A-12's path from honor to derision to be littered with
hundreds of mistakes and attempts to right wrongs or cover them up.
In recounting the events that eventually led to the Stealth bomber's
cancellation, Stevenson cites countless examples of the mismatch between
perception and reality experienced by navy program managers, the defense
department, Congress, and the contractors. In the process of telling
the story, he takes on the entire defense acquisition process and
its responsibility for the program that cost American taxpayers over
$5 billion yet produced not a single airplane for their defense.
About the Author(s)
James
Perry Stevenson - No further information available at this
time.
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