Industry ethics: going beyond the call of duty.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 July 2009
• Author: Farrell, Lawrence P., Jr.

A seemingly endless stream of bad news about U.S. weapon programs should cause all of us to revisit our approach to ethics in the defense industry.

Last year, the Government Accountability Office sent shockwaves through the defense community when it reported $300 billion in cost overruns in 96 major weapons systems, which were on average 22 months behind schedule. These findings were reported by every major news media, including a recent New York Times editorial, titled, "Military-Industrial Redux."

Following these revelations of massive cost overruns, Congress embarked on new procurement reform legislation and the Defense Department announced the hiring of 20,000 civil servants for engineering and management jobs to tighten up oversight of acquisition programs. These measures should help to turn around the negative trends in program performance.

But these developments also should offer industry an opportunity to ponder...