Letters

No Justice

Druyun, who held a Senior Executive Service position with the Air Force-the equivalent of a three-star general-was in a position of public trust. She squandered hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on government contracts that helped her get a six-figure job with Boeing and jobs for family members. Stewart gained a few hundred thousand dollars on some stock she sold.

Druyun got seven months in a halfway house and a $5,000 fine, and Stewart got five months in prison. The punishments do not seem proportionate.

I have not read anything about stripping Druyun of her civil service pension, which she earned while committing her numerous federal felonies, or about what the Air Force ethics officials were doing during this period. As an SES employee, Druyun had to file annual financial disclosure reports listing not only her assets but the positions of her immediate family members as well. She also was required to file such a report before and after she retired from the Air Force, indicating what her future employment would be. There should have been ethics concerns raised years ago, unless, of course, Druyun lied on her annual disclosure reports-another federal offense.

As an SESer involved in procurement, Druyun was supposed to have received annual training that would have covered the exact things she has been found guilty of doing with Boeing. She is a poster child for everything a senior government official in contracting is not supposed to do. The Air Force needs to investigate and review its ethics training, if there is any, and how it monitors its standards of ethical conduct.

Gender Trapped

William N. Rudman's heart is in the right place, but he is the master of understatement.

In "The Gender Trap" (Sept. 1), not only is Paul Straughn's case not unique, but by the very definition of the government's forced diversity policies, cases similar to Straughn's occur dozens, if not hundreds, of times every single day throughout all government agencies.

Under dubious and constitutionally questionable law, employment selection procedures (or tests) must result in a "proportionate number" of minorities being hired or promoted. This policy predictably, automatically and inevitably causes cases such as Straughn's.

As Rudman points out, almost tongue in cheek, "Victims often are dissuaded from filing complaints by the draining and costly investigation and appeals process." Not to mention the fear of retaliation.

The precise federal definition of "hiring by colors and numbers" is contained in the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. Published in 1978 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Justice and Labor departments, and the late Civil Service Commission, it remains the bible for affirmative discrimination.

Correction

In the Nov. 1 article, "Filling Out the Ranks in Iraq," Brad Freeman's title was misidentified. Freeman is the chief of contract business operations for Defense Contract Management Agency's international division in Alexandria, Va.