Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today:

1. The Body Armor Story -an Update from the House Armed Services Committee and the Jerk

A few weeks ago on the podcast I played some clips dealing with the controversy over the body armor that the Army provides to troops in Iraq. The Army tests armor to a standard, and the only type of armor that passes their test is called Interceptor. It's made by several manufacturers who compete for the Department of Defense business. Another firm, Pinnacle Armor, has a different style of body armor they call Dragon Skin. It's a very different design, which some felt might be more effective than the Interceptor. In 2006, the Army tested Dragon Skin, but it failed to stop the bullets they fired at it. I picked up the story in my podcast after NBC News commissioned some tests in Germany to determine if Dragon Skin would be more effective than Interceptor. Their tests showed that it was, but there were questions about the testing methodology of the NBC study. I played clips from the NBC story, and from an Army press conference soon after their story ran, refuting NBC's conclusions.

To try to settle the controversy, the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing on June 6 to allow both sides to present their side of the story. I'm going to play several clips from that. Several key points were made over the four hours of bloviation:

1. Duncan Hunter's Son is fighting in Iraq. He said so about 20 times during the hearing. Thanks for the info, Congressman. We get the point. Thanks for your service.
2. Murray Neal, the CEO of Pinnacle Armor, maker of Dragon Skin, is a jerk. He spent most of his time at the witness table insulting his potential customer, the Army, his paymaster, Congress, and anyone else in a position to help him.
3. The Army is looking for better armor that protects more effectively, is lighter in weight, and more flexible than the current standard, but only if it's better
4. Dragon Skin has repeatedly failed Army tests, weighs 50% more than Interceptor, and is produced by a company that has lied about their certification in the past, is up for disbarment by the Air Force for that lie, but may indeed have a better technological solution that would save lives.
5. Pinnacle thinks that the tests were not fair, that the Army has prejudged them, and they want a special test at a lab not chosen by the Army
6. There was enough smoke at the hearing to obscure almost anything.

That said, there was some nice theater in the four hour hearing. The first two hours were made up of opening statements and questions of the CEO of Pinnacle, Murray Neal, and NBC's expert, Philip Coyle. For the next two hours, the Army was given an opportunity to respond. First up, is Duncan Hunter (R CA), who's running for President, and who has a son in Iraq. It's a reasonable summary of the issues as he sees them. Just a regular guy who wants the best for the troops.

Play clip.

Congressman Hunter set up the opening statement of Murry Neal, the CEO of Pinnacle, the maker of Dragon Skin. I'm going to play a few clips where he makes a series of innuendos, suggestions, and claims that the only reason his product has repeatedly failed the Army tests, is that the lab where the testing takes place has a vested interest in making sure Interceptor always passes, and Dragon Skin always fails.

Play clip.

Notice the claim Mr. Neal is making: The only lab where Dragon skin always fails is the lab where Interceptor always passes. If true it would be a serious indictment of the Army. If false, of Pinnacle. Any evidence? No. Next, he makes another unfounded claim about the Army Soldier Systems Command, Natick, Mass. Listen to this clip.

Play clip.

Oooo. Boogetty boogetty boo. He doesn't know if the Army is deliberately killing American soldiers by keeping his company's product away from the troops. "Approximately the vast majority of its time."

Next up was Philip Coyle. From his biography:

From Sept. 29, 1994, through Jan. 20, 2001, Coyle was assistant secretary of defense and director, Operational Test and Evaluation, in the Department of Defense. In this capacity, he was the principal adviser to the secretary of defense on test and evaluation at DOD.

Mr. Coyle starts right out by pissing off the congressman on the Armed Services Committee, by accusing them of being closed minded.

Play clip.

From this point on, Mr. Coyle, having placed himself firmly out on a limb by accusing the Army of getting it wrong, and NBC getting it right, on the unrelated issue of the Trophy Active Protection System, proceeds to cite the authoritative source of his confidence in the Pinnacle Dragon Skin Products.

Play clip.

Of course, a Wikipedia article is more authoritative than any silly Army test lab. Everyone knows that. And the History Channel? Please. As Little Green Footballs noted today, this network has scheduled a screening of the 9-11 "truthers" favorite polemic, "Loose Change", which attempts to prove that 9-11 was an inside job. Mr. Coyle's has just sawed of the limb onto which he climbed in his earlier testimony.

After the last Army press conference on May 21, which was covered in a previous podcast, General Mark Brown went through an exhaustive description of the Army testing procedures, and the Dragon Skin failures of those tests. Pinnacle's response at the time, was to issue a press release, which Congressmen Gene Taylor (D Miss,), took issue with during the hearing on June 6.

Play clip.

During Congressman Taylor's questioning, he asked Mr. Neal, the CEO of Pinnacle, about some Army test results that the Army claimed were "penetrations". A penetration in a body armor test is where the bullet goes through the armor. Mr. Neal's claim is that his Dragon Skin stopped some rounds, while the Army claimed there were penetrations. He starts out asking Mr. Coyle, and moves to Mr. Neal.

Play clip.

Later on in the hearing, the Army explains these results, in which the x-ray shows something in the armor after the test. I'll cover that later. Meanwhile, Congressman Syder (D Ark), asks Mr. Neal to explain some of the things he said in his prepared remarks, which were not spoken at the hearing, but were submitted for the record.

Play clip.

What a slime ball this Neal is. Later on, Congressman Hank Johnson, (D GA) asks how sales are going for Mr. Neal.

Play clip.

As you hear, innuendo goes both ways. Now we have established the motivation of Mr. Neal's actions. Later, Congressman Hunter comes back to probe Mr. Coyle and Neal about the penetration shots and claims about superiority. How many tours has your son done in Iraq, Congressman?

Play clip.

This exchange gets to the heart of the matter. We have a CEO who knows that his product has failed fair tests, doing his best to obscure or obfuscate these results while claiming his product is superior, and encouraging parents to spend $5000 to buy their sons and daughters his body armor. This is the impression that Mr. Neal left the committee. At the end of the first session, Chariman Ike Skelton (D MO), closes with an observation.

Play clip.

What he did there was read a claim by Pinnacle that they were certified 8 months before the certification came through. The next week the Defense department announced an investigation:

Air Force Materiel Command recommended Friday that the Air Force bar Pinnacle Armor Inc., the maker of Dragon Skin body armor, from signing new contracts with the U.S. government, CongressDaily reported.

Headquarters Air Force will review the recommendation and decide on a potential ban within several weeks, the report said.

The recommendation comes just days after it was revealed that the Air Force Office of Special Investigations is investigating the California-based manufacturer on allegations that it falsely claimed Dragon Skin vests were certified to a level of protection they did not possess.

The Pentagon gets touchy when you accuse them of something illicit through innuendo and accusation, and then try to make a lot of money by lying about their work.

Next up was the Army to present their side of the story. Duncan Hunter voices his opinion that despite the deplorable behavior and statements by Pinnacle and their CEO, the Army should test Dragon Skin again.

Play clip.

He is right that there may be some value in the Dragon Skin product. We cannot let their actions prevent us from getting the best technology to the front. One of the things Hunter brought up was the claim by Pinnacle that what the Army called penetration, may have actually been a defeat of the round, and not a penetration at all. Mr. Neal showed pictures of the army x-rays and used those as proof the bullet was still in the armor. There's a picture on the Wizbang Podcast web site of the disputed x-ray, taken from the Army presentation of May 21, 2007. In the picture you can clearly see a dark object in the armor that looks like a bullet. The Army explained that to the Congressman at the hearing in the next clip.

Play clip.

So what you could not see in this podcast was a video the Army showed at the hearing, and I have a picture taken from it on my web site, in which the CEO of Pinnacle observed the testers struggling to dig the bullet out of the clay. Mr. Neal then ignored that fact, looked at the x-ray, and claimed the bullet was still in the armor. Do we really want to do business with a serial liar like Mr. Neal and his company? I would say not. And do you remember his claim that anyone wearing the vest would be fine after what he called a "defeat of the round"? Congressman Taylor asked the Army what they thought of that claim.

Play clip.

Mr. Neal has shown that he is not be be trusted. But the desire to get the best product into the field to protect our troops is too strong to let that fact get in the way. One way to establish the facts is to have a new test. The Army has an RFP on the street right now to enable contractors to bring forward new ideas in body armor. Lieutenant General N. Ross Thompson was asked about this by Congressman Snyder (D Ark).

Play clip.

So Pinnacle has an opportunity to compete and choses instead to go to the news media to bypass a competitive bid process. They make unfounded accusations of unfairness of tests. They claim that penetrations are not really penetrations, even though they are shown on the video to have seen the penetration with the eyes of their CEO. Through innuendo they lead people to believe that the Army has hidden test results, all in order to sell their product to unsuspecting families of soldiers in harm's way. When all these facts are taken together, one has to wonder what the most appropriate remedy would be for the government. Congressman Jones (R NC) summed up the consensus of the hearing towards the end. He asked the Sargent Major Tom Coleman for the opinion of the troops in the field of the body armor, especially in light of the publicity by NBC news of Pinnacle's claims.

Play clip.

I don't think the pentagon is going to be doing business with Pinnacle any time soon.

That's it for now podcatchers. I'm Charlie Quidnunc reporting for the Wizbang Podcast from chilly and cloudy Mercer Island, WA.