Boeing critic under consideration for top acquisition post

The White House is considering Ken Krieg, the Pentagon's chief program evaluator and a critic of the Air Force's plan to acquire Boeing KC-767 refueling tankers, to fill the department's top acquisition post, according to sources close to the Pentagon.

Krieg, considered a key adviser in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's inner circle, serves as the Pentagon's director for program analysis and evaluation.

He garnered attention last year when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., revealed a chain of internal Pentagon e-mails in which Krieg appeared to have come under pressure from acting Pentagon acquisition czar Michael Wynne and top Air Force officials to back the Boeing deal. Krieg concluded in a memo that the original Boeing proposal violated two key government accounting rules and therefore violated legislation authorizing the deal.

Sources say Krieg is among a handful of top Rumsfeld aides who crafted the Program Budget Decision, a document proposing sweeping cuts in 36 Pentagon programs, such as the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor and the C-130J transport plane. But one industry source familiar with Krieg said it is not clear what role he might have played in writing the proposal, approved last month by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

"Any criticism leveled at Ken for his role in either the tanker or [the budget proposal] has to be put in the context of what his job is right now," the industry source said. "And that is to question, and to get to all the facts." The industry source added Krieg is a "thoughtful, responsible and bright fellow who will do a good job." The source also said Krieg is the kind of Pentagon insider who has Rumsfeld's ear, and "anyone in industry who talks to him can be assured their thoughts will be carried to the inner circle."

Krieg was described last year by Business Executives for National Security, a Washington consulting group, as someone on the front lines of Rumsfeld's "battle on bureaucracy," and someone who believes the department's system rewards poor performance. Krieg believes remodeling the Pentagon budget process is essential to improving national security and the private sector can be a model, according to information on the BENS Web site.

Krieg joined the Pentagon in July 2001 as the executive secretary of the Senior Executive Council: Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, the service secretaries, and the undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. The group provides independent advice to Rumsfeld on defense systems, programs and investment alternatives, and resource allocation.

Congressional aides said the White House had been considering Navy Assistant Secretary John Young to fill the acquisition post, though any pending nomination could be complicated by a statute that requires candidates to possess extensive management experience in the private sector, which Young lacks.