Luke, I am your father... which is why I must eject from JEDI decision, says US Defense Sec

The US military’s controversial JEDI cloud contract has seen another strange twist: the US Secretary of Defense has stepped back from the project as it emerged his son works for one of the bidders for the $10bn winner-takes-all deal. Secretary Mark Esper made the announcement on Tuesday, saying that he would not have any input …

[Dabbb]

Fact check

It's "No, I'm your father"

[diodesign]

Re: Fact check

Jesus, there's always one, isn't there.

Houston, we have a problem.

C.

[Mark 85]

Ethics?

Sounds like Esper has heard of it and using it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ethics?

Making him a rarity among Trump appointees.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Ethics?

He probably needn't have bothered. After all, he's probably over the half-life of a Trump appointment.

[Forum McForumface]

Re: Ethics?

Or he has an idea the decision might not be what Trump wants to hear and fancies keeping his job for a while longer?

[Pascal Monett]

Re: Ethics?

It's a bit late in the process to congratulate him, don't you think ?

If he'd really had ethics, he'd have stepped out right from the start. It's not like he just learned that his son worked for IBM.

[Aqua Marina]

Upcoming scoop?

“That or someone was about to publicly point out his son's connection to the JEDI bid process. “

Well? Were you?

[Dinanziame]

As if IBM had a chance to be in that contract...

[Anonymous Coward]

Promise the Earth, pay peanuts. All these outsourcing type deals are the same. They had a chance, but maybe screwed up somewhere else? Peanuts too expensive?

Its definitely a case of "never say never".

[lglethal]

No one ever got sacked for buying IBM....

... but they can recuse themselves beforehand.

[Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse]

Tenuously relevant...

Almost as much of a mess as the trailer for the highly crap looking new Star Wars movie then?

[Anonymous South African Coward]

Dehomag awakens.

[Alister]

Secretary Mark Esper, head of the JEDI program, has a son called Luke.

It's just a gift to tabloid journalism, really.

[Hans 1]

Re: Secretary Mark Esper, head of the JEDI program, has a son called Luke.

Mark chose the name ?

I do feel for his son, though ... he might have been hired thanks to his father's position, well, former position now ... I hope all will turn out great.

[jmch]

Re: Secretary Mark Esper, head of the JEDI program, has a son called Luke.

"...thanks to his father's position, well, former position now..."

Not 'former position' -

'Recuse himself' means giving up (and delegating) responsibility only for one specific aspect of the job, it's not the same as 'Resigned' ie leaving his job / position entirely

[SVV]

Re: Secretary Mark Esper, head of the JEDI program, has a son called Luke.

Unlike his father, who had control of the evil empire's massive weapons arsenal, Luke will not go over to the dark side.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Luke will not go over to the dark side."

If he's working for IBM, he already did - why they made all that black hardware??

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Secretary Mark Esper, head of the JEDI program, has a son called Luke.

People have picked up on "JEDI" and "Luke", but nobody mentioned "Esper" and "JEDI" :(

[macjules]

Re: Secretary Mark Esper, head of the JEDI program, has a son called Luke.

And a wife called Leah. Mind you his boss was Donald The Hutt ..

[adam payne]

“Although not legally required to, he has removed himself from participating in any decision making following the information meetings, due to his adult son’s employment with one of the original contract applicants,”

A politician with ethics, what the hell is happening with the world?!?

[Mark192]

He's only just recused himself. The last sentence of the article implies he may have done this only at this late stage because someone had challenged him on the conflict of interest.

As IBM are considered out of the running, it does sound pointlessly late for him to do this now.

[joshimitsu]

The caption doesn't make sense

If he "beamed aboard", that means he joined the team. If he left, he beamed out.

And beaming tech doesn't even exist in Star Wars.

[Aqua Marina]

Re: The caption doesn't make sense

Tho teleporting is mentioned in Ep4 in the chat between Luke and C3PO.

[jmch]

Re: The caption doesn't make sense

Yes, but only as a wishful thinking / never gonna happen way:

LUKE

Well, not unless you can alter time,

speed up the harvest, or teleport me

off this rock!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The caption doesn't make sense

Of course it was in Star Wars. I remember Captain Kirk using it all the time.

[Diamandi Lucas]

Re: The caption doesn't make sense

Ah yes, I remember that time when he beamed off Gallifrey to escape a horde of Cylons.

[joshimitsu]

Re: The caption doesn't make sense

Only because the DHD crystal for the chap-a'ai was damaged.

[Due4AChange]

Esperanto?

Trump referred to his SecDef as Mark Esperanto in a recent tweet, perhaps an alias to blur the linkage to his son's employer. I hardly think it was ethics; I'd say it was more likely he punted the decision on JEDI to his subordinate so he can maintain plausible deniability when the process blows up. He wouldn't have been around to see the effects of his decision anyway.

[First Light]

IBMmmmm

Bet IBM is disappointed their February hire won't turn out to be quite as useful as they'd hoped . . .

[NicX]

Well done

You mean someone in Donald Dildo's Admin actually understands what "conflict of interest" means, and is abiding by it?

Halleluyer