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Former high-ranking military official limits his consulting work

Nauseef says he’s avoided any conflict of interest by not being part of military mentoring program.

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 12:18 AM Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Brig. Gen. John Nauseef, a retired, former high-ranking official of the Air Force Materiel Command who now works for Dayton Aerospace Inc., a consulting firm used by the Air Force, said he hasn’t participated in a military mentoring program that is drawing scrutiny from the Pentagon and Congress.

Nauseef, who retired in 1993 to end a 30-year Air Force career, said Tuesday, Dec. 29, he has worked seven years as a consultant for Dayton Aerospace. Nauseef said he has met with leaders of the Defense Department’s mentors program, but has not participated in it.

Conflicts of interest could be a concern in handling such work, Nauseef said.

He said he has limited his consulting work to representing Dayton Aerospace. The Beavercreek-based company always discloses any potential conflicts of interest to the Air Force before making a commitment to the service, said Nauseef, father of J.P. Nauseef, former president and chief executive officer of the Dayton Development Coalition.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to be in a situation that raised a conflict of interest,” the elder Nauseef said.

The Pentagon and Congress are looking into whether retired senior military officers have a conflict of interest when they serve as paid advisers, or “mentors,” to the Defense Department at the same time they are being paid tens of thousands of dollars to help defense companies try to win military contracts. The investigations follow a series of reports by USA Today on the topic.

USA Today reported that it identified 158 mentors across the military services, including former Air Force Gen. Gregory Martin, a retired commander of the Air Force Materiel Command. Martin now is chairman of the Colorado-based Durango Group LLC, which provides paid “mentor” advisers for the Defense Department program that allows retired senior officers to participate with active-duty officers in war games exercises and share expertise.

Martin has served as a senior mentor for the Air Force. The Dayton Daily News left a telephone message Tuesday seeking comment from him.

About 80 percent of the 158 mentors had financial relationships with defense contractors, but were not required to disclose that to the military or the public, USA Today reported. The military’s senior mentor programs have grown in recent years, with little supervision from Pentagon leadership or Congress, the newspaper reported.

Retired senior military officers can receive pensions of up to $220,000 and pay of as much as $1,600 daily to be mentors, in addition to compensation for consulting for defense companies, USA Today found.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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