Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

Status

Accepted

Abstract

This essay discusses the forthcoming book, Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy (480 pp, Simon & Schuster, 2024), authored by Washington Post investigative reporter, Craig Whitlock. The book chronicles the extraordinary ''Fat Leonard" saga (or scandal), involving Glenn Marine, an Asia-based ship husbanding contractor, and its "business" with the U.S. Navy. The animating character, not surprisingly, is Leonard Francis, and the book spans his career and demise, which eventually prompted investigations (of hundreds of Naval servicemembers, including 90 admirals), multiple criminal plea bargains, and a staggering number of military administrative actions.

On the one hand, Francis is the stuff of legend, originally known to many due to his pretrial "escape" and the ensuing global manhunt. But, for most readers, what’s so remarkable about the book is the breadth and diversity of the government contracts, government ethics, and compliance issues the case study implicates and the book recounts. Alas, as a cautionary tale (or training tool), one of the book’s pervasive themes is that, when it came to modelling behavior, senior Navy leaders routinely behaved like pigs at the trough rather than cautious and deliberate role models for ethical behavior.

Pedagogically and professionally, I hope the book is widely read in (Navy and, more broadly) military circles. Also, my sense is that compliance officials (and professionals in the "anticorruption" space) will find it informative and worthwhile reading. As an aside, it's a hugely entertaining tale, well told.

GW Paper Series

2024-30

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