Operation Thimble: A Look Back at the Multi-Million Dollar Defense Contract Fraud and Bribery Case at the Philadelphia Quartermaster

By Paul Davis

Back in the early 1980s, before I became a writer, I was a young
Defense Department civilian employee doing security work at a DoD command in
Philadelphia. I recall being tasked with assisting a Defense Department
attorney who was working on a case of procurement fraud against a contractor
who supplied the U.S. Army with substandard tires for trucks and other Army
vehicles. The substandard tires might have caused accidents and injured or
killed soldiers.   

The attorney and I were both employees of the Defense Contract Administration Services
Region (DCASR) Philadelphia. At the time, the DoD command oversaw defense
contractors in the state of Delaware, Southern New Jersey, and Southeastern
Pennsylvania. These contractors supplied the armed forces with everything
from clothing, medical and textile products to major electronic weapons
systems. From boots to cruise missiles, DCASR provided contract
administration, quality assurance, engineering and program oversight of the
contractors for the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and NASA.

The attorney asked me to act as his investigator. I went out and
conducted interviews with military people and DoD civilian employees who were
involved with the tire contracts and the contractor payment process. I also
gathered documentation that aided the attorney in proving the fraud.

I received an award for my efforts, but both the attorney and I
were disappointed that senior Defense officials m...