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This is the third of a 4-part series about a defense contracting scandal in North Mississippi and Alabama, and possible Roger Wicker connections. Part 1 outlined the facts involving a criminal prosecution against Michael Cantrell involving defense contracting in North Alabama. Part 2 involved a New York Times story fleshing out additional details. This part will describe earmarks Roger Wicker obtained for a North Alabama contractor, and Part 4 will outline the factual identities between the Cantrell case and the Wicker contractor. Finally, there will be an epilogue drawing some conclusions about all of this.

Miltec is a defense contractor doing contracting mostly for the Army. In 2007 alone, it did $9,242,173 in contracting relating to missile defense and space systems, out of a total of over $15 million in contracting for the Army. Details here. In 2006, it made $22 million total, $8.3 million+ from defense missile and space systems. The amounts were $5-8 million in missile defense and space systems for each year of the Bush administration.

Here’s a brief note about Miltec from an article about a project it started for the Defense Department in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, that Wicker took credit for: “Founded in April 1997 to conduct missile and aerospace system design, development, integration and testing, the company has offices in Arlington, Va., and Anchorage, Alaska, and a wholly-owned subsidiary, Miltec Research & Technology Corporation in Oxford.” An interesting story on Miltec’s generosity to various senators, focused on 2005, is found in a paper titled “Tangled Web 2005: A Profile of the Missile Defense and Space Weapons Lobbies.”

Miltec is “the lead contractor for range operations at the Alaska Aerospace Development Company’s (AADC) Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC) in Alaska.” Ted Stevens brags about his support of that project. In an article crediting Wicker with a Miltec earmark in Iuka, MS. a Miltec official described how Alaska was involved: “The Iuka plant will particularly support that program, which calls for the production of a three-stage booster,’ said Don Miller, CEO of Miltec Corporation. ‘Right DOW [sic], our intent would be to go to Kodiak Island, Alaska, for testing.”

Miltec was bought by a company called Documun Inc. in December of 2005.

Roger Wicker has proudly announced earmarks he’s obtained for Miltec. In a 2006 press release describing add-ons from the appropriation bill, he took credit for:

$2.6 million for a joint effort among the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, and the Miltec Corporation in Oxford to develop acoustic sensors to alert U.S. forces to air- or ground-based threats on the battlefield. The Miltec facility in Iuka will get $20.5 million to develop an anti-satellite defense system and $2.9 million for work on a hypersonic weapon capable of reaching a target within minutes of the target’s identification.

In a June 2008 article, the Commercial Appeal wrote that Roger Wicker “has few equals” in the art of tradeoffs involved in pork barrel spending and earmarks. The story is primarily an account of a project involving Radiance Technology that was appropriated not because the Defense Dept wanted it but because Roger Wicker wanted it. Here’s the key passage from a sidebar in the article:

In addition to sponsoring defense earmarks that benefited two of his largest campaign contributors, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., helped other donors win federal dollars. Among his other earmarks:

$4 million to Miltec Research and Technology in Oxford for research on a missile-sensor system. Miltec and its lobbyists have contributed $23,000 to Wicker’s campaign.

Miltec has been very, very good to Roger Wicker. Check out this, showing Miltec folks giving Wicker $10,000 in 2004 alone, when Wicker had no opposition.

So what do we know about Miltec?

• It was the beneficiary of Congressional largess, getting substantial earmarks from 2000 to 2006.
• It has a headquarters in Birmingham, a facility in Oxford, Mississippi, and business in Alaska.
• It was involved in a missile launch facility in Alaska supported by Ted Stevens.
• Its business is “missile sensor systems” or “missile and aerospace system design, development, integration, and testing.”

Go to Part 4.