European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 3, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 3,1988 the stars and stripes pages reforms prescribed by Carlucci says Congress Nof Dod must take Lead by Norman Lack a military str tit Washington defense Secretary Frank c. Carlucci said thursday the Pentagon contract fraud scandal should Lead to reforms by the Congress nol the defense department. Offering a personal prescription for procurement Reform Carlucci called on Congress to streamline its budget pro Cess reduce the number or committees that oversee defense spending shift the Pentagon budget to a two year Cycle an provide Multi year funding for More weapon programs. The goal he said should be to limit the number of intervention Points where a skill full lobbyist can succeed in gaining an advantage. For purposes of Reform the most important fact underscored by the current investigation is that illegally gained in formation has value Only when the Opportunity exists to use  Carlucci said in remarks prepared Tor delivery to the Baltimore Council on foreign affairs. A copy of his speech was made Avail Able at the Pentagon. Infortuna Lily the current system is highly unstable and offers far Loo Many such opportunities he said. No pro Gram Ever stands still for very Long someone is always lobbying to change it. The message being sent to Industry is that there is a higher payoff for invest ment in lobbying than for investment in research and development and Long term productivity  the speech was the most comprehensive statement to Date by the Secretary since the revelation of a major fraud probe involving defense contractors and consultants. The Justice department investigation which became Public in june centers on allegations that defense contractors routinely used outside consultants to obtain proprietary information on the bids of competitors and that the consultants May have paid bribes to Pentagon employees. Carlucci said he was aiming his re Marks at Congress both because some of the Reform proposal now circulating on Capitol Hill were ill advised and be cause the Pentagon already has taken Steps to streamline us procurement pro Cess. He said his department would do More including placing limits on the number of bidding rounds allowed for major programs. But Reform is really about prevention,., Carlucci said adding the question should be How can we close these win Dows of vulnerability in the procure ment process if Congress is serious about Reform it can eliminate a targe number of intervention Points for interested lobbyists he said. First Congress should Combine the separate authorizations and appropriations processes into a single budgeting exercise Carlucci said. The limited benefits of the current two track process would be More than offset by the advantages in eliminating so Many potential intervention  similarly Congress should eliminate the role of Many committees and sub committees. Right now the defense budget Bill must Complete a 17-Stcp process to final passage he complained. Each Point along the Way is an Opportunity for those Bent on exerting improper  besides changing the budget Cycle to two years and approving More Multi year appropriations Congress should. Make it impossible for individual members who want to Force the president to Purchase an item not included in his do Inse request to do so by burying an amendment within the Overall defense budget package Carlucci said. Affirmative action program approved Fri vows to eliminate discrimination racism Washington a Fri director William ses Sions vowing to stamp out any racism or discrimination at the Bureau said thursday he has approved anew five year affirmative action program to hire and promote More minority employees. From the beginning 1  tried to make the Fri s policy against racism Ami discrimination Crystal Clear to every member of the Fri. Both by policy statements. And by personally addressing employees sessions said during a luncheon speech. While he outlined Steps he has taken to eliminate discrimination Over the past 10 months. Sessions re fused to talk about pending Legal actions taken by group of hispanic agents and by a Black agent. Some 311 hispanic agents filed a class action suit in i 1 Aso Texas contending the Fri discriminates in the promotion discipline and assignment of Ilisan is. A Federal judge is expected to Issue a decision in the Case by oct. I. The hispanic seek unspecified damages and changes in fill policies. In the other Case. Donald Kochon a Bluck agent inthe Philadelphia Ollic has filed a racial harassment charges against the government. The equal employment Opportunity commission has already upheld Many of Rochon s complaints stemming from his tenure in the Omaha neb., office. Sessions acknowledged that the fill must make improvements so its agent work Force will More nearly reflect our nation s ethnic  out of 9,597 amen is 417 Are Black and 439 Are his panic. In the . Papula lion Blacks account for about 12 percent and his panic make up about 3 per cent. Sessions a former Federal judge in Texas said has approved an affirmative action plan to run through 1992. To recruit new minority sessions agents the Fri has hired an advertising Agency and assigned some of its most capable people to serve As recruiters he said. Since he took office sessions said he has made improvement in career development and training pro Grums and he has required internal audits of promo lion procedures plus the Bureau s equal Opportunity programs and complaint processes. Part of the Challenge facing the Fri is the Bureau s need to hire enormous numbers of agents Over the next decade when College graduates have been declining sessions said. Within nine years sessions said More than half of the Fri s professionals about 4,500 people will acc helping Clear the Way for improved to systems Washington a the Federal communications commission moved closer this week to authorizing futuristic television systems with pictures As Cleat m movies and sound equal to that of compact discs. The commission made preliminary findings that will allow research to proceed on the system which is not Likely to begin in the United states until the mid-1990s. The acc also sought Public comment on options for using the airwaves for so culled High definition to considered the biggest television Advance Stace color programming. The commission tentatively decided sub existing broadcasters and stations Are Besl equipped to bring the new system to Leiren. Advanced television programs Moil be received on existing television sets so current equipment would t become obsolete. If an additional frequency space is needed it should be found within existing vhf and uhf Tele vision bands. The acc Oun Tallha looking for frequencies outside those bands would delay Ibe service and noted that bands now suitable for the system arc in use for other  commission asked for comment on three pos sible plans of using the broadcast spectrum for advanced television and on a number of other technical issues there would be 60-Day comment period and 30 Days for  chairman Dennis 8, Patrick and commas Iloner Patilda Diaz Dennis supported the tentative plan in full. Commissioner James h. A Nero dissented saying Lite commission acted  picture on Standard us won set in the United states is produced by a signal that scans More turn 200.000 Dob on 515 uni. The japanese system has 1,125 scanning lines. Either be forced or eligible to retire. We must develop effective measures to respond to our extraordinary hiring needs he said. Somehow it feels like Bobbing for apples at Hallow Een with your hands behind your Back the task is made More daunting by the fact that the Fri docs nol have the salaries or the employee benefits to compete with private Industry he said. We must still Battle to gain the agents with the skills and education necessary to fulfil our Mission responsibilities he  Fri is specifically seeking to hire women and minorities in the specialities needed increasingly by the Bureau linguists engineers computer scientists Law yers and accountants he said. In his wide ranging speech and question session. Sessions scoffed at the idea of decriminalizing drugs say ing the nation should not turn itself Over to  the drug dealers that arc involved in the use of illegal substances. To me it is a nonsensical approach that will not stand the Light of  said the Fri had started to Matte Pitons to reduce the demand for drugs As Well As work on l