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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has given the defense contracting
agency Titan more
than a half million dollars in brand-new contracts for Hurricane Katrina.
Here are the top five reasons this was a very bad idea:
TORTURE: Titan is under two different federal investigations
for its role in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. The Taguba report – the
official government report into the prison abuse — found a Titan employee
committed “indecent
acts” and was involved in “cruelty
and maltreatment” of Iraqi prisoners.
NEGLIGENCE: Titan bilked the U.S. government out of millions
of dollars by sending hundreds of unqualified interpreters to Iraq. On top of
that, Pentagon auditors recommended withholding $4.9 million from Titan’s
Iraq translator contract due to questionable billing practices.
ESPIONAGE: Another Titan employee working at the prison in
Guantanamo Bay was sentenced to 20 months in prison for espionage
against the United States.
BRIBERY: In March 2003, Titan admitted guilt in an “international
bribery scheme.” The company had to pay $28,500 to the SEC for trying
to influence the presidential election of the West African nation of Benin.
CHEATING: A federal inspector general report last year found
Titan overcharged
American taxpayers for a troop counseling contract. The company gave nearly
all of the work to a subcontractor, yet added its own fee to each of the invoices.
The report charged: “We believe that Titan’s fee could represent
largely unnecessary costs to the government.”
