U.S. Special Counsel Ordered Investigation of Whistleblower Disclosure Still Pending As Hurricane Season Begins

In September of 2007 the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) ordered Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, to conduct an investigation into the allegation that defective pumping equipment was delivered and installed at the three new gated closure structures in New Orleans. These are the main pumps protecting the city of New Orleans in the event of a major hurricane or flood. OSC said in its letter to Gates that they concluded the allegations made by this whistleblower had a substantial likelihood of validity and that these pumps are “inherently flawed” due to poor design and have still not been properly tested.

Also, the OSC went on to state this same pumping equipment had previously malfunctioned under favorable contractor testing conditions and was subsequently shown to be defective, yet was knowingly installed by the Corps of Engineers.

In addition, the OSC went on further to state the whistleblower, a veteran Corps engineer who was the Team Leader of Pumping Systems Installation for New Orleans, alleged USACE employees and MWI (the pump manufacturer) circumvented contract requirements in an effort to complete the task, all at the expense of public safety. It was reported that key safeguards were circumvented and “there is an erroneous assumption that…hydraulic pumps are fully operational, and hence, the risk to the public remains high,” in the words of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

We should have seen something reported on the status of this investigation over six months ago. Hurricane season started this weekend and we still don’t have any answers?! There doesn’t seem to be much urgency attached to this investigation. Maybe the Secretary of Defense is too busy handling other matters?

Failure of this pumping equipment to function properly during a time of flooding is yet another catastrophic event in waiting for New Orleans, a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

If true, given the hardships suffered by the People of New Orleans, the United States Government can ill afford to take unnecessary risks with public safety due to faulty pumping equipment and lack of proper government oversight; a situation that indeed raises serious issues of public safety and government oversight.