The open secret-that nobody wanted to acknowledge.

Sitting in the lounge minding my time until I can make the jump back across the pond and away from American Political Commercials. They suck-especially Romney's.

Speaking of "suckage", I noted with satisfaction-GREAT SATISFACTION-the other day the following story in the Washington Post:

President Obama is set to approve the appointment of a one-star admiral to replace Army Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly, who is leaving early as director of the Missile Defense Agency after a critical Pentagon inspector general report concluded he had intimidated subordinates and demoralized the key strategic defense agency.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has signed off on the expected White House appointment of Rear Adm. James D. Syring to be the next MDA director, according to defense and congressional officials. Paperwork for the appointment is said to be waiting White House approval.

Syring is currently a senior weapons acquisition official at the Navy who took part in developing the service’s next generation destroyer, known as DDG 1000.

O’Reilly, MDA director since 2008, is being let go before the completion of his four-year appointment in November, following the IG report that concluded he violated joint military ethics rules and Army regulations a head of the agency.

 

Could not be happening to a more deserving individual.

Now, truth in advertising-I am not just an impartial observer of this story. I am a victim of the carnage the man unleashed. If you followed the travails of my previous employer in the past year of posts you will know how brutally his contracting strategy screwed up the lives of literally thousands of people. Me? I am one of the lucky ones. Proving that God looks out for fools and drunks-I was , by the grace of God, able to secure my present employment. Which is indeed a blessing. 

I also had a chance to witness the man’s “leadership” style up close and personal during my time in Romania. While I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, I have to cite his visit to the country as the low point of my time working there. And as the IG report noted-I got to be a witness to his personally making his country and his agency look poorly in the eyes of a nation that wishes to be our ally. It’s a story to be told someday, but now is most definitely not the time.

But if you want some insight into the man-just download a copy of the IG report. I assure you its not fiction:

 

The IG's office interviewed O'Reilly and 37 other witnesses to his behavior before issuing the scathing report. The inspectors determined that although O'Reilly has had a distinguished, multi-decade career in the military and is known to be a hard worker who gets things done, his management of the MDA office has been nothing short of disastrous.

Here are some of the descriptions of his leadership given by subordinates and highlighted in the report:

— The worst manager I've worked for in 26 years of public service;

— As a leader, as a director, whatever, he's the worst; (Emphasis mine-because I firmly believe it. SS)

— In terms of leadership, bottom;

— Absolutely last, out of all the generals I've served under;

— Without a doubt . . . the worst leader I've worked for, the worst;

— He has probably been 100 degrees out from everything I've learned about leadership;

— How not to act;

— What doesn't kill you makes you stronger; and

— Not the command climate I would have set.

In one incident, O'Reilly screamed at an employee for 10-15 minutes in a hotel lobby because the employee booked a hotel with the word "resort" in its title. O'Reilly was afraid of news stories that would make MDA seem like it was living it up on trips. The employee reported that O'Reilly forced him/her to curse in admitting the mistake, even though that employee didn't want to use profanity.

"You [f—–] up, you tell me you [f—– up], admit you [f—–] up," O'Reilly screamed at the staffer, according to the witness. "This is [f——-] unacceptable. I want you to tell me you[f—–] up."

"I [f—–] up," the staffer finally said, after trying to explain him/herself in a more nuanced way.

Other witnesses said that O'Reilly often screamed and yelled during video conferences and staff meetings, which discouraged staff from speaking up at meetings for fear of being berated. One witness described O'Reilly's personality as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Other witness statements about O'Reilly's leadership described it as "condescending, sarcastic, abusive," "management by blowtorch and pliers," and one senior official compared the senior staff's predicament to "beaten wife syndrome."

A senior MDA official told the IG that "LTG O'Reilly would 'berate you, make you feel like you're the dirt beneath his feet,' then pay a compliment to rebuild the employee, and later repeat that cycle," the IG report stated. 

 

Which, as one employee noted is kind of like abused spouse syndrome.

I have three specific issues with the O’Reilly case:

1)  O’Reilly’s tactics were an open secret in Washington and in the services who are the ultimate consumers of the products the agency produces. They could have acted through independent channels much earlier-to put the man out to pasture. They didn’t-and so the carnage continued. The IG report came out long after the storm had blown its worst.

2)  In an age where people are cost conscious, O’Reilly’s decisions were costing the government money. As I documented last year during my own personal travails with the agency’s incredibly screwed up MIDAESS contracts,  the program did not save any money-but it did break up a lot of effective teams and drove salaries down ; for no real benefit. In terms of material costs-decisions he made actually added costs to programs. Again this was known to a lot of people-but no one of consequence was able to stop it.

3)  The worst part is that , there is no end of speculation one could make as to what could have been delivered had O’Reilly actually empowered his subordinates.  He worked under a “divide and conquer” strategy, which effectively drove all decisions up to the highest level possible. The agency has some of the smartest people working for it that I have ever met-but people also crave some freedom of action. As the IG noted, a lot of good talent was driven out of the door. ( Some of those were not long mourned for deserving reasons-but the turmoil it created was still there regardless). 

 

It would be better for all concerned if the Army made a visible statement by publicly dismissing O’Reilly; forcing him to retire as a two star-rather than just letting him go away quietly. That’s what Mullen did with Sestak-and it was exactly the right thing to do for the purpose of restoring confidence in “the process”. Here we live in a day when we fire O-5’s and O-6’s for far less-why not do something to restore faith in the acquisition process? 

Perhaps the rot in the acquisition world, however, is deeper than this one guy. My gut feelings and my firsthand knowledge, tell me yes.

One final point-and its worth noting. Look at any picture of O'Reilly and you will not see any indication of having been "on the line". The simple truth is, that he was a creature produced by the acquisition community. It reaffirms for me-that major program positions need to come from the "line". If you need acquisition experienced personnel-that is what your civilian workforce is for. All the services need to re-look its ways that it grows 'acquisition' officers.