The Troubled Waters Of "Deepwater"

Congressman: The Country Is Less Safe Than Before $24 Billion Refurbishment

(CBS)  Once the Coast Guard decided to deep-six the extended patrol boats, it stepped up the schedule for its long-term replacement, the Fast Response Cutter. It was to be built at a Northrop Grumman facility in Gulfport, Miss. And instead of having a steel or aluminum hull, it would be made of a composite material, which made the cutters much heavier and required four engines instead of two.

"We used to call it a brick. It was just so heavy. And even a brick, if you put enough horsepower on it, you could make it plane on the water. Well, that's exactly what they did here," Capt. Jarvis explains.

Why did they decide to make it out of composite and not out of steel or aluminum?

Says Jarvis, "I really don't know that answer other than the fact that one day it was a traditional hull, and the next day it’s gonna be composite."

"Do you think it had anything to do with the fact that the contractor had built this big, huge shipyard to do composite hulls?" Kroft asks.

"One could really make that inference. I don't know if that was part of the decision. But once can sure make that inference," Jarvis says.

Asked if one of those composite cutters was ever built, Jarvis says, “No. Thank goodness.”

After tests showed technical and design problems, the Coast Guard finally pulled the plug, and another $38 million in developmental costs went down the drain.

But the huge National Security Cutter is still going full speed ahead. At 418 feet long, it is by far the largest ship the Coast Guard has ever had, and the most expensive. It’s supposed to be able to monitor 56,000 square miles of ocean every day. The Coast Guard expects to accept delivery of the first one by this fall.

"This was like a Navy ship?" Kroft asks Jarvis.

"It's supposed to be able to run with the Navy battle groups," he replies.

Asked if it will be able to, Jarvis says, "In my opinion, no. Our models show it's not gonna meet the speed requirements. It's gonna miss."

"Is that a problem?" Kroft asks.

"It'll be good enough," Jarvis replies.

But speed wasn’t the only problem for the National Security Cutter. Coast Guard engineers found serious flaws in the structural design that could lead to premature metal fatigue and even structural failure. A second opinion from the Navy’s engineers concurred. But that didn’t stop the Coast Guard from christening the first National Security Cutter last year. A second one is now being built. The cost, so far, is nearly $800 million.

This is a story the Coast Guard didn’t want 60 Minutes to tell. It refused to make Commandant Thad Allen or any other officer available for an interview. The contractor, Integrated Coast Guard Systems, also declined.

They did, however have to appear before Congress. And Miss. Congressman Gene Taylor, who spent 12 years in the Coast Guard, wasn’t much more successful than 60 Minutes was at getting answers, particularly when he asked the contractors about those eight patrol boats that proved to be un-seaworthy.

"So at what point does one of you step forward and say, 'We made a horrible mistake,'" the congressman asked.

The response? Dead silence.

"I think the stakes are pretty high, folks. I'm giving you an opportunity to tell me what went wrong and who's going to accept responsibility," Rep. Taylor said.

Eventually, James Anton, Northrop Grumman’s Deepwater Vice President, spoke up. "We need to determine the cause of the failure, sir, and when we determine the cause of the failure, we'll determine accountability, and when we determine accountability, we'll know who needs to stand up," Anton said.

"How long does that take? What was it, two years ago?" Rep. Taylor replied.

Besides serving on the Coast Guard oversight subcommittee, Congressman Taylor knows a few things about extending the length of boats. He did it with an old shrimp boat in his hometown of Bay St. Louis.

"And I pretty well drew it out on the back of a napkin. Went and found some guys, some welders, and we did basically the same thing they did that Coast Guard, on a smaller scale," Taylor says. "My boat works fine. In their case, they didn't think it through."

Asked if these boats are good for anything, the congressman tells Kroft, "No. I've even asked if they could be used on river environments, if we couldn't give 'em to the Colombians or the Hondurans, just go use 'em for a river patrol boat. And they didn't have the confidence that the vessel could get down to Latin America to be given away."

"Has anybody been fired or demoted?" Kroft asks.

"To the absolute best of my knowledge, no one in the Coast Guard was demoted. No one was fired," Taylor says. "The taxpayers have not been given their money back, and of course, the ships haven’t been fixed."

---

The Coast Guard officially revoked its acceptance of the converted patrol boats in May and demanded at least some of its money back. But the relationship between the Coast Guard and contractors continues to flourish.

Earlier this month, Integrated received a nearly $600 million contract to complete the first two National Security Cutters and build a third one, some of that money will go to fix the cutters' structural design flaws. After this story had been completed, the Coast Guard finally offered to make Commandant Thad Allen available, but only for a live, unedited interview, which 60 Minutes declined to do.

[gvreeland1]

I read your synopsis of the Coast Guard problem. I do agree with you that it is a problem. My immediate question is, did the contractors get paid for the shoddy work? I know in private enterprise that contractors that are licensed to do business must put up a bond with the state licensing board in order to ensure that the work they do is fair and equitable. They also must guarantee their work. It is hard to fathom that the Federal Government would not require at least the same. It happens all the time that we have contractors doing work for the federal, state or local gov%u2019ts where the work done is far below the standard required in private world and costs 12 times as much with no retribution when the work is done substandardly or costs 5 to 10 times the original estimate. If the federal government deducted from the amount paid an amount for shoddy work, I am sure the contractors would be more careful to make sure the work is done properly. I remember a few years ago i saw on the news about a B-2 bomber that was just flying and the wings fell off. The immediate question was,, we the taxpayers just paid several BILLION dollars for an airplane that when flown in a regular manner, the wings fall off.. No one got penalized but the taxpayers. I also thought that if they took that several BILLION dollars they just flushed down the preverbal toilet and put it in a special education fund,, nearly every child in this country could go to college for free
Gary Vreeland, 410 707 1104

[j_flood]

I used to work for a government contractor in the 80s, a 'beltway bandit' as we jokingly referred to ourselves. During my 10 years there were endless provisions put in place or changed or improved to prevent contractor over-spending or other types of negligence. Remember $600 dollar toilet seats? Here we are 20 years later and once again the system has let us down again. No one will be sent to jail for malfeasance, or criminal waste of resources. Again, there will be 'new and improved' safeguards put in place to solve this matter. And, 20 years from now we'll be 'shocked' to learn of another mess. Will we ever learn?

[imzdave]

For the Coast Guard to justify spending they have to produce results, so they have now effected a set of rules that will create bad guys where there were none before, called "Transportation Workers Identification Credential" or TWIC. Every worker or potential worker aboard a U.S.flag vessel, will be subject to disqualification for employment if he has any history of criminal activity and convicition, even if he has served time and paid his debt to society. Some disqualifying factors are robery,rape,fraud,and dishonesty. Only with an appeal through the Coast Guard system can a person get a waiver to work once he is rejected. Of course every rejection will be one more justification that the system worked. The most onerous part of this plan is that it only applies to U.S.citizens. Foriegn vessels and crew, the same guys who brought us 9/11, are exempt. And who runs this massive program estimated to affect over 1.5 million persons and cost each worker $150 per card? Lockheed, who gave us Deepwater. It has been stated the program will move into trucking, rail, airline, bus, and taxicab industries after being perfected. More dollars. Remember it is a "Transportation Workers Identification Credential". A movement toward a national ID card, using a profiling system that infringes on our rights to free choice of employment, and access to private property all to identify some ex cons and justify spending. It doesn't catch the first terrorist.

[jocoastie]

It sure seems easy for some people to bad mouth the Coast Guard for how they are managing the Deepwater project. It seems like just yesterday the Coast Guard was praised for the work they did during Katrina. Now I do realize that Deepwater and Katrina are apples and oranges but the fact still remains that we (the Coast Guard) have been and will always do more with less. I just wish one-sided stories like this would take a little time to also point out how well the Coast Guard is doing regardless of it's shortcomings.

Joecoastie sends.

[wilfredgueri]

1500chr is an insult to my presentation.

It should be important to note that there are many other additional concerns with the DHS and CoastGuard.
-- MARAD RESERVE FLEET, also known as the "Ghost Fleet", .. still exist at least 130 vessels with CONGRESSIONAL MANDATE for DISPOSAL no later than Sep of 2006.

..risks outside .., but what comes of a giant vessel easily "getting loose" and drifting downstream in San Fran. Bay, Jamestown, or Galveston?

--? the true history of the SS NORWAY (Prev. SS France and now SS BLUE LADY ) which had a "Boiler Explosion" in port of Miami on May 25th, 2003.
.. TSA investigation, .. along with Coast Guard and a plethora of other parties.

.. public release by AlQaeda exactly 2wksprior and broadcast17th of May that year onward quoted: "To Raise/Singe the floor right out from under their feet, the political and corporate interests of the United States and Norway."

..this caused extreme scares .. country of Norway, .. closure of US embassy and consulate facilities, and a global curiosity.

Feel free to examine these links to news articles of the time period:

moved to http://remedials.org/sunklinks.html

-Wilfred L. Guerin
[e-mail]

[wilfredgueri]

I do not believe that CBS would prevent the presentation of a coherent discussion, your restrictions are an insult to all of us.

These are the links to News articles referenced.


Transcript (CNN)
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0305/25/sun.05.html

News coverage of "Norway" May 25, 2003
http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=may+25 2003 norway&sa=N&cid=8603442264145938

News of "Al Qaeda, Norway"
http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=al qaeda norway

Transcript of Al Qaeda tape (CNN)
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/05/21/aljazeera.tape/index.html

BLUE LADY: http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22blue lady%22&btnG=Search Archives

correlational search is flooded with irrelevant posts by IBB.GOV?

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=al qaeda norway ss

[jetranger7]

SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE REGAN / BUSH ERA, OF THE 80s,,, FRAUD, WASTE AND ABUSE OF US GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND LOTS OF LIES AND EXCUSES !!! ALSO THE LACK OF US GOVERNEMENT OVER SIGHT OF TAX PAYER MONEY, LIKE THE GAO. BUT AS LONG AS WE HAVE CORRUPT POLITICIANS THAT ARE AS ARROGRANT AND DISPICABLE AS BUSH /CHENEY IN OFFICE THIS IS WHAT YOU'LL BE FACED WITH, FRAUD, WASTE AND ABUSE BY GOVT. OFFICIALS AND MORE FRAUD FOLLOWED BY MORE LIES AND RHETORIC, COVER UPS SCHEMES TO COMMIT COVER UPS,,, TIME FOR IMPEACHMENT !!!!!!!!

[htc0]

Fortunately the Coast Guard can always wade to shore, if their ships fail.

[ead1111]

Why doesnt the Navy give decommissioned ships to the Coast Guard????? Helloooooooo! If the ship is good enough to fight Iraqis today, then they can fight drug runners for the next 25 years!

[usn_ret]

60 Miuntes as usual, missed the culprit.
In defense acquisition a Uniformed Military Officer has absolutely no money to spend. So the Commendant, the Program Manager, the Project Engineer, zero dollars to spend. The person with the Money, the person who actually approves the payment of a contract is a Civil Servant. Take note that 60 Minutes and Congress talked to Uniformed Officers and Contractors, not a single Civil Servant was even mentioned. The question that will make a difference, but no news (propoganda) outlet will ask, "Who was the Execuitve Director of this project?" That is the Civil Servant with the money, that is how contracts are paid. This is the same situation as occured at Walter Reed and 60 Minutes didn't ask about any Civil Servants then either. So the question is, is 60 Minutes that inept, or is the US Civil Service that dangerous?

[steved998]

Interesting. It would be nice to get the whole story. After the hatchet job 60 Minutes did on Realtors last week, it was no surprise to here that 60 minutes declined a live unedited interview with the Coast Gaurd Commendant. With the Realtors, the questions was asked about justification of a 6% rate. The Realtor being interviewed began by saying "It's hard to explain, but..." THE REST, after the But, WAS EDITED OUT. I also heard that the President of the National Association of Realtors had offered to appear and answer questions. 60 Minutes refused. I guess it might have gotten in the way of the preconceived conclusions that 60 Minutes wanted. I guess a live unedited interview with the Coast Guard representative would have done the same.

[proud2serve1]

It would be idiotic for the Coast Guard to agree to an interview where editing is under full control of 60 minutes. Just look what clip they showed from the C-SPAN hearings. The CG agreed to a 1 hour live interview which 60 minutes wanted no parts of. Why? Because they would have to stand and fight like a man. Not sneak around and edit the clip to support their story. Was their mistakes made? Hell yes.....and big ones. But lets remember what these two companies have brought us (Stealth Fighter, AEGIS, F22, F35, Aircraft carriers, etc., etc.). It's never easy to invent, engineer, or for that matter build things on a scale this large. Mistakes happen, and these mistakes were huge. We have thousands of Americans (hell yes Americans) working on this program and I'm confident they will get this program back on it's feet.

[grafxstar]

Lockheed - Martin has been are building stuff for the government for a long time. They have their hands in all kinds of projects from space craft to communications gear.

It is about time they got a new imagine, including a new company logo and sign that I would love to build for them for the bargain basement price of $2.7 billion, using the latest state of the art bubble gum, twine, duct tape and cardboard. Of course the current corp. tag-line would be changed to reflect the time. From "We never forget who we work for" to "Bend over America, We are right behind you"

[pkplatte]

May I remind you that when huricane Katrina hit there was one and only one agency that responded without stopping to hear the "official" order to go. They responded in the true sense and saved many lives when the rest of our dumb goverment sat with thier thumbs up thier a**es. The Coast Gaurd is an active work agency, I believe that if this problem actually exist it is because of someone up on the hill. Not someone in the Coast Gaurd, that is if this actually is real.
You suck as a news agency and I'm tired of having you as just another lying mouth for Cheney and his cronies.

[grafxstar]

Lockheed - Martin has been are building stuff for the government for a long time. They have their hands in all kinds of projects from space craft to communications gear.

It is about time they got a new imagine, including a new company logo and sign that I would love to build for them for the bargain basement price of $2.7 billion, using the latest state of the art bubble gum, twine, duct tape and cardboard. Of course the current corp. tag-line would be changed to reflect the time. From "We never forget who we work for" to "Bend over America, We are right behind you"

[whec80]

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective, the Coast Guard has a relatively strong chain of command. So if the Commandant says that this ship is going to sail, it's going to be accepted and it's going to sail and all will be well with the world. No contracting officer is going to say "no".

It's that same strong chain of command that allows the Coast Guard to quickly do good things in the face of disasters like Katrina.

I'm unimpressed with the piece because I don't think it got to the bottom of the problem of Deepwater.

I would love to see the Coast Guard get some relatively newer decommissioned Navy vessels to expand the fleet. The amount of money being spent for Deepwater could do an excellent rehab and refit.

[down-ndirty]

"Maybe a closer look will find that diane fienstien's hubby's company had something to do with the latest debacle.
Report all the news. Think I'll contact mediamatters." Posted by janem4 at 08:49 AM : May 20, 2007
--------------

Well, jane, we know you don't like feistein, but why don't you post some FACTS to back up your spineless accusations?

Do you KNOW that Feinstein's "hubby" had anyting to do with this?

Do you KNOW that Cheney isn't getting kickbacks from the Halliburton debacle in Iraq?

Do you KNOW *** you are talking about?

Contact mediamatters?? Is that a threat? DO IT! I'd be curious to know what they have to say.

OBTW: Corruption isn't a "liberal only" vice; to wit: Randy Cunningham, et al. LOL!!

[down-ndirty]

"So the question is, is 60 Minutes that inept, or is the US Civil Service that dangerous?"
Posted by USN_Ret at 07:27 PM : May 20, 2007

So how many military acquisitions have you worked on, Chief?

The Civil Servant only controls the money; the military determines what they want, writes the spec, and approves final delivery. In addition, there are numerous "progress meetings" and "milestones" that have to be met along the way. The military "customer" attends these meetings and either approves or disapproves the milestones. When these "milestones" are met "progress payments" are made to the contractor. When they are not met, there are no payments, unless, of course, there is corruption.

Corruption seems to prevail in military acquisitions, mainly because the people involved are not fully accountable for the funds. It doesn't come out of their pockets and they seldom, if ever, have to pay it back when things go wrong.

[kcioca]

If this seems so crazy, maybe they should research the harassment and abuse that goes on in the coast guard. It gets covered up, and women get treated poorly. I know cause I was assaulted by my direct supervisor, after refusing to have *** with him! Team Coast Guard.....YEAH... RIGHT

[coastie166]

I'm not surprised that this was a pretty useless segment on Deep water. It really didn't tell the public much of anything. If these guys had done their research they would have found out that the marriage of the coast guard and ancient assets was nothing new. In the 60's I served on a WW2 era ship that was finally decommissioned in the 90's.

The Coast Guard has always been the step child when it comes to budgets and it always will be. We had helicopters whose doors would fall off on regular intervals, in the 60's we had cutters whose flight decks would crack. Lately our hjelicopters were underpowered. Think of this, how would you like to pilot an aircraft in which one of the things you automatically did was search for a place to crash land in case you lost power in your engines.

Trust me, this will go on for a long time more before it gets better.

[bellal-2009]

OMG, I can't believe this story. Good god, this stuff is madness. Could they waste any more of our money if they tried.

[hungry1968]

This is the problem with sub-contracting every job away from the military and into the private sector's hands. The Bush administration has been trying to "downsize" the federal government, but if you can pay the military $100 million for something, why would you give $200 million to the private sector to do the same job? Yes, that does make the federal government smaller, but it's a hell of a price to pay, to give such a gift to the defense contracting industry.

Oh well - what do I know. I'm just a middle class American citizen. My opinion doesn't matter.

[interested7]

I can't believe the pervasiveness of incompetence at every level in this country. However I just have one (actually two) questions for you....Why not interview the Coast Guard representative in an unedited interview? Do you suspect we (your viewers) are also too incompetent to listen to unfiltered and unedited information? I would have been very interested in such an interview.

[rehtnug12]

It's funny how one sided the story was and at the end the results that the Coast Guard has made with the failures of the project were only mentioned. Lets see how well they could do at replacing a multi-million dollar fleet of aircraft and vessels that are fully integrated and interchangeable. Not to mention that the CG is the least funded and smallest branch of the military and continually does more with less. I'd be curious to see a follow up in six months to catch up on what progress Admn Allen has made, I believe we will be impressed.

[tomtomasters]

The problem was the material used for the Hulls. Steel/Aluminum verses Composite. What type of composite material? The article didn't say. Maybe fiberglass? And how is that heavier? Most boats are made of it, and surf boards, making it lighter in weight and less expensive.

I would like the Coast Guard to give those vessels to my company. ACET/SugarCityCane. We can use them on Bakers Island to help build our Ethanol Company.

We are a new company that will grow SugarCane on the Equator on 1-2 acre size Aquatic-Rafts hydroponically. We will need the Coast Guard to be our Security patrols in the region. The Island is South of Hawaii on the Equator. It will be safe duty, no hurricanes, typhoons, or cyclones. Use our Ethanol to run your Air Conditioning.

Since we are new, I hope to get the vessels from the Coast Guard with a payment plan so they can recoop their investment. But I need to build the rafts first and begin selling the SugarCane juice for Ethanol production.

Hope you shipmates will hear my SOS so I can save you and you can save me! What do you say?

Dominic Jermano/ CEO Charcoal Ethanol Organization & Chairman of Energy Oceanography at ACET: Aquatic Charcoal Ethanol Technicorp/ SugarCityCane

http://www.sugarcitycane.com
A McHales Navy Enterprise. smiling

[toldyouso21]

Okay. At some point we have to note an administration so rife with corruption, so intertwined with corporations so replete with zero accountability, that even the most die hard GOP fan among us must acknowledge this dog won't hunt, won't even bark--just pisses and cr@ps on everywhere it is allowed to hike up its leg.

There is soooo much corruption and lying and overruns in costs and stealing--that surely we all know the trickle down theory. Yes, I blame this on Bush and Co. In any corporation the onus of a culture of corruption is pretty cut and dried. Incompetence, greed, corruption and dishonesty at the top--then it seeps into the very pores and fabric of an organization. Ladies and Gentlemen, that culture is the present administration and the programs for privatizing government work they put into place--the orgainization is almost every government job from mail delivery to contractors for HS and the war and the biggest loser as usual--the American tax payer.

[cbse3]

WHY no unedited interview, 60 miniutes. We want the full story and not just a selective slice of of your slant.
Who was the marine engineer in charge of making the design changes on the 8 lengthings? Normally in business, changes get approved by the customer,in this case the Coast Guard. So , who in the CG approved the design changes? And why weren't these changes put thru extensive testing and sea trials with Boat 1 before proceeding with the next 7 boats

[thoughtrules]

Boy is 60 Minutes off on this one. I'm usually just itching to see corporate fat-cats caught with their hands in the jar; I was troubled by this story as any progressive American should be, but made curious by Admiral Allen's refusal to be interviewed unedited, I smelled a rat. My impression is the admiral and most of the "firemen on boats" who serve int he Coast Guard are exceedingly honorable people. Hence my interest.

Here is my general conclusion on this awful and very ameture-ish bit of news-journalism -- 60 minutes either let themselves be used by politicos on what amounts to a very minor and fixable issue (and it pains me as a progressive to say the users in this case are Dems); it is also my guess they were ALSO manipulated by commercial competitors of these contractors (Lockheed and Northrup) who are scheming themselves to get the contracts opened up to bid again. (Look at the stuff on-line and in the public record and it seems clear that this Congressman Gene Taylor guy positioning himself as some kind of hero is doing EXACTLY that. He just happens to have in his Mississippi district a shipyard that would likely benefit in the hundreds of million in orders if the Bollinger shipyard in Louisiana is discredited on the small littoral ships business --which the Navy is teeing up right now. (Did anyone look into this at CBS...my God, I mean it's been 12 hours since the story and I already got this info.)

[thoughtrules]

Boy is 60 Minutes off on this one. I'm usually just itching to see corporate fat-cats caught with their hands in the jar; I was troubled by this story as any progressive American should be, but made curious by Admiral Allen's refusal to be interviewed unedited, I smelled a rat. My impression is the admiral and most of the "firemen on boats" who serve int he Coast Guard are exceedingly honorable people. Hence my interest.

Here is my general conclusion on this awful and very ameture-ish bit of news-journalism -- 60 minutes either let themselves be used by politicos on what amounts to a very minor and fixable issue (and it pains me as a progressive to say the users in this case are Dems); it is also my guess they were ALSO manipulated by commercial competitors of these contractors (Lockheed and Northrup) who are scheming themselves to get the contracts opened up to bid again. (Look at the stuff on-line and in the public record and it seems clear that this Congressman Gene Taylor guy positioning himself as some kind of hero is doing EXACTLY that. He just happens to have in his Mississippi district a shipyard that would likely benefit in the hundreds of million in orders if the Bollinger shipyard in Louisiana is discredited on the small littoral ships business --which the Navy is teeing up right now. (Did anyone look into this at CBS...my God, I mean it's been 12 hours since the story and I already got this info.)

[thoughtrules]

Boy is 60 Minutes off on this one. I'm usually just itching to see corporate fat-cats caught with their hands in the jar; I was troubled by this story as any progressive American should be, but made curious by Admiral Allen's refusal to be interviewed unedited, I smelled a rat. My impression is the admiral and most of the "firemen on boats" who serve int he Coast Guard are exceedingly honorable people. Hence my interest.

Here is my general conclusion on this awful and very amatureish bit of newsjournalism -- 60 minutes either let themselves be used by politicos on what amounts to a very minor and fixable issue (and it pains me as a progressive to say the users in this case are Dems); it is also my guess they were ALSO manipulated by commercial competitors of these contractors (Lockheed and Northrup) who are scheming themselves to get the contracts opened up to bid again. (Look at the stuff on-line and in the public record and it seems clear that this Congressman Gene Taylor guy positioning himself as some kind of hero is doing EXACTLY that. He just happens to have in his Mississippi district a shipyard that would likely benefit in the hundreds of million in orders if the Bollinger shipyard in Louisiana is discredited on the small littoral ships business --which the Navy is teeing up right now. (Did anyone look into this at CBS...my God, I mean it's been 12 hours since the story and I already got this info.)

[thoughtrules]

Boy is 60 Minutes off on this one. I'm usually just itching to see corporate fat-cats caught with their hands in the jar; I was troubled by this story as any progressive American should be, but made curious by Admiral Allen's refusal to be interviewed unedited, I smelled a rat. My impression is the admiral and most of the "firemen on boats" who serve int he Coast Guard are exceedingly honorable people. Hence my interest.

Here is my general conclusion on this awful and very amatureish bit of newsjournalism -- 60 minutes either let themselves be used by politicos on what amounts to a very minor and fixable issue (and it pains me as a progressive to say the users in this case are Dems); it is also my guess they were ALSO manipulated by commercial competitors of these contractors (Lockheed and Northrup) who are scheming themselves to get the contracts opened up to bid again. (Look at the stuff on-line and in the public record and it seems clear that this Congressman Gene Taylor guy positioning himself as some kind of hero is doing EXACTLY that. He just happens to have in his Mississippi district a shipyard that would likely benefit in the hundreds of million in orders if the Bollinger shipyard in Louisiana is discredited on the small littoral ships business --which the Navy is teeing up right now. (Did anyone look into this at CBS...my God, I mean it's been 12 hours since the story and I already got this info.)

[thoughtrules]

Here are some key facts I found out just by doing a little research of my own...Geez...Do you guys have trained and ethical news producers anymore -- or are your "news people" just the nieces and nephews of entertainment division honchos?

The "whistleblower" You Tube guy wasn't removed from the project or fired by Lockheed, as 60 minutes let HIM say (unedited -- which they wouldn't let Admiral Allen be). Rather according to public documents I found he was PROMOTED away from the CG thing to another project, encouraged to communicate his concerns to the shipbuilders, then quit Lockheed on his own accord.

Apparently LM did all sorts of due diligence to see that he was fairly treated in his allegations (a binders worth of documents are in the public record from the LM HR files.) He has been approaching them for a job and increased pay as recently as this year before he made himself a You Tube star. Mmmm... wonder if there is an axe to grind there?

[thoughtrules]

Then there was the "boy aren't they dumb" garbage on waterproof radios. Here's a news flash: (Just read the SWORN testimony and you would have gotten this: The US Government specified these radios because this is what other agencies (some of them with boats) use. Another news flash: You can't transmit with a walkie-talkie underwater--there isn't yet a radio that is practical for a boat, that has come forward in any request for bids or whatever the government procurement process is called, that is "waterproof." Doesn't exist, even in the blessed US NAVY. Yeah, yeah, some guy working out of his basement is going to call in and say he could make such a radio -- but no credible supplier can supply such a thing to the specifications demanded by the US Government. Did anyone check this out at 60 minutes. It's in the testimony and I found it in various place in 12 hours. Who are these producers anyway?

[thoughtrules]

The "composite" hull issue: Guess what, it is on there because it will last 20-years LONGER than a metal hull, and I think is lighter but I haven't been able to get a second confirmation on that.

Several new Navy ships are using the same technology. Note that 60 Minutes interviewed ZERO people in that story who were objective (Elijah Cummings -- again it pains me to say -- runs UNOPPOSED in Balitmore every two years, and is interested in discrediting the GOPpers who preceded him in the committee (such as LoBiando I think.) As ranking member during this whole Deepwater process as it unfolded beginning 4 years ago, WHERE WAS Mr. Cummings. He never expressed concern on these issues before. I have seen texts of Rep. Taylor speeches up and down the Gulf Coast praising Deepwater, the CG and the industry partners over and over again. (Once again, in 12 hours I have found this... Where are the producers?)

[thoughtrules]

Was there a single naval architect or scientist interviewed who doesn't wither want business out of this (like the yo yos the CG Committee brought in to testify) or who wants to screw someone over for some reason (like You Tube man, the retired Coastie and the Politicos.)

FINALLY, the story acts like Deepwater has done nothing in four years but waste money and break ships. However, I found several trustable sources that outline incredible process on several fronts that have turned the Coast Guard from an admirable and quaint arm of the Department of Transportation to probably the finest coastal security outfit on Earth. The copters, planes and radar/communications gizmos they have put in the field (or I guess on the sea) are the envy of the world. They would not have been able to be the Only arm of the Fed to actually make great accomplishments after Katrina in New Orleans without the Deepwater stuff. They have stepped up drug interdictions geometrically thanks to the stuff they have. etc, etc. Producers? Steve Kroft? CBS News put their name on that? As someone who defended them back in the Rather days against the right wing Wackos, I'm ashamed.

Anyway, I knew this thing was off from the moment the story clicked off. I found this stuff since then (AND got a good night's sleep.) This is I guess the final evidence that the Tiffany Network is now brought to you by Wal-Mart. At least Steve Kroft looked well tanned. Perhaps his Q ratings went up.

[j4401]

As a former government employee, for many years, I am not at all surprised by this story. These types of issues are so typical in all of "our" government agencies. It is not an issue of "Dem" or "Repub" or "left" or "right." It is all about a total lack of leadership and integrity in all levels of our government. This is the future for your children.

[surfjac]

A few months ago, The New York Times ran a piece on Deepwater citing many of the same things as 60 Minutes. What the Times didn't mention was the speed issue with the National Security Boat. I heard about this through non-media sources. It wasn't really discussed in depth last night but apparently the Boats in question are supposed to travel with Naval Convoys but they are too slow and can't keep up slowing down the entire fleet and reducing the scope of the missions.

Saddest thing is, NO ONE will go to Jail!
They ra$% the american tax payer and no one will go to jail!

[cbse3]

CBS,creditability is getting ALL the story right, even if it takes your whole HOUR to do it.Your head of production who let this story air without many of the hard Q & A'S is just as incompetent as the CG or Government official or government marine engineer who approved the designs and or the changes to the ships in question.
Follow up this story, with "the rest of the story", Paul Harvey made it entertaining and Edward R Murrow got it right.

[blackgaproad]

There are some stories that just don't lend themselves to your 13 minute treatment. Government contracting is almost always boring, except when things go wrong, which they certainly have with the subject patrol boat lengthening program. But in those 13 minutes about all you can do is alarm people. If that was your goal, mission accomplished. You might have given a couple of sentences to explaining that the Coast Guard is saddled with the Deepwater program because Congress for decades never funded them in a manner that would have allowed an orderly replacement of its cutters and aircraft as those assets reached the end of their operational lives.

[ov442]

More rampant cronyism and incompetent deal making at the top of the food chain. If it werent for whistleblowers and media, some of these boats would just be forced into service and our brave and HIGHLY trained coast guard officers would be at unnecessary risk of death and harm due to the equipment failures alone.

They already risk life and limb for our protection from harm and crime, but why would the top levels subject the lower level employees to additional, irresponsible harm for the wealth of giant government contractors with no integrity?.... maybe they should check their offshore accounts for deposits from Northrop Grumman.

[thoughtrules]

Here are some key facts I found out just by doing a little research of my own...Geez...Do you guys have trained and ethical news producers anymore -- or are your "news people" just the nieces and nephews of entertainment division honchos?

The "whistleblower" You Tube guy wasn't removed from the project or fired by Lockheed, as 60 minutes let HIM say (unedited -- which they wouldn't let Admiral Allen be). Rather according to public documents I found he was PROMOTED away from the CG thing to another project, encouraged to communicate his concerns to the shipbuilders, then quit Lockheed on his own accord.

Apparently LM did all sorts of due diligence to see that he was fairly treated in his allegations (a binders worth of documents are in the public record from the LM HR files.) He has been approaching them for a job and increased pay as recently as this year before he made himself a You Tube star. Mmmm... wonder if there is an axe to grind there?

[proud2serve1]

To the writer with the user name "thoughtrules". I share the same opinion and am very saddened by the sloppy reporting of 60 minutes. The ethical level of companies that bid for these multi billion dollar projects is vastly improving (especially since ENRON...companies are investing millions to train employees to do whats right and take the loss over winning unethically). When even one employee slips up the company pays dearly (astronomical fines). To bash NG and LM is stupid. Look at what these companies have given us in the past, and look how many AMERICANS these two companies employ. Further look how many communities these companies support. Everyone wants to insist on large scale corruption.....but remember these aren't shady financial firms with 100 or less employees that could care less about the longevity of the company. Please realize that engineering is never perfect right off the bat. Mistakes can happen, and we learn from them. Is there anyway we could contact 60 minutes and demand the unedited interview/debate?

[stooge36]

How could such a blatantly nonsensical acquisition approach get funded for like four years in a row? Steve Kroft could have posed that question to Rep Cummings of Maryland (home of Lockheed Martin) and/or Rep Taylor of Mississippi (home of Northrop Grumman's Gulfport shipyard), but didn't. Perhaps Rep Taylor could have stood while posing his stupefying question and avoided the awkward silence by asking AND answering his own question. I've always considered the phrase "responsible journalism" to be somewhat of an oxymoron. In this case, Steve Kroft may have fallen three letters short.

[tlosert]

As a mother of a son in the USCG and also a retired Naval Chief, I am appalled at the way the USCG chain of command runs its organization. No wonder the USCG is in the shape that it is in when they have the level of incompetence serving at the helm. The Navy is by no means perfect, but we take the morale and the needs of our Sailors to be as important as that of our mission, because to be able to complete our mission, we MUST have our Sailors at their best. Our Sailors are proud to keep their ships in the best shape, the mission on time and the dollars well spent. USCG....take lessons.

[ilovethecg]

All of you people posting comments that watched the show are taking ONE VIEWPOINT and calling it gospel. I have to say that I LIVE the job and we are not falling short on ANY of our responsibilities because of the Deepwater project. The CG does a lot for our country and it seems that everyone here badmouths decisions and actions that they know nothing about, nor do they have the ability to fully explore the entire situation. Our service has been running on empty since the beginning as far as funding goes. I read an earlier post that stated that if the CG was given proper funding over the years we wouldn't be in this mess and I agree fully. We have always gone above and beyond with little money, fewer people and less resources that any other service. We save lives, stop drugs from hitting the streets, protect the environment and the coast. I love being in the CG and I trust fully and even if this mess takes another 10 years to sort out we will STILL BE OUT THERE FOR YOU.

[ilovethecg]

TLOSERT: I respect you as a CPO, but let me give you an example of the what we face in the CG as opposed to the Navy. As I write this I am looking across the waterway at a NAVY vessel that is on its way to being decomissioned. Guess when it was built? Sometime in the 80's!! I just came off of a ship that was built in the 60s and was decomissioned once and brought back into the service. Lets talk funding, shall we? How much do you think that pretty grey Navy vessel cost to make? And how long did it run for? And now it shall be a wonderful artificial reef somewhere for the pretty fish to swim around. And what do we have? A failing program? Yup. But guess what? WE PAY TAXES TOO AND WE AREN'T COMPLAINING, we are IN the CG and we AREN'T COMPLAINING. Yes, are cutters are aged, and YES we put a lot of hours into keeping these old things afloat. NO we do NOT complain because we know that the COAST GUARD didn't implement the Deepwter project, a few people made the wrong choice on which contactors to go with. Am I suffering because of it? Sometimes. Do I think my service is failing its duty? NO WAY. So you can talk all you want about the CG and how upset you are. I will hand you a tissue and smile because you don't have a leg to stand on when you "Navy" is sinking a ship that we would love to have for our service because that is what we do......take the old, make it ours and make it WORK.

[imispgh]

thoughtrules
Seems like you have access to private information of mine you should not. If you have that information you would know the info you put out is incorrect, incomplete and therefore your accusation is slander. Let's have your real name.
I did not leave LM willingly. I was forced out. I have many documents to prove it including my fighting until the last day. As for the promotion to Colorado. The Moorestown org removed me from DW against my will. Then my manager retaliated gainst me in my performance appraisal - as he said he would- then I was given projects that were well below the level I had been working. I posted elsewhwere and received a promotion to NORAD. (Something no one in NJ had a thing to do with). Then I was put on a "reduction in force list" 2 years later because I was unwilling to lie about the state of the NORAD contract just to keep our contractor staff from looking for other jobs. When i tried to move again I was told by LM personnel who interviewed me that 2 of my last 3 appraisals were so damaging no one would hire me. I have emails to prove that.

[imispgh]

thoughtrules
As for the radios being waterproof. Your comment is inane. Fisrt - no one expects a radio to work under water. We are talking about rain, sea spray and momentary dunking due to waves. Second - the CG didn't pick a radio LM did. The CG specified technical and environmental requirements. They picked one the CG did like elsewhere but that was on the bridge of the 270s where it was MUCH drier. The LM PM who picked it had no C4ISR background and had no idea he should have looked at the environmental requirements.
Again - what is your name and where did you get the data? Feel free to contact me through my email associated with the YouTube video. And. . feel free to keep pushing back I have no problem proving my side.

[imispgh]

thoughtrules
One more point on the radios. The radio was not hand-held - or a walkie talkie as you put it. It was mounted in the dash. Seems like you should get your arm around the facts a bit more. And again. . .to think my issue was that it wouldn't transmit under water is ridiculous. It wouldn't and needed to work in the rain, in sea spray and wave conditions

[cgmember]

I love the way everyone jumps on the band wagon when they see a mistake...evn without really knowing the full story!

This interview and video is ridiculous. Everything about it from the congressmen, to the whistleblower, and especially the sensationlist reporter...my god could you make it any more Jerry Springerish?

I won't go into the specifics of the contract or shipbiuilding, but I will comment on the CG's readiness and stance. The USCG, even before 9:11, was responsible for protection of US waterways, coastline, ship inspections, and a thousand other assignments the general public never hears about could even fathom. We performed these jobs with equipment and personnel shortages then...just as we perform them now! We have never faultered in our job because we were short on something. We made due and got the job done. We are a small and very proud service with many, many jobs that we do very well.

My real point of posting here is to advise anyone to not listen to this kind of sensationlism reporting and learn the facts for yourself. I've always had a high opinion of 60 Minutes until I saw this video. I was involved in the Deepwater project for some while and that gives me very good insight on just how realistic this report is...and in my opinion it is simply a weak attempt at stirring controversy vs showing the real CG. 60 Minutes should try to save face and leave this type of reporting to Springer.