{"id":125881,"date":"2019-07-28T07:21:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T11:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=125881"},"modified":"2019-07-28T07:21:44","modified_gmt":"2019-07-28T11:21:44","slug":"cloudgate-oracle-document-proves-massive-amazon-conspiracy-to-win-dod-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=125881","title":{"rendered":"CLOUDgate: Oracle Document Proves Massive AMAZON Conspiracy to Win DOD Contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Oracle Document Claiming an Amazon ‘Conspiracy’ to Win Military Contract Makes It to Trump’s Desk<\/h1>\n

Tom McKay
\nGIZMODO<\/p>\n

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\"Illustration<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Photo: Charles Dharapak (AP)<\/h5>\n

Aides to Donald Trump presented him with a document identical to one created by a top Washington lobbyist for cloud-computing giant Oracle, Kenneth Glueck, implying that competitor Amazon is only a favored contender for a major contract with the U.S. military due to a far-ranging \u201cconspiracy\u201d orchestrated by Jeff Bezos,\u00a0CNN reported<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday.<\/p>\n

According to CNN, the one-page document is the result of a squabble over the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) project, a $10 billion, 10-year Pentagon cloud computing initiative which has yet to be finalized. It suggests that Amazon is only one of two finalists in the bidding process (alongside Microsoft<\/a>) due to corruption and a network of cronies within the Defense Department; it\u2019s unclear how it made its way into the White House, though Oracle reportedly has made efforts to maintain close connections with Trump officials. CNN wrote:<\/p>\n

The document contains a flow chart titled \u201cA Conspiracy to Create a Ten Year DoD Cloud Monopoly,\u201d and provides a visual representation of a narrative that Oracle has been pushing for months\u2014that a web of individuals inside and outside the Defense Department were greasing the wheels for Amazon to win a cloud computing contract known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI). Oracle\u2019s own bid\u00a0did not make it to the final stage<\/a>… Amazon declined to comment for this story.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Said chart shows a web of professional and personal connections between current and former staff of both the Pentagon and Amazon, with the version seen by Trump featuring former secretaries of defense Ash Carter \u201c(featured alongside President Obama)\u201c and Jim Mattis. It does not make any direct allegations of wrongdoing, instead relying on unsubtle innuendo and implication to make its point. Glueck hangs the document in the windows of Oracle\u2019s DC office, according to CNN, but denies any involvement in getting it to Trump.<\/p>\n

Oracle has aggressively contested what it sees as unfair pro-Amazon bias in the JEDI contracting process in court, as well as claimed that Amazon cleared the way for its front-runner status in part by offering a\u00a0Defense Department official a job<\/a>\u00a0while he was involved in evaluating possible JEDI vendors. Additionally, according to CNN, Oracle has sought to cast a meeting between then-Secretary of Defense Mattis and Bezos in 2017 and former work for Amazon Web Services by one of his advisers, Sally Donnelly, in a suspicious light.<\/p>\n

As CNN noted, in both an \u201cinternal Pentagon investigation\u201d and legal proceedings, no determination of wrongdoing in a manner similar to that implied in the document has emerged. Two sources at the Pentagon, as well as Donnelly herself, denied to CNN that she had any involvement shaping JEDI. (In a ruling unsealed on Friday, a federal judge found that the Pentagon used a \u201cfaulty legal justification\u201d to award the contract to a single vendor, per\u00a0Federal News Network<\/a>, though it will be allowed to proceed unless there\u2019s an appeal and the judge threw out most of Oracle\u2019s claims.)<\/p>\n

The Defense Department inspector general office did find ethical violations, but said it did not impact JEDI, CNN wrote:<\/p>\n

Defense Department spokeswoman Elissa Smith has said that an internal investigation into conflicts of interest determined there was \u201cno adverse impact\u201d to the JEDI acquisition process. However, Smith said that potential (and unspecified) ethical violations uncovered by the investigation have been referred to the Pentagon\u2019s inspector general. That office is currently reviewing those allegations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trump, however,\u00a0truly hates Bezos<\/a>\u2014seemingly in large part because he owns the Washington Post, which has ran numerous unflattering stories about his administration\u2014and has apparently absorbed commentary from Fox News about the deal, retweeting a segment calling it the \u201cBezos Bailout\u201d on July 22. New Defense Secretary Mark Esper said this week that he had \u201cheard from everybody about JEDI Cloud, that\u2019s one of the things I\u2019m going to take a hard look at,\u201d according to CNN, and the JEDI contract is seen as one way he could curry favor with his new boss.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump has inserted himself in other deals as well but this particular deal especially with Amazon and Bezos and the Washington Post… could land at the desk of Esper,\u201d a source told the news network.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, what was seen as a deal in the final stages of being clinched by Amazon has suddenly become shaky.\u00a0Per Bloomberg<\/a>, several members of Congress, a few of which have seen allied super PACs receive funding from Oracle and Microsoft, have claimed impropriety in the process. Meanwhile, Trump has cited complaints from Oracle and Microsoft about the likelihood that Amazon would be selected.<\/p>\n

Sour grapes about the federal government\u2019s byzantine contracting process are not unusual, but personal intervention by the president against a perceived political opponent generally is. Several companies, however, seem to have determined that\u00a0personally appealing to Trump<\/a>\u00a0could help stack the deck in their favor. Appealing to his well-established paranoia about sprawling conspiracies by his enemies would seem to fit the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat other reason would he have to weigh in other than he doesn\u2019t like Jeff Bezos?\u201d Steven Kelman, a Harvard Kennedy School professor of public management (who said he received unrelated funding from IBM, which is no longer a competitor for the contract), told Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bidding process is expected to be conducted by the contracting officer without political interference,\u201d University of Baltimore professor of government contracting law Charles Tiefer told Bloomberg, \u201cand especially not political interference from the highest official in the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

[CNN<\/a>]<\/p>\n

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\nhttps:\/\/gizmodo.com\/oracle-document-claiming-an-amazon-conspiracy-to-win-mi-1836760675<\/a><\/p>\n

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Per source familiar – this is the chart produced by Amazon opponents referenced in the CNN story .. that CNN says found its way onto Trump\u2019s desk https:\/\/t.co\/suaaJXE5Zn<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wItQ8KHIpp<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) July 26, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n