Company Charged Pentagon Millions for Pro-America Ads That Never Aired in Afghanistan

Corruption is Everywhere - Even in the Pentagon

It has long been known that enormous bundles of cash were handed out to individual in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is likely that much of that cash was later used to purchase weapons to kill American troops.

A billboard in Ghazni promotes coalition action in Afghanistan in 2010. The Leonie Group, which produced television, radio and billboard ads in Afghanistan, falsely billed the government for ads that were never disseminated, the company's former president alleges in a whistleblower lawsuit. JUSTIN HOWE/U.S. ARMY

By J.P. LAWRENCE | STARS AND STRIPES

An information operations contractor billed the Pentagon millions of dollars for pro-U.S. television and radio ads that never aired in Afghanistan, a whistleblower complaint filed by the firm’s former president alleges in a recently unsealed lawsuit.

The Leonie Group, also known as Leonie Industries, served as the Pentagon’s top propaganda producer in Afghanistan from 2008 to 2015, with the firm receiving a $120 million contract to produce TV, radio and billboard ads, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit, first filed in July 2017, alleges Leonie knew it had no way to verify its work was ever seen by the Afghan people.

Once the company started to monitor its programs at the urging of the U.S. military in 2014, it found less than 75% of its TV ads and 45% of its radio ads aired, court documents said.

The company’s vice president, Charles Owens, said in an email he could not comment on the pending litigation.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia by Scott Kreller, Leonie’s former president.

An Afghan national civil order police recruiting billboard in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2010. The Leonie Group, which produced television, radio and billboard ads in Afghanistan, billed the government for ads that were never disseminated, the company's former president alleges in a whistleblower lawsuit.

Kreller alleges he was fired in February 2017 after he refused to submit a final psychological operations invoice to the U.S. military for $4.5 million, most of which double-billed the government.

Kreller, who worked for the company as its global operations director from 2011 until he was made president in 2016, said he was pressured for several months to submit the claim.

Kreller’s complaint falls under the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens to file suit on behalf of the government.

The government in February chose to not join the suit, a court filing said. The government intervenes in fewer than 25% of cases, a 2012 Justice Department memo said. Federal backing adds the Justice Department’s resources to the case but also adds restrictions to lawyers for the whistleblower.

Kreller’s lawyer, Brendan J. Klaproth, said Friday that they intend to continue pursuing the case.

Founded in 2004, Leonie’s website says it specializes in strategic communications, information systems support, intelligence and operations research.

The military has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on psychological operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. These efforts have aimed to convince Iraqis and Afghans to back the U.S. and coalition missions.

The contracts given out during the surge of U.S. troops to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012 were rife with abuse, said Thomas Johnson, who could not comment on the specifics of the Leonie case, but who worked on propaganda efforts in Afghanistan after 9/11 and was based in Kandahar as a counterinsurgency adviser to U.S. forces.

“I’m not at all surprised at this lawsuit,” said Johnson, now a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. “We gave out millions of dollars in many different areas, including information operations, where we just didn’t have any oversight,” he said.

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Astonishing - ’Fake Officer’ Lied His Way into Swedish Military Intel & NATO for Decade

‘Totally incomprehensible’: ’Fake officer’ lied his way into Swedish military intel & NATO, hid forged credentials for decade

Military patrol in Sweden. FILE PHOTO © Reuters / TT News Agency

A Swedish man with no official training faked his way into the top ranks of Swedish military intelligence, helming sensitive projects before he was posted to NATO and later the Coast Guard. How did this happen?

The Swedish Armed Forces – and now NATO, which only learned of the deception this week – are furious, demanding to know how the man was able to slip through the cracks even after he was discovered and booted from his high-ranking Coast Guard post in January 2019 – only to reemerge at the helm of Sweden’s UN mission to Mali.

The faker first bluffed his way into a supervisory role in the military in Kosovo and Afghanistan, forging a diploma from the Signal Troops Officers’ College in Enköping with a fake colonel’s signature, Dagens Nyheter revealed on Monday.

He later faked higher degrees and special training in order to take on more senior positions in military intelligence, supervising not only other soldiers but also information security. These were important positions, with the impersonator overseeing the development of cryptographic keys at the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST) – meaning responsibility for the military’s secure communications rested on his shoulders.

Amazing! Military intelligence security in the hands of a complete fraud! How ironic! 

In 2012, the fraudster was assigned to NATO in Brussels, the outlet revealed earlier this week. He even received a medal for his service, before crossing over to the private sector to work in information security with a subsidiary of defense contractor Saab.

The situation is “totally incomprehensible,” NATO expert Ann-Sofie Dahl lamented to DN, adding that it was “very, very worrying for Sweden’s cooperation with NATO.” It was a “feather in [Sweden’s] cap” to be permitted to work so closely with the alliance, Dahl said, and “it will take a very long time and great efforts to repair” trust in the country.

The impersonator wasn’t even found out during his time with NATO. In fact, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel so that he could work with more senior officers. He successfully hid for another five years, joining the Coast Guard in a high-ranking role with access to classified material. Only in December 2018 did the service find out he was lying about his credentials, removing him from his post the following month.

Somehow, though, that wasn’t the end of his military career. The Swedish Armed Forces is trying to figure out how he subsequently ended up as chief of staff for Sweden’s UN operation in Mali.

Lieutenant Colonel Carl-Axel Blomdahl, who is leading the official investigation into the case, insists they never got the warning from the Coast Guard about the man with the “doubtful CV.”

“Had we had access to the information, we would have acted on it,” he insisted. Blomdahl nevertheless waited to break the bad news to NATO until Monday, when DN published its own investigation exposing the man’s forged credentials. Needless to say, Brussels was not pleased.

“I don’t know exactly how to describe their reaction. But they don’t think this is particularly good,” Blomdahl told DN.

Armed Forces Commander-in-chief Micael Bydén demanded to know why the man’s deception was not shared with all branches of military command, ordering an investigation to “get to the bottom of this” in a written statement seen by DN.

Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson also demanded to know how the fraudster had gone undiscovered for a decade, likening the fiasco to the 2017 IT scandal at the Swedish Transport Agency, in which a huge trove of sensitive data was leaked, forcing several government ministers to resign in disgrace.

Maybe there's a clue in this report as to how he went undiscovered for a decade. You will note his name is being withheld, we have to wonder why? Is he a Muslim migrant, by any chance? Whether he is or not, his name and photo should be everywhere or else he is liable to end up as a minister in Stefan's cabinet.

Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist acknowledged that the ministry had received a notice from the Ministry of Justice about the faker. But since he had been removed from his Coast Guard position, explained Hultqvist’s press secretary, “the issue was… deemed to be resolved, and there was no reason to inform the Defense Ministry’s political leadership.” Hultqvist and Bydén have both been called before the Swedish parliament’s defense committee to answer questions about the case.