From the International Herald Tribune:
The Coast Guard, supposedly America's first line of defense against water-borne terrorists and drug smugglers, has been staggered by a shipbuilding scandal of enormous proportions. A long-term modernization program to replace nearly all of the Coast Guard's ships, planes and helicopters — begun four years ago in the wake of 9/11 — is foundering while its projected costs are skyrocketing. ...
The misjudgments and slipshod work would be grist for slapstick comedy if the consequences, in cost and weakened defenses, were not so serious. The estimated costs of the project, known as Deepwater, have ballooned from $17 billion when it started in 2002 to $24 billion today. The plans call for 91 new ships, 124 small boats, 195 new or rebuilt helicopters and 49 unmanned aerial vehicles. But don't count on any of the new vehicles working.
Now, you are probably wondering, who is the central beneficiary of this beyond-outrageous-floppo. Read on, and prepare to not be surprised.
According to ThinkProgress:
Donald “Boysie” Bollinger, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bollinger Shipyards, “has been a friend of George W. Bush for a quarter century.” CQ Today reported in 2004 that “Bollinger has known Bush since 1980″ and has twice served as Bush’s Louisiana campaign chair. In 2004, Bollinger became a Bush “Super Ranger” after “bringing in more than $300,000″ for the campaign.
Back to the IHT:
The initial venture — converting the Coast Guard's rusting patrol boats into bigger, more versatile cutters — has been canceled because hull cracks and engine failures made the first eight ships unseaworthy. Plans for a new class of ships with an innovative hull design were halted after the design was found to be flawed. And even the radios placed in small open boats proved faulty; they shorted out because they had not been made waterproof.
In the latest chapter in this disgraceful performance, the Coast Guard did not inform Congress that it was warned two years ago by its chief engineer that a proposed National Security Cutter, meant to be the flagship of its fleet, had "significant flaws" in its structural design and should not be started until the problems were addressed. The Coast Guard began construction anyway. It plans to reinforce the first two versions that are being built and change the design on the remaining six.
Evidently the entire modernization project was given to Lockheed Martin and Grumman Northrup, in some sort of post 9/11-"throwing money around/let's privatize it" kind of deal. The Coast Guard seems to have had minimal control. The two giant contractors apparently farmed out the ship work to Bollinger shipyards, whose design was, as they say, "flawed."
Geez. Whose committee will be investigating this shit?