The Boston Globe October 16, 2003
US Doubles Raytheon Iraq Pact
Military Also Extends Time Frame For Storing, Destroying Weapons
By Ross Kerber
Raytheon Co. is best known for weapons like the Tomahawk cruise missile and the laser-guided bombs that played big roles in the invasion of Iraq.
Now the Lexington defense contractor is picking up more business in the aftermath of the conflict, as the search for weapons of mass destruction drags on.
On Sept. 30 the Pentagon nearly doubled to $39.4 million an order under which a Raytheon unit will assist in the storage and destruction of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. The military also extended to May the time frame Raytheon's services might be needed.
The dollar figure isn't a major amount for Raytheon, but it shows the additional resources the Bush administration is giving the research team known as the Iraq Survey Group, which is leading the politically charged search mission.
According to a Raytheon spokeswoman, its Reston, Va., unit Raytheon Technical Services Co. provides the survey group "the capability of radiological source collection, packaging and storage, as well as liquid missile defueling and transportation in Iraq."
The deal deepens the relationship between Raytheon and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which for years has hired Raytheon to help dismantle rockets and other weapons in the former Soviet Union. Under terms reached in June, the agency was to pay Raytheon $21.5 million for work in Iraq to be completed by Dec. 12. But on Sept. 30 the amount was increased because the order's time frame was extended to May 31, 2004, according to Clem Gaines, an agency spokesman.
Gaines wouldn't discuss why the order's timing was extended, other than to e-mail a statement that read: "The period of performance was extended due to the fact that the requirements office determined that a longer period of performance was necessary to complete the complex tasks in support of the mission."
Outsiders said the additional funding only reflects the difficulty military and intelligence officials have had in locating any weapons of mass destruction so far. "It seems to be part of a larger pattern in which the ISR is going to be in business for a while," said John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a Washington research group, of the Iraq Survey Group.
Gaines did provide basic details of Raytheon's role, a job it was selected to perform over competitors including Halliburton Co.'s Kellogg, Brown and Root unit. The latter did receive $2.2 million to prepare for weapons searches, and to plan a base camp, he said.
Under its current order, Raytheon will have no more than 100 people in Iraq, according to Gaines. In an e-mail message he wrote that Raytheon "is deploying personnel and equipment to perform the disposition/disposition support operations, which include refurbishing and operating an existing storage area, providing missile and radiological/nuclear disposition teams, and providing medical, hazardous material and weapons of mass destruction environmental support functions."
Neither the Pentagon nor Raytheon had disclosed the arrangement's specifics, which could lead to more criticism from Democratic politicians who have said the military should be more open about which firms have received work following the Iraqi conflict. On Tuesday, citing unnamed officials, The New York Times reported that Saddam Hussein's stockpiles of some conventional weapons were much larger than previously estimated and that Raytheon will not begin work destroying them until December.
Asked about that report, Gaines said his agency's work with Raytheon related only to the search for weapons of mass destruction. Raytheon spokesmen said they couldn't provide more information without military approvals.
© Copyright 2003, Globe Newspaper Company
