WASHINGTON - Boeing Co., accused of stealing documents from rival Lockheed Martin Corp. and using them to win a U.S. Air Force rocket contract, has named former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman to head an independent team that will review how the company deals with sensitive information.
Rudman, a former chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and now an attorney with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, will review Boeing's internal policies and procedures to determine whether the company's alleged corporate espionage is an isolated incident, according to a July 17 Boeing statement.
The review is intended to show that Boeing has high ethical standards and to identify ways for Boeing to guard against future breaches of policies, Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Phil Condit said in the statement.
"I have asked Senator Rudman to verify that the ... incident was an exceptional violation of company policy and to make recommendations for any improvements he deems warranted," Condit said. "We intend to make public the results of his review."
The allegations against Chicago-based Boeing are the subject of a criminal investigation by U.S. Department of Justice, a separate investigation by the Air Force, and a civil lawsuit filed in June by Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md.
Boeing is alleged to have used stolen proprietary Lockheed Martin information to win the majority of the initial launch contracts under the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program in 1998."There is no doubt that our standards of behavior were violated; that is unacceptable. Boeing has a valued legacy of high ethical standards and we do not want this hard-earned reputation to be harmed by the actions of a few," Condit said. "Boeing's integrity and behavior must never be questioned and no one should be able to allege that we have acted improperly or that we would compromise our own internal review process."
Boeing said it hopes Rudman's review will be completed in two to three months, "but the timing is not as important as the thoroughness." Rudman will choose the members of the panel, which will have unobstructed access to Boeing's employees and data, the company said.
advertisement
