Since the first of the year, the Pentagon Inspector General has released three of eight reports of investigation into programs that may have been tainted by Darleen Druyun—the one-time Air Force acquisition official who served time in prison for violating ethics rules, principally for favoring Boeing on contract awards to secure a job for herself and relatives. One investigation reviewed the procurement of a new aircraft cargo loader—dubbed the Tunner by the Air Force—and found Druyun “influenced” the source of repair for the new loader, directing the work to Systems & Electronics Inc. The other two concerned the C-5 avionics modernization program and F-16 simulator services, in both of which the IG found that Druyun had favored Lockheed Martin.
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.