Advocate, watchdog call for Congress to investigate shoddy kevlar in troop helmets

28 Feb 2008 // A company that allegedly produced sub-standard kevlar for battle helmets used by US troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan continues to receive lucrative government contracts, and Congressional oversight committees need to investigate if the company endangered servicemen and women, veterans' and government ethics activists said Thursday.

Much remains to be learned about whether Sioux Manufacturing cut corners and ignored safety standards outlined in its federal contract to produce the kevlar helmets.

"The bottom line is that there's zero room for error when ti comes to the protections we give our soldiers," said John Soltz, director of VoteVets.org, which is joining watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in calling for investigations from the House and Senate Armed Services committees.

Problems with kevlar fabric woven at Sioux's North Dakota factory were revealed by the New York Times earlier this month. Soltz spoke to reporters on a conference call Thursday, where he was joined by CREW executive director Melanie Sloan and two whistle-blowers who sued Sioux over its apparently lax manufacturing standards.

According to the Times:

At the core of the investigation was the contention by two former plant managers that Kevlar woven at Sioux failed to meet the government’s “critical” minimum standard of 35 by 35 threads a square inch. When properly woven, Kevlar, a polymer thread made by Dupont, is stronger than steel, and able to deflect shrapnel and some bullets. Government regulations call for rejecting Kevlar below the 35-by-35 standard. The company “was underweaving,” [The United States attorney for North Dakota, Drew H.] Wrigley said. “That is undebatable,” he said. The factory’s own inspection records often showed weaves of 34 by 34 threads or as low as 32 by 34 and 33 by 34. Looms were “always set for 34 by 34, always,” said Jeff Kenner, who operated and repaired the looms and oversaw crews on all three shifts.

CREW requested congressional investigations when the Times article first appeared, on Feb. 6, but the group said neither committee has replied to them. RAW STORY left messages seeking comment with the House and Senate committees Thursday morning.

Sioux Manufacturing, which is owned by the Spirit Lake Nation Native American tribe, has vigorously denied allegations that its kevlar was not up to par.

“We deny any and all of the allegations originally brought to the attention of the DOJ by disgruntled former employees,” Carl McKay, the company's CEO, stated in a news release. “We cooperated fully throughout the investigation. Our door was open and employees were permitted to speak during multiple visits by federal agents. It is unfortunate such allegations can be made that don’t require the burden of proof.”

Also on Thursday, CREW released secret recordings they say back up the assertions from whistleblowers Jeff Kenner and Tamra Elshaug that the company knowingly produced sub-standard kevlar. Both employees say they were fired in November 2005 for raising questions about the kevlar production.

Elshaug said she was harassed by co-workers after questioning company procedures and feared for her safety.

"I was threatened my head would get cut off," she said Thursday. Elshaug also said several gunshots were fired at the secluded trailer where she lives after coming forward with her allegations, but the harassment has since tapered off.

Attorney Andrew J. Campanelli, who is representing Elshaug and Kenner, said the Defense Department cannot be trusted to investigate Sioux; he noted that several DoD documents went missing after the Pentagon learned that as many as 2.2 million helmets were produced with inadequate kevlar.

Sioux Manufacturing paid $2 million to settle the whistleblower's law suit, but just before the settlement was reached, the company received another $74 million government contract, according to the Times. The company has released a lengthy rebuttal of the article.

“How was Sioux Manufacturing allowed to make insufficient Kevlar in the first place and then once that was exposed how could the company be awarded a new contract? Are there soldiers who would have escaped injury or death if their helmets had met government standards rather than the inferior ones produced by Sioux?" CREW executive director Melanie Sloan asked. "Frankly, the chairs and ranking members of Armed Services, Senators Carl Levin and John McCain and Representatives Ike Skleton and Duncan Hunter cannot be permitted to take a pass on this.”