Weeks earlier, the bombing of one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrine in Samarra had sparked what Bush called “a tragic escalation of sectarian rage and reprisal” that had left thousands dead in Iraq. The Pentagon was scrambling for a new strategy.
But not all Washington military insiders were worrying about the war. On March 2, 2006, Navy-secretary-turned-lobbyist William L. Ball III emailed Jean Trotter, a Navy public affairs official, about a taxpayer-funded aircraft carrier cruise he was planning for some of the richest businessmen in the United States. He suggested that Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, who had recently replaced Paul Wolfowitz as Donald Rumsfeld’s number two, might want to join the party.
“I know it’s tough for him to get to Norfolk,” Ball, who served under President Ronald Reagan, wrote, “but it would be good for his health and well being.”
As a former Navy secretary, Ball had access invaluable to a lobbyist. He skipped the normal protocol for trips to naval aircraft carriers, which involves nomination and approval by officials of the U.S. Fleet Command. Instead, he went directly to England, himself a former Navy secretary, who sent the request, with his approval, to the command. The visits are meant for influential members of the community who have no Navy experience, according to Navy instructions written in 2004.
As for Ball’s request for England’s presence at the aircraft carrier visit, Trotter replied that as deputy secretary of defense, England was “trapped a bit” by the defense secretary’s schedule, but that it might “be possible for such a great group.”
Details of this trip were released by the Navy to National Security News Service under the Freedom of Information Act. National Security News Service has investigated several visits to Navy nuclear aircraft carriers that, while not illegal, raise questions of propriety.
The former chairman of the board at Coca Cola and owner of Johnston Southern Company also arrived in a private jet. Forbes put Summerfield Johnston’s net worth at $680 million in 2002. Johnston’s son, Robert, a bike store owner, and Hayne Hamilton, a managing partner at Johnston Southern, also came for the cruise.
Ball, Johnston, and another guest, John E. Koerner III, have a history together in the bottling industry. Koerner was president and co-owner of Barq’s Inc., a soft drink company, until 1995 when Coca-Cola bought the company. Johnston chaired Coca Cola until 2001, and Ball was president and chief executive officer of the American Beverage Association, a trade group that lobbies for the industry, from 1990 to 2005. He currently lobbies for Coca Cola, according to federal lobby disclosure forms.
Koerner is the managing member of Koerner Capital, a private investment firm and sits on several boards, including Geocent, a Navy contractor.
Don Chapman, chairman of ChapCo Investments in Atlanta, flew in on Air Trans, the airlines he oversees as a member of the board.
Ball, who in 2006 was managing director of the Loeffler Group, a lobbying firm started by former Congressman Tom Loeffler (R-Tex.), said he never considered the men as potential clients or how face time with these men could help his business. He said he never traded on his access as a former navy secretary and saw no conflict in getting the group access to the aircraft carriers.
“I was not in public service anymore,” Ball continues. “It was a group of businessmen who were interested in the Navy. This was a program that allows citizens to see the Navy at work. It’s a great program. The Navy permits business leaders to visit the carriers and gain insight into the extraordinary quality of the work that they do.”
Ball describes the members of the group as “friends or friends of friends.” He declined to give any details of his relationships with the individual men.
Sheila Krumholz, Executive Director of the Center for Responsive Politics, says Ball was abusing his former position of trust as Navy secretary.
“I think the potential for financial gain for Sec. Ball is great since he’s now employed as a lobbyist,” Krumholtz said. “This is one of the perks of public office. You can easily parlay your connections from your former position.
“His ability to negotiate the system and sell that access is based on their ability to pay.”
The Navy says it offers about 1900 aircraft carrier visits a year to influential businessmen, community leaders, journalists and members of Congress and the media in a bid to garner public support. Guests reimburse the Navy $50 to cover all costs.
An aircraft carrier costs at least half a million dollars a day to operate and the Greyhound C-2A, which flies distinguished visitors to the carrier, can cost several thousand dollars an hour to run, according to Winslow T. Wheeler, director of the Center for Intelligence, a Washington think tank. He questions how $50 can cover the cost.
For the Ball trip, 27 officers, including seven rear or vice admirals, helped plan it or carry it out. Ball says that an admiral also spent time with the group but that he could not remember his name. Documents released by the Navy to National Security News Service do not show an admiral attending to the group but some information is withheld. For example, the Navy blocked out who greeted Malone and some of the other guests when they arrived in Norfolk.
Commander Kelly Watson from U.S. Fleet Command greeted Ball when he arrived, and a host of public affairs officers helped greet some of the nine businessmen as they arrived in Norfolk. Navy vans took the group to the Norfolk Naval Base bachelor officers’ housing, where VIP rooms were waiting. (A Navy spokeswoman said guests reimburse the Navy $25 for housing.)
Both men held powerful positions in times of war. Cosgriff, then commander of Navy forces in the Atlantic, was charged with assuring that all personnel and equipment were ready to be deployed. Myers headed the carrier strike force and oversaw deployments to the war.
After dinner, the group returned to their rooms in officers’ housing.
The next morning the men had breakfast in a private room at the Breezy Point Officers’ Club on Norfolk Naval Base. Rear Admiral Dave Thomas, director of joint operations for fleet forces, another heavy hitter, greeted them. Breakfast was hosted by Ball and then the businessmen were briefed by the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Joint Operations and Global Force Management for U.S Fleet Forces. The Navy redacted the assistant deputy chief’s name.
At 12:30 the group visited a submarine, the USS Newport News. Commander Matthew Weingart, commanding officer of the sub, greeted the men and gave them a brief tour. At 1:00, the Navy Greyhound C-2A aircraft picked up the men from Norfolk Naval Base and took them out to an aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which had returned from a tour of duty in the Persian Gulf on March 11. Captain J.R. Hailey, the ship’s commanding officer, greeted them.
They watched the spectacular show of jets taking off and landing onto the carrier with split-second precision and were give tours of the ship that evening and then they spent the night aboard the carrier. The next day, they were treated to more flight deck ballet. After breakfast and lunch, the C-2A picked up the group and brought them back to the base, where Rear Admiral Myers was on hand to say goodbye. Navy vans took them to airports in Norfolk and Newport News, and a variety of Navy officers “farewelled” them from the airports, the Navy documents say.
Today Ball works for Ball & Associates, LLC, and lobbies for EADS North America, the American subsidiary of the European aerospace group and a military contractor that paid him $60,000 in the first quarter. The company’s head, former NASA administrator and Navy Secretary Sean O’Keefe, told Aviation International News at the Paris Air Show in June that EADS North America wants to “be a leading prime contractor within ten years and to achieve $10 billion of U.S. revenue, through organic growth, M&A [mergers and acquisitions] and building the product portfolio.”
Former Navy Secretaries, lobbyists, rich executives and Wall Street bankers are just a few of the people who enjoyed the Navy’s hospitality. One might ask during these times of budget cutbacks and austerity: Who is responsible for oversight of the Navy? Who are the watchdogs looking out for the American taxpayers? The answer should be congressional oversight committees and the media. But among the groups who took cruises are members of Congress and their staffs and the media. The Freedom of Information Act documents are here:
Navy Embarks – Distinguished Visitors Cruises
This is the last story of a multi-part series about the Navy’s carrier embark program. Follow these links to read the previous stories:
- Ex-Navy Secretary Turned Lobbyist Uses $500,000-A-Day Navy Ship to Entertain Business Associates — At Taxpayers’ Expense
- Goldman Sachs and the U.S. Navy: The Good-Old-Boy Network
