More Government Intrigue...

[madjack956]

Did a quick search didn't find any previous posts...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/probe-of-silencers-leads-to-web-of-pentagon-secrets/ar-BB8X1J2

[mr2ndamendment]

Lots of questions here.

So from what I understand there was some sort of issue with Navy representatives paying a mechanic to build off-the-books suppressors. And the article implies it was for some sort of commandos or something like that?

Officially the government buys weapons/suppressors/gear from contractors and outfits them to the military. What happens when the government wants to arm/supply forces it can't officially be seen supplying? I imagine home-made suppressors would be hard to trace manufacture origin with no stampings or serial numbers should they be recovered on some battlefield.

Maybe this is a guy taking advantage of his position (and budget access) to illegally purchase home-made suppressors for God knows what, or maybe it's some type of plot to arm some force on the down-low. Or maybe it was to outfit a Tier 1 force through an unconventional source. Who knows?

Still don't really know what to think of this article.

[Mitch]

Naval intelligence directorate pays $1.2 million to brother of director for $10,000 worth of suppressors. That's your basic third-world level corruption right there, except even in places like Nigeria they are probably more careful about producing fake invoices for legal items, rather than controlled items.

Lots of Pentagon fail here.

Edit: This is hilarious. Mark Landersman's (the guy who made the suppressors) LinkedIn profile says Lee Hall, Director for Intelligence at Department of the Navy, who is charged with illegally purchasing the silencers and whose trial is scheduled to begin this month, also viewed his profile.

You leave electronic trails everywhere you go!

[L84CABO]

Two words...

Ghost Suppressors!

[Tasty]

Interesting article. I'd like to see just how much dirt gets dug up here and where it leads.

I did find this to be a little amusing tho...

Capping an investigation that began almost two years ago, separate trials are scheduled this month in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., for a civilian Navy intelligence official and a hot-rod auto mechanic from California who prosecutors allege conspired to manufacture an untraceable batch of automatic-rifle silencers.

Good thing they only worked on Automatic rifles. That way (since the mechanic is making them in CA) if he lost one, nobody could use it since we essentially can't have FA rifles here. Dodged a bullet there! /sarcasm

[lazyworm]

I don't know LA geography... is this mechanic in deLeon's district?

[herdafer]

Naval intelligence directorate pays $1.2 million to brother of director for $10,000 worth of suppressors.

The article said the 349 silencers "cost only $10,000 in parts and labor to manufacture". That means a silencer costs only $28.65 for parts and labor! That's cheap!

[Mitch]

The article said the 349 silencers "cost only $10,000 in parts and labor to manufacture". That means a silencer costs only $28.65 for parts and labor! That's cheap!

On the other hand, buying 349 suppressors for $1.2 million is $3,438 each. That's government spending!

[timdps]

How effective is a suppressor going to be on an AK47?

"At one pretrial hearing, a defense attorney for the auto mechanic, Mark S. Landersman of Temecula, Calif., accused the Navy of impeding the investigation by destroying a secret stash of automatic rifles that the silencers were designed to fit. Prosecutors immediately objected to further discussion in open court, calling it a classified matter.

The destroyed weapons were part of a stockpile of about 1,600 AK-47-style rifles that the U.S. military had collected overseas and stored in a warehouse in Pennsylvania, according to a source familiar with the investigation."