Pentagon blasts KBR's operation on Katrina contracts

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By Michael Newsom | Biloxi Sun Herald

A Pentagon investigative report alleges the firm KBR Inc. held an illegal contract, overcharged millions to the Navy and produced shoddy workmanship on its South Mississippi jobs after Katrina.

A report released by the Department of Defense's Office of the Inspector General says KBR worked on Navy facilities in Gulfport, Pascagoula, at Stennis Space Center and in Pensacola, among other Gulf Coast sites after hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. The group holds a $500 million disaster-recovery contract with the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic based in Norfolk, Va., which was struck in 2004.

KBR received the deal from the federal government while it was a subsidiary of Haliburton, for which Vice President Dick Cheney is a former chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Cheney resigned from his Haliburton post to be President Bush's running mate in 2000.

Read the complete story and the IG report at sunherald.com

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