Audit clears Boeing in C-17 lobbying probe

Boeing Co. and the Air Force did not illegally collude to lobby the U.S. Congress in 2007 to approve buying additional C-17 cargo aircraft from the company, according to a Defense Department audit.

"We did not identify any instances where senior Air Force officials improperly approached or communicated to members of Congress regarding C-17 issues," the Pentagon inspector general said in an unreleased 35-page audit.

The Pentagon in 2007 said it did not want more C-17s than the 190 on contract. It got them anyway: Congress added 10 that year to a wartime spending bill, then added 15 to similar legislation for fiscal 2008 and eight for fiscal 2009.

While the inspector general concluded there was nothing illegal or improper in the Air Force's communications with Capitol Hill in 2007, the audit is additional evidence of how hard it is to terminate a popular weapons program.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates sought once again this year to stop funding for both the C-17 transport and a backup engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Both programs are still alive as Congress begins final deliberations on the fiscal 2010 defense budget.

The audit did find that the Air Force in 2007 had communications with Congress that were "inconsistent" with Pentagon budget plans, and it recommended that service Secretary Michael Donley review how the service communicates with Congress about weapons programs.

Donley's spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffry Glenn, said the service is reviewing the report.

Wish Lists

The Pentagon hasn't wanted to buy more C-17s since fiscal 2006, yet Congress continues to fund the program.

The Air Force, for example, during the fiscal 2008 budget process included two C-17s on a "wish list" of programs that the Pentagon's budget hadn't funded but the service wanted. The Congress has requested such lists since the mid-1990s. The Air Force asked for 15 more C-17s on its fiscal 2009 wish list.

Gates this year cracked down on the practice, requiring the service lists be reviewed by his office before submission. No C- 17s were on the Air Force list for fiscal 2010. Still, both the House and Senate added money for them in their separate versions of the defense budget.

McCain Sought Audit

The audit of the C-17 funding in 2007 was requested by Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. He asked the Pentagon to review allegations that the Air Force that year improperly encouraged Chicago, Illinois-based Boeing to send the service and the Pentagon an unsolicited proposal for 30 additional transports and then lobby Congress to approve the purchase.

Boeing submitted the proposal but neither the Pentagon nor the service requested the planes, according to company spokesman Jerry Drelling. Still, Congress approved money that year to buy 10 more C-17s.

The probe took two years. The findings were sent to McCain six days before the Senate on Sept. 30 voted 64-34 to keep $2.5 billion for 10 more C-17s in the fiscal 2010 defense budget over objections from the White House, the Pentagon and McCain.

House and Senate leaders negotiating a compromise budget are likely to approve some and possibly all of the extra planes.

McCain likely would have used the audit to press his case against them had the report concluded Boeing and Air Force illegally colluded in 2007.

"There were enough allegations that we thought it deserved an investigation -- that the Air Force had weighed in on the issue in a way that was counter to the DoD policy," McCain said in an interview. "Apparently, there is not sufficient evidence to conclude that," he said. "I accept the findings."

Suspicions of Lobbying

McCain in a Sept. 11, 2007, letter to then-Inspector General Claude Kicklighter sought a review of what he termed the Air Force's "creative and aggressive advocacy of plans to procure additional C-17s not included in the fiscal 2008 budget."

"The Air Force appears to be facilitating a possibly huge earmark -- as many as 30 C-17s at a possible cost of at least $250 million each," he wrote. "If true, this would be an undesirable use of Defense resources."

Deputy Inspector General Donald Horstman said the audit did not find Air Force officials took â€~improper" actions "with respect to the issues described by Sen. McCain."

The IG uncovered "numerous" instances where senior Air Force officials communicated with lawmakers and staff about the C-17 program and a separate service plan that called for replacing 30 older C-5 transports with C-17s, he said.

Still, "those communications did not violate law or regulation and were not otherwise improper," Horstman wrote. Nor did Air Force officials "make commitments to Boeing for the acquisition of aircraft."

Boeing spokesman Drelling said the company "has not seen the report and is unable to comment on it at this time."