FederalDaily - November 28, 2006
Group: Pentagon Needs Tougher Stance on Extremism
A public advocacy group last week urged the Department of Defense (DoD) to work harder to stamp out
incidents of racist behavior targeting minority groups. Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) President
Richard Cohen said Nov. 22 that recent incidents—including an Internet posting by an active-duty
airman who allegedly called for the deaths of Jews and non-whites—caused him to question how
well DoD enforces its “zero tolerance” policy regarding racist extremism. “We think
it makes perfect sense for the military to end this problem by issuing and enforcing regulations that
make it clear that anyone who espouses extremist ideology is not fit to serve in this nation's armed
forces,” Cohen said. In a Sept. 26 letter from DoD released by SPLC, the department asserted
it already was doing enough. In that letter to the group, Under Secretary of Defense David S. C. Chu
wrote that military regulations already prohibit participation in supremacist organizations. “Despite
your assertions to the contrary, we have not compromised our rigorous standards to meet recruiting
goals,” Chu wrote to Cohen. To see more, go to: www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?site_area=1&aid=225.
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Former DoD Timekeeper Sentenced
A former Department of Defense timekeeper was sentenced to a year in federal prison after he pleaded
guilty in a scheme in which he inflated his own overtime pay by $169,000 during the past two years.
Alan B. Bottorf, 53, was sentenced this month to a single charge of making false claims against the
federal government. Authorities discovered the scam during a Fiscal Year 2006 end-of-year reconciliation
of overtime usage at Defense Distribution Depot Susquehanna, in New Cumberland, Pa. It revealed that
Bottorf had received unusually large amounts of overtime pay. The only problem was that his supervisors
couldn’t remember him actually working much overtime. Investigators reviewed records from 2003
to 2005 and questioned Bottorf, who eventually admitted to stealing his supervisor’s password
and adding fraudulent overtime hours. To see more, go to: www.usdoj.gov/usao/pam/press_releases/Bottorf_11_07_06.htm
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DoD to Shed Some Military Housing in U.K.
The United States will discontinue operations at two military housing sites in the United Kingdom
and turn them over to U.K. authorities, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced Nov. 22. In light
of the U.S. European Command’s force structure realignment and transformation, DoD said, officials
determined that the housing sites were no longer needed. The sites include 24 housing units at Bilton
and Knaresborough, supporting RAF Menwith Hill; and 28 housing units at RAF Upwood. All of the affected
units will be returned to the host nation, DoD said. To see more, go to: www.defenselink.mil/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=10210
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