Wanted: army contracting officers.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: WASHINGTON PULSE: NEWS FROM INSIDE THE BELTWAY

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In past presidential elections, candidates often have vowed to "clean up Washington" and downsize the "bloated" federal bureaucracy. That anti-government mindset ultimately left military agencies ill-equipped and under-staffed to properly oversee wartime contracting, said acting undersecretary of the Army Nelson M. Ford. Abuses and corruption in wartime contracts, especially for Iraq reconstruction and other projects, is a problem that was "a decade or more in the making," Ford said.

Now the Army is...