The DEW Line

Revolving Door's Latest Coup: Larry Dodgen

Meet Larry Dodgen: retired army lieutenant general and former commander of Army Strategic Command (ARSTRAT).

Larry's new employer is Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Mission Systems sector, where he will serve as vice president of strategy for the company's missile systems business.

This is the same business sector that is currently competing for a big contract called the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System.

The contract will be awarded by a unit of the Missile Defense Agency, but in operation will be used by Dodgen's former employees at ARSTRAT, who had a hand in shaping the requirements for the system.

No conflict of interest there.

The Revolving Door (Part 2)

Today, the Department of Homeland Security ruined the personal "retirement" plans of hundreds of its own executives and senior managers.

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that, starting June 7, ex-feds must spend a year off after leaving the agency before coming back for a hand-out as a contractor.

Previously, the one-year ban applied only to ex-feds approaching their specific, former agency. The new rule expands the prohibition to the department as a whole.

DHS is not famous for "best practices" in the acquisition world, but this is one the Department of Defense should give some serious thought to.

The Revolving Door Series: Robert "Ched-Bob" Chedister

Meet retired Major General Robert "Ched-Bob" Chedister, former commander of the US Air Force Air Armament Center (AAC) at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

Under Chedister's watch from 2003-2005, the AAC conducted the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) competition, eliciting bids from Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The contract award went to Boeing, but that was partially overturned later after it became clear that disgraced former air force acqusition executive Darleen Druyun had fiddled with the requirements to favor Boeing's bid.

Chedister laid-low in retirement for about a year, but now works as Vice President - Operations for a Maryland-based start-up called Proxy Aviation.

Led by chief executive Don Ryan, Proxy is seeking to introduce one of those "disruptive technologies" -- and particularly disruptive from the standpoint of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI).

Proxy is hoping to offer the air force a very near-term alternative to the GA-ASI MQ-9B Reaper unmanned aircraft system (aka Predator B). Proxy's approach is based on the optionally-manned SkyRaider. Four SkyRaiders could fly autonomously and collaboratively on a hunter-killer-type mission, versus the one MQ-9B that needs a cleared-out airspace in which to operate. The SkyRaider is one-fourth the cost of the MQ-9B, so the air force gets four for the price of one.

Chedister's role in the company will likely fall on the armaments side, as the 250-lb SDB is a natural candidate for the SkyRaider's 1,000-lb bomb-bay.

Ex-Spook Goes EDO

In the inaugural installment of The DEW Line's "Revolving Door" series, we give you retired General John A. Gordon. From October 1997 until June 2000, this former US Air Force four-star general served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. He had previously been Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support.

Mr. Gordon, welcome to the Board of Directors at EDO Corp.

Known mostly as a defense electronics house, EDO has been attacking the intelligence market lately, acquiring three companies to form a new business sector within the company called Intelligence and Information Warfare business sector.