Selling Government By the Pound

Ah, the strange saga of the snooping State Department workers who looked in on Barack Obama's passport files—to find what? That the "young, ambitious mulatto boy by the name of Barrick O'bam" (see the parody video here [1]) spent his 1974 Occidental College spring break surfing in North Korea? Then we found out Clinton's files had been rifled too, until paranoia turned to relief when we learned that John McCain, and even Anna Nicole Smith— [2]at least twenty times—had been snooped as well, by, apparently, merely two prurient loose canons working for State Department contractors Stanley Inc. and The Analysis Corporation (TAC), already fired. Move along, nothing to see; TAC's CEO, it turned out, is even an Obama contributor and advisor. [3]

Of course, if I were a Karl Rove type, and wanted to dig up secret intel on the Democratic enemy, what better way to cover my tracks than a cover story like this? Fun to speculate. If by "fun," of course, you mean "horrifying." It's sad the paranoid degradation the conservatives running our government have reduced us to, these days.

So maybe there's no story. But only if, deep in the weeds, through the looking glass, you miss the forest for the, as it were, grassy knoll. For the real scandal, of course, is hiding in plain site. What the hell are we doing outsourcing some of the the most sensitive matters of privacy and national security to dodgy for-profit companies? As Susie Madrick points out [4], TAC has delayed firing their snooper, "at the request of the State Department." And, as this chemist/blogger points out [5], "No doubt this will result in a flood of rule making and billable hours for consultants."

A lucrative business, picking government clean and selling it off the the highest bidder. Here's Stanley proudly announcing [6] its over half-a-billion dollar contract "to Continue Support of Passport Program," just two weeks before the scandal broke:

ARLINGTON, Va., March 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Stanley, Inc. (NYSE: SXE), a leading provider of systems integration and professional services to the U.S. federal government, today announced that it was awarded a five-year, $570 million contract to continue support of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs/Passport Services Directorate. Services include production, operational and business process support training, procurement, administration and evaluation of critical supplies, and facilities management support at the four Passport Centers and 14 Passport Agencies nationwide along with the Headquarters' support offices.

The Department of State produced more than 18 million U.S. passports in the past year. Passport production for 2008 is estimated to be significantly higher, due primarily to increased demand as a result of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). With the award of this contract, Stanley will continue its key role supporting the Department of State and providing timely services to the American public.

"Stanley is honored to continue its support services to the Department of State," said Phil Nolan, Stanley's chairman, president and CEO. "We will dedicate all resources necessary to assist Passport Services during this time of unprecedented growth and increasing demand resulting from the WHTI."

"For more than 15 years, Stanley and our team members have had the privilege of supporting our customer's critical mission," added Paul Belanger, Stanley senior vice president. "This award is a testament to the dedicated customer service that our employees provide to the Department of State and we look forward to supporting Passport Services over the next five years under this contract."

This contract award follows Stanley's announcement in December 2007 that it had begun construction of a secure passport production center in Tucson, Ariz., expected to begin operations in spring 2008. The Tucson Passport Center and an existing facility in Hot Springs, Ark., opened in March 2007, were authorized under a 10-year Department of State contract in October 2006, initially valued at $164 million. Stanley oversees operations and the printing, quality control and mailing of U.S. passports and other travel documents at these locations

"Unprecedented growth." Nice work if you can get it. As we point out here [7] at The Big Con:

The idea that government can and should be administered by a disinterested and expert corps of public-minded civil servants is foreign to conservatism. Conservatives don’t believe that such a person can exist because they can't imagine serving the public without a profit-motive.

Cronyism is not merely incidental to conservative ideology, it’s instrumental to it. The idea was introduced in 1966 when Ronald Reagan, as a candidate for California governor, proposed turning over the state’s public agencies to the management of businessmen, calling it the "Creative Society."

Can't but wonder how "competitive" the bidding process was for that contract. Or how alike, or different, it was from the way the dearly departed [8] Alphonso Jackson, late of HUD, handles the people's business.