A former two-star general with the Michigan Air National Guard improperly used his office to try to win two contracts for a company he founded, according to an Air Force inspector general report.
At issue were two contract proposals submitted by now-retired Maj. Gen. James Wilson for his Springfield, Virginia-based consulting firm Northstar Services LLC. Northstar's proposals, submitted in 2010 and 2011, contained Wilson's official photograph in military service dress, according to the IG report. At the time, Wilson was still in the Guard as a brigadier general, and the photograph had his ceremonial one-star flag in the background.
This amounted to using his public office for private gain in violation of federal ethics regulations, said the IG report, signed by Lt. Gen. Gregory Biscone. Air Force Times obtained the report through the Freedom of Information Act.
"Brig. Gen. Wilson's inclusion of his official photo in uniform for the contract proposal can reasonably be construed to imply that the Government sanctions or endorses his personal business," the report said in its conclusion.
Multiple calls placed to Wilson's home were not returned.
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations finished reviewing the case in July 2014 and turned over the information to the Eastern District of Virginia's U.S. Attorney's Office, the report said. The U.S. Attorney declined to prosecute Wilson.
As a result of the IG's conclusions, former Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer issued Wilson a letter of counseling Jan. 21, 2015. Wilson retired Sept. 18.
Wilson was the assistant adjutant general-air for the Michigan ANG. He was a fighter pilot who graduated from Fighter Weapons School in 1984 and had more than 2,200 hours in the F-4. He retired from active duty as a colonel in 2008 and joined the Michigan Guard as a brigadier general.
Also in 2008, he formed the consulting firm Wilson Defense Systems, which like Northstar is based in Springfield, Virginia. He formed Northstar in 2009.
In February 2010, Northstar submitted a contract proposal to the National Guard Bureau to conduct a study on mobile airborne firefighting systems, which allow C-130 aircraft to drop water or other forms of fire retardant to help put out massive forest fires. And in November 2011, Northstar submitted a second bid to the Guard for a recruiting contract to provide accession management for officers.
Both proposals included his résumé with his current position in the Michigan Guard, as well as his official photograph. Northstar won the $95,000 firefighting system contract in March 2010, the report said. The report did not say whether the company won the recruiting contract.
This broke the rules barring government officials from using or permitting the use of their position to coerce or induce someone to provide any benefit to themselves or their friends, relatives or colleagues, the IG said. The rules also forbid officials from using or permitting the use of their office in a way that could imply the government sanctions or endorses their activities, or that appears to use their office for private gain.
Wilson told investigators that he was surprised to see his biography included in the firefighting system proposal and said he did not know who decided to submit it or why, the report said. Wilson also told investigators that he would have reviewed the proposal before submitting it, and said that including his military biography was not appropriate.
The report said Wilson subsequently provided an additional written response that called the inclusion of the photo in the firefighting system proposal "unintentional" and an "innocent mistake/accident." Wilson said in that written response that the proposal was not reviewed by his company's counsel.
Also in the written response, Wilson called the inclusion of his official photo in the recruiting proposal an "honest mistake/error" that was "based on what was used ... in the [firefighting system] proposal [and] my not knowing that its use was prohibited."
Wilson also told investigators that "at no time was I ever instructed or informed that I could not use my resume/work history" while receiving ethics training on "cooling off periods" and outside employment.
Had Northstar's proposals only included his resume, the IG said, Wilson would have been within the rules. Indeed, in January 2012, Northstar submitted a third proposal to the Guard that only contained his résumé, including his official duty title, which the IG said was permissible.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
