Darleen Druyun
Encyclopedia
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
civilian official (Principal Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for Acquisition) and Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
executive.
Education
Druyun graduated from Chaminade University of HonoluluChaminade University of Honolulu
Chaminade University of Honolulu is a private co-educational university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Founded in 1955 by the Society of Mary, a Roman Catholic religious order also known as the Marianists, Chaminade is located in the historic Kaimuki district of Honolulu. Chaminade offers...
and the executive education program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
Air Force
In 1993 Darleen Druyun was investigated for her involvement in a plan to speed up payments by the Air Force to McDonnell DouglasMcDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
http://www.govexec.com/features/0204/0204s1s1.htm. Although several other people involved were discharged, Druyun kept her position. In 2000 Druyun sent the resumes of her daughter, a recent college graduate, and her daughter's fiancé, a published PhD Aeronautical Engineer, to Boeing and both were hired.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/04/60II/main664652.shtml Although this was a conflict of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
, it was not illegal.
After leaving the Air Force in 2003 she took a job with Boeing at an annual salary of $250,000 She also received a $50,000 signing bonus.
Boeing
In May 2003, the United States Air ForceUnited States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
announced it would lease 100 KC-767 tankers to replace the oldest 136 of its KC-135
KC-135 Stratotanker
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an aerial refueling military aircraft. It and the Boeing 707 airliner were developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype. The KC-135 was the US Air Force's first jet-powered refueling tanker and replaced the KC-97 Stratotanker...
s. The 10 year lease would give the USAF the option to purchase the aircraft at the end of the contract. In September 2003, responding to critics who argued that the lease was vastly more expensive than an outright purchase, the United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
announced a revised lease. In November 2003, the Air Force decided it would lease 20 KC-767 aircraft and purchase 80 tankers.
Buying one KC-767 outright costs $150 million. The contract called for 100 aircraft being purchased or leased at an aggregate price of $26b, or $260m per plane. Therefore, the contract, if it had been executed, would have forced the DOD to pay Boeing much more money for each plane than it would have had to if the aircraft were purchased individually.
In December 2003, the Pentagon announced the project was to be frozen while an investigation of allegations of corruption by Druyun (who had moved to Boeing in January 2003) was begun. Druyun pleaded guilty to inflating the price of the contract to favor her future employer and to passing information on the competing Airbus A330 MRTT
Airbus A330 MRTT
The Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport is an aerial refuelling tanker aircraft based on the civilian Airbus A330-200. The A330 MRTT has been ordered by the Royal Australian Air Force , Royal Air Force , United Arab Emirates Air Force, and Royal Saudi Air Force...
bid (from EADS
EADS
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. is a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading defence and military contractor worldwide...
). In October 2004, she was sentenced to nine months in jail for corruption, fined $5,000, given three years of supervised release and 150 hours of community service. She began her prison term on January 5, 2005. She was released from prison on September 30, 2005. The ramifications extended to Boeing CFO Michael M. Sears
Michael M. Sears
Michael M. Sears is a former Boeing executive.In 1992 Mr. Sears led the successful development of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, cited as the best managed aircraft program in U.S. Department of Defense history. In 1997, Mr. Sears was President of the Douglas Aircraft Company division of McDonnell...
, who was fired from Boeing, and Boeing CEO Phil Condit resigned. On February 18, 2005, Sears was sentenced to four months in prison. Boeing ended up paying a $615 million fine for their involvement. According to The Federal Times, Darleen Druyun will still be receiving a federal pension.http://www.federaltimes.com/index.php?S=1813458
CBS News called it "the biggest Pentagon scandal in 20 years" and said that she pled guilty to a felony.
Druyun was also found guilty in awarding the initial Small Diameter Bomb
Small Diameter Bomb
The GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb is a 250 pound guided bomb that is intended to provide aircraft with the ability to carry a higher number of bombs...
contract to Boeing.
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
stated that he was told that "what she did was acquire a great deal of authority and make a lot of decisions, and there was very little adult supervision."