Aug 20, 2016 – Defective combat helmets produced for the US military using prison labor in Texas put soldiers’ lives at risk, according to a report released Wednesday by a Justice Department watchdog agency. <br />Nearly 150,000 of the helmets were manufactured between 2006 and 2009, a period during which the White House ordered “surges” in combat troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan. <br /> <br />However, investigators did not uncover any evidence that soldiers or marines had died as a result of defects in the helmets, which failed ballistics tests and were made with substandard materials. <br /> <br />All the helmets were recalled or quarantined by military officials. Total costs to the government amounted to $19 million. <br /> <br />ArmorSource, an Ohio defense contractor tasked with making the bulk of the helmets, agreed with the Justice Department in March to pay $3 million for producing the defective equipment under the False Claims Act. <br /> <br />Paul Garcia, chief contracting officer at ArmorSource, told AFP that his company had no comment. ArmorSource continues to supply equipment to the Defense Department. <br /> <br />ArmorSource subcontracted much of the helmet manufacture to Unicor, a wholly-owned government corporation operated within the US Bureau of Prisons to employ federal inmates. <br /> <br />According to the report, Unicor directed inmates to falsify manufacturing records to indicate helmets had passed inspection. In at least one instance, a Defense Department inspector certified entire lots of helmets over a fax machine, according to the report. <br /> <br />Workers pried open finished helmet shells to stuff the ear sections with scrap Kevlar and Kevlar dust. They also switched or doctored serial numbers, the report said. <br /> <br />An unannounced visit by inspectors in 2010 at a federal prison in Beaumont, Texas found inmate employees using dangerous improvised tools, “degrading prison security,” the report said. <br /> <br />The Bureau of Prisons told AFP that Unicor had improved quality management and reacted “immediately” upon learning of the manufacturing concerns. <br />http://marygreeley.com/?page_id=34748
