Editorial: Demotion raises many questions

Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005 | 8:40 a.m.

Serious questions are raised when a woman with three master's degrees, 30 years of experience, sterling evaluations, a top position with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a reputation for professionalism is demoted by the Pentagon following her public criticisms of no-bid contracts issued to Halliburton. Is the Pentagon vigorously investigating her criticisms? Have any laws been broken? Doesn't she deserve whistleblower protection? Will her concerns be reviewed in public? And why is Halliburton, headed by Dick Cheney before he became vice president, getting billions of dollars worth of extended contracts with no requirement to compete with other bidders?

With none of these questions answered satisfactorily, either by the Pentagon or Halliburton, Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse was officially demoted Saturday following two years of having the sword of Damocles hanging over her head. Greenhouse, whose title in the Corps of Engineers was Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (PARC), was reassigned to a much lower-level position. She had been the Corps' top procurement officer since 1997, overseeing billions of dollars worth of contracts to private companies for support services to troops.

In a lengthy article earlier this month, Associated Press writer Deborah Hastings tried to get answers to the questions about why Greenhouse was fighting for her job after such a long and praiseworthy career, but she was stonewalled. What Hastings did discover, though, is that Greenhouse has long questioned Halliburton's lucrative contracts with the Pentagon. Greenhouse criticized a 2000 Halliburton contract for services to troops in Bosnia, saying costs were "spiraling out of control," Hastings reported. In 2003 Greenhouse also objected to three contracts, worth as much as $20 billion, awarded to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root for support services in Iraq. Two of the contracts were awarded without competitive bidding, Hastings wrote. Greenhouse took her concerns to Congress and after that her demotion became just a matter of time.

Retired Lt. Gen. Joe Ballard, who hired Greenhouse when he commanded the Corps, assessed her fate. "What Bunny is caught up in is politics of the highest damn order," he told Hastings. "She is probably the most professional person I've ever met. And she plays it straight. That created problems for her after I left."

Partly because of Greenhouse's allegations that the Pentagon was giving Halliburton preferential treatment, the FBI last fall expanded an ongoing investigation of the Dallas-based company. We hope the scope of the investigation includes whether the Pentagon retaliated against Greenhouse for going public with her concerns.