[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1286-1287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NOMINATION OF WILLIAM LYNN

  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, on Tuesday our Nation witnessed the 
historic swearing in of President Barack Obama. President Obama has 
nominated Mr. William Lynn to the position of Deputy Secretary of 
Defense. In this time of war and economic crisis, the U.S. Senate has 
endeavored to rapidly take up the nomination of Mr. Lynn, as well as 
many other senior nominees to the Obama administration, to provide our 
new President the ability to begin his work with key members of his 
team from the outset.
  Last week, Mr. Lynn faced the members of the Senate Committee on 
Armed Services in a hearing conducted to vet Mr. Lynn. I attended that 
hearing and posed questions to Mr. Lynn. The day prior I also visited 
privately with him to discuss his nomination.
  I have significant concerns about the message the nomination and 
confirmation of Mr. Lynn will send within the Department of Defense and 
across the Federal Government. While I will not object to Mr. Lynn's 
confirmation by the U.S. Senate today, I feel it important for me to 
express my concerns as a matter of record.
  Following service in various defense ``think tanks'' and as a Senate 
aide, in 1993 Mr. Lynn joined the Department of Defense as an 
executive, first as Director of Program Analysis and Evaluation. In 
1997 he was promoted to be the Department's Comptroller, where he 
served until 2001 when the Clinton presidency concluded.
  After a short stint as a consultant, Mr. Lynn made a decision that 
many DOD executives before him have made. He decided to accept a senior 
position in defense industry, where his expertise, experience and 
contacts within DOD were greatly sought after and valued. Specifically, 
Mr. Lynn joined the defense giant Raytheon as a senior executive 
handling management and government relations.
  Mr. Lynn has served with Raytheon since that time and continues there 
pending his confirmation today. Importantly, it appears that Raytheon 
substantially improved the integrity of its government contracting 
operations during Mr. Lynn's tenure, a time when Raytheon also built 
itself into the fourth largest defense contractor in the U.S. and the 
fifth largest in the world.
  On repeated occasions in this body, I have expressed my deep concerns 
with the revolving door between industry and government. Those concerns 
are amplified when I speak of DOD, which is well known for its wealth 
of ``insiders'' and its closeness to the military-industrial complex. 
It is not uncommon to hear people speak of the fact that DOD is an 
insider's game. Some try to explain away this insider's notion by 
claiming that the complexity of DOD and its weapons and services buying 
operations require these types of relationships. Even as I acknowledge 
the complexity of the DOD operation, I tend to believe this ``special 
knowledge'' concept is a double-edged sword which at a minimum can lead 
to an appearance of impropriety.
  Returning to Mr. Lynn, it is clear that his case presents a strong 
example of this industry-government executive revolving door 
phenomenon. Frankly, we live in a time when many Americans, not just 
those who watch DOD closely, know of concerns about the relationship of 
DOD with contractors. More specifically, many believe that defense 
contractors have the ability to influence DOD decisions for the profit 
of the contractor but not necessarily for the best interest of DOD or, 
for that fact, the taxpayer. With this backdrop, setting aside Mr. 
Lynn's merits, the narrative of his story alone is problematic. 
Further, it comes at a time when we are vigorously endeavoring to 
restore public confidence in government.
  My concern perhaps might be mitigated were it not for the fact that 
Mr. Lynn is nominated to what is fairly

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characterized as the most critical management position within DOD and 
perhaps the most important position in the making of significant 
decisions on major defense acquisition programs. In other words, Mr. 
Lynn will have possibly the most powerful position in the Department to 
influence how the Department does business with private industry and, 
in some cases, to influence with whom the Department does business.
  To be frank, the way DOD does business with defense contractors must 
change because the status quo is unacceptable. In part because of Mr. 
Lynn's recent past, I am concerned that he will not bring the sense of 
urgency to or, worse yet, see the need for substantial reform in DOD's 
weapons and services procurement practices. Further, in my limited 
interaction with Mr. Lynn to date, I have not sensed a strong 
commitment to this type of change, although I understand he has 
communicated such a commitment to others with greater vigor.
  To be clear, I am not questioning Mr. Lynn's integrity. His integrity 
has been testified to by many of his present and former colleagues. He 
is clearly highly regarded by our incoming President and his 
administration. And I am encouraged by the historic ethics guidelines 
that President Obama has put in place just today for officials in his 
administration. I am confident that Mr. Lynn will fully meet the letter 
of these new rules and act much more broadly in living up to their 
spirit both in his individual actions and in his oversight of other DOD 
officials.
  Let me close by making mention of the exchange I had with Mr. Lynn at 
the Committee on Armed Services. I put much of what I have discussed 
here in regards to my concerns with the revolving door at DOD before 
Mr. Lynn. I further discussed concerns that he may face a conflict of 
interest because his former employer Raytheon is a major defense 
contractor. Mr. Lynn offered a limited response to my question, 
committing to meet every ethical requirement of the Department of 
Defense. I have no doubt that he will meet these requirements and 
frankly exceed them. But Mr. Lynn did not discuss his views on the 
revolving door at DOD, of the adequacy of the ethical controls at DOD 
or of any willingness to further study these issues if confirmed. I 
hope nonetheless that he will take these issues up during his tenure at 
DOD. I firmly believe that business as usual must come to an end at 
DOD, both as to these matters and in regards to many more. The chief 
management Officer at DOD, of which Mr. Lynn will serve, must be a 
reformer, a disciplinarian, a person committed to change and a person 
willing to challenge the system in order to drive change.
  As stated earlier, I will not oppose the nomination of Mr. Lynn. Even 
as I have expressed my concerns today, I respect Mr. Lynn and the views 
of so many of my colleagues and of his former colleagues about his 
abilities and his commitment to improving the state of affairs in 
business operations at DOD. I am excited by the opportunity he has 
before him. And I am optimistic about what he will accomplish alongside 
many others on the team that will form at DOD. But I will be watching 
closely because this is my duty to the people of Missouri, to the 
people of America and to the command of our constitution.

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