Darleen A. Druyun (born November 7, 1947) is a former United States Air Force civilian official (Principal Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for Acquisition) and Boeing executive.
Contents |
Druyun graduated from Chaminade University of Honolulu and the executive education program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
In 1993 Darleen Druyun was investigated for her involvement in a plan to speed up payments by the Air Force to McDonnell Douglas [1]. Although several other people involved were discharged, Druyun kept her position. In 2000 Druyun sent the resumes of her daughter, a recent college graduate, and her daughter's fiancé, a published PhD Aeronautical Engineer, to Boeing and both were hired.[2] Although this was a conflict of interest, it was not illegal. After leaving the Air Force in 2003 she took a job with Boeing at an annual salary of $250,000[1] She also received a $50,000 signing bonus.
In May 2003, the United States Air Force announced it would lease 100 KC-767 tankers to replace the oldest 136 of its KC-135s. The 10 year lease would give the USAF the option to purchase the aircraft at the end of the contract. In September 2003, responding to critics who argued that the lease was vastly more expensive than an outright purchase, the United States Department of Defense announced a revised lease. In November 2003, the Air Force decided it would lease 20 KC-767 aircraft and purchase 80 tankers.[2]
Buying one KC-767 outright costs $150 million. The contract called for 100 aircraft being purchased or leased at an aggregate price of $26b, or $260m per plane. Therefore, the contract, if it had been executed, would have forced the DOD to pay Boeing much more money for each plane than it would have had to if the aircraft were purchased individually.
In December 2003, the Pentagon announced the project was to be frozen while an investigation of allegations of corruption by Druyun (who had moved to Boeing in January 2003) was begun. Druyun pleaded guilty to inflating the price of the contract to favor her future employer and to passing information on the competing Airbus A330 MRTT bid (from EADS). In October 2004, she was sentenced to nine months in jail for corruption, fined $5,000, given three years of supervised release and 150 hours of community service. She began her prison term on January 5, 2005.[3] She was released from prison on September 30, 2005. The ramifications extended to Boeing CFO Michael M. Sears, who was fired from Boeing, and Boeing CEO Phil Condit resigned. On February 18, 2005, Sears was sentenced to four months in prison. Boeing ended up paying a $615 million fine for their involvement.[4] According to The Federal Times, Darleen Druyun will still be receiving a federal pension.[3]
CBS News called it "the biggest Pentagon scandal in 20 years" and said that she pled guilty to a felony.[5]
Druyun was also found guilty in awarding the initial Small Diameter Bomb contract to Boeing.[6]
Donald Rumsfeld stated that he was told that "what she did was acquire a great deal of authority and make a lot of decisions, and there was very little adult supervision."[7]