Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Sam Johnson forsake the lives of American soldiers

Way back in September of 2015, the John Galt Program for Investigative Studies posted an article on how Senator Ted Cruz deceived us.  We are re-posting the article below to refresh the record of what happened after we asked Senator Cruz’s staff for help in getting justice for thousands of our troops who were unnecessarily injured during the Gulf Wars.  As you may recall, the lives of our young soldiers were put at risk when the technology of Mr. Wes Schneider was stolen in a war profiteering scheme by a group of Department of Defense contractors.  The scheme delayed the delivery of life-saving hydration equipment to our troops.  Without the proper equipment, our warfighters were contaminated with toxins from leaking Iraqi gas bombs and other toxins.  After doing everything that Senator Cruz’s staff asked us do it finally came to, as they say, the Day of Judgment.  As things would have it, Senator Cruz turned tail like a coward shirking his responsibility to the American soldier by refusing to help.  So we leave you with the following question, “Did Ted Cruz lie to us, or was it just politics?”

Cruz Johnson

Wes Schneider was a brilliant engineer who developed the protective gear used by our soldiers to protect them from chemical and biological attacks on the battlefield.   Instead of working with Wes to get the technology to our troops as quickly as possible a band of corrupt officials stole Wes’s technology, reverse engineered it and then duplicated it for their own profit.

Lining their own pockets with the profits of their ill-gotten gains delayed the process of getting the life-saving technology out to the troops who needed it for years.  It took time for the criminals to steal and reproduce what Wes had already created.  It also cost lives.  In fact, many soldiers in the first Gulf War are still suffering the long-term effects of chemical poisoning as a result of the actions of this small gang of war profiteers.

Wes valiantly fought back but the Army simply convened a kangaroo court riddled with conflicts of interest to declare the Army innocent of their own crimes.  Wes was eventually driven out of business by the Army.  He now lives in retirement destitute as the result of the retaliation taken against him.

Over one year ago, the Institute for Complexity Management (ICM) began an investigation of Wes’s case.  We reviewed thousands of documents, contacted innumerable people and prepared one of the most comprehensive reports of its kind chronicling exactly what happened to Wes.  With the proof in hand we took the story to Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Sam Johnson.

We were looking to Wes’s representatives in congress to serve the best interests of their constituent.   At Representative Johnson’s office we spoke with Jett Thompson.  At Senator Cruz’s office we spoke with Javier Salinas.  To make a long story short Jett and Javier got together and told us that they could not help address the corruption in the Army until we formally filed a request for investigation with the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DOD).  As we would find out later, Jett and Javier were just kicking the can down the road to avoid doing their jobs on behalf of American soldiers.

Cruz adviceSo we played the game. Our first move was to file a formal complaint with Jon Rymer, the DOD Inspector General.  After weeks of prodding by e-mail and repeated telephone calls we finally were able to force a response out of the DOD.  We were told that the DOD Inspector General’s office wasn’t responsible for investigating the situation.  When we insisted on an answer as to who was responsible we were told that the matter was referred to the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division.  We kept relentlessly prodding but never heard another word on the matter.  The DOD itself just kicked the can farther down the road to avoid accountability for risking the lives of our service men and women.

We did not give up there.  We even wrote a letter to John Kendall, who serves as the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.  In our letter we asked for the opportunity to meet with his staff to go over the situation.  Mr. Kendall decided to kick the can too and never responded to our letter or our phone calls.

With absolutely no response from DOD, we then served what’s called a constructive notice on Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.  A constructive notice contains a sworn affidavit of truth which is a legal document that set forth in detail the facts involved in Wes Schneider’s situation.  By law Secretary Carter was given 30 business days to rebut the allegations contained in the affidavit of truth.  If you do not rebut the allegations they become conclusive facts in any subsequent legal proceedings.

Within days of the deadline we received a letter from Harry Hallock the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement saying that there was not enough specificity in the ICM report provided to DOD to warrant any investigation into the matter.  No matter that the report we provided to Mr. Hallock was one of the most comprehensive reports of its kind containing overwhelming evidence of exactly what corrupt Army officers, civilian personnel and their contractors did to make money at the expense of the safety of American warfighters.  Another attempt by the DOD and the U.S. Army to kick the can of accountability yet further down the road.

At midnight last night on September 28, 2015, Secretary Carter defaulted on the constructive notice that was served on him by ICM on August 17, 2015.  The facts as stated in the affidavit of truth are now conclusive and dispositive fact.  In other words, Secretary Carter has now admitted to the actions of the DOD and the U.S. Army in the matter of Wes Schneider.

In the face of all of this we went back to Sam Johnson’s and Ted Cruz’s staff.  We told Jett Thompson and Javier Salinas that we had now done everything they told us to do and we asked them to do what they promised to do a year earlier–weigh in on behalf of the safety of the American warfighter and their own constituent and to hold the system accountable.  But, in yet another attempt to kick the can down the road, Jett and Javier broke their promises and now refused to intercede.

When we asked why they would not do the right thing after we had done everything they told us to do, we were given a poppycock story that “it’s a legal matter that has already been decided by the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA)—we cannot do anything.”  Javier tried to convince me that it was a “separations of powers issue” involving congress and the judicial branch. No matter that the ASBCA is a creation of the congress itself and functions under statutory law, i.e., the Contract Disputes Act (41 U.S.C. §§ 7101-7109). No matter that the ICM investigative report of Wes’s situation provided overwhelming evidence that the ASBCA was itself internally corrupted by conflicts of interest and judicial and U.S. Army counsel misconduct.  Jett, Javier and their bosses do it again—kick the can of accountability farther down the road at the expense of our fighting sons and daughters.  It is pretty amazing what people will do for money.

This entire story is just one example of how broken our government really is.  Senator Cruz, Representative Johnson, and Secretary Carter should all be ashamed for forsaking the lives and safety of our brave soldiers. Shame on all of you.

If you would like to read more about the case of Wesley Schneider please visit our website at https://jgpis.org  There you can find the complete ICM report of investigation that was provided to Senator Cruz, Representative Johnson, DOD Inspector General Jon Reimer, DOD Undersecretary Frank Kendall, DOE Undersecretary for Defense, Harry Hallock, DOD Undersecretary for the Army and Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

Investigating Complex Issues