Not long ago, we heard about an Army lieutenant colonel who was being railroaded out of the Pentagon because he would not become a party to contract fraud. When he made that clear, he ended up putting a bullseye on his back.
His name is Lieutenant Colonel Rick Lamberth. LTC Lamberth retired from the Army, then went to work at the Pentagon doing virtually the same job, but this time as a civilian employee.
LTC Rick Lamberth fervently feels he was wrongfully discharged from his job at the Pentagon because he would not become a party to ethical misconduct or criminal behavior. Make no mistake, this is one pissed off lieutenant colonel.
We wanted to tell his story again, but this time we wanted to hear it directly from LTC Lamberth. He obliged us by writing the follow letter to us for publication. He asserts most strongly that not only was he wrongfully terminated, but people who embrace the DEI/WOKE philosophy are still in positions of power at the Pentagon and the contracting fraud goes on unabated.
If DOGE really wants to save some money, they may want to call up LTC Rick Lamberth who will clearly identify where they need to look first.
The following is the letter that Lieutenant Colonel Rick Lamberth sent to us for publication:
BEGIN LETTER
May 6, 2025
Dear MilitaryCorruption.com,
Your staff keeps calling me for updates. I’d like to not only bring your readers up-to-date on my case, but also clarify the events that led up to my wrongful termination. And to emphatically state that contract fraud is still alive and well in the halls of power in the Pentagon.
If the Pentagon is really serious about getting their financial health in order, they need to first locate and identify all manner of defense contracting fraud then feed it into their fire control system. In other words, in order to stop this criminal behavior, they have to get rid of those people who are perpetrating the crime of contracting fraud.
If SECDEF Pete Hegseth, and D.O.G.E. want to find & recover some low hanging-fruit tax dollars, they should start with defense contracts within the Pentagon. That’s where the bulk of the fraud exists in the Pentagon. I know, I’ve seen it.
Some members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) such as Clothilda Taylor are extorting contractors for illicit funds, and implicating innocent civilian government employees. After having served in the U.S. Army for thirty-two (32) years and three deployments to SWA, I was medically retired and became a DoD Civilian.
During my years of service, I was appointed as a Contracting Officer’s Representative (C.O.R.) in the DoD / Army Acquisition Corps and a Program Manager Level III for my last 13 years both in CONUS and OCONUS.
For approximately 8.5 years, I have served in the Pentagon working for several general officers/flag officers (GO/FOs) and members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) which are civilian equivalents to GO/FOs except on a permanent basis.
The members of SES are very powerful. Since absolute power corrupts, they are sometimes very devious when it comes to committing and obligating funds for DoD contracts.
On April 24, 2022, I was offered a Direct Hire Position as a Program Manager / C.O.R. for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment’s Directorate of Business Operations.
My immediate supervisor was the Director of Contracts, Karan Williams. She and I both reported to the Director of Business Operations, Clothilda Taylor, SES. I worked closely and interacted with both women on a routine basis, since I was the most experienced and certified C.O.R. of both of their contracts.
Of the two contracts for Federally Funded Research & Development Centers (FFRDCs) and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs), I was assigned to the RAND Corporation’s National Defense Research Institute, the RAND NDRI, and another gentleman was assigned to provide government oversight of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA).
I was informed that my contract was valued at approximately $417M and the other contract at approximately $100M.
May 18, 2022, is when the crap really began. Karan Williams called me to a conference room and ordered me to tell the manager of the RAND NDRI contract that she was going to pull TEN (10) projects from their contract and award them to their competitor the IDA which she was also the director for.
Karan Williams told me to come directly to her and relay what their response was. I refused. I felt the instruction was illegal and unethical. I asked if Clothilda Taylor, SES, knew of this. Karan Williams stated that Clothilda Taylor, SES, had full knowledge and had given her permission.
A second time, I advised Karan Williams that I would not perform the illegal and unethical work order.
Karan Williams and Clothilda Taylor, SES, were trying to use me as a go-between in order to extort funds out of DoD contractor RAND NDRI. Karan Williams became very upset taht I would not do her bidding. She snapped at me to return to my office.
I immediately reported the incident to Clothilda Taylor, SES, and asked her to investigate and transfer me to another appropriate Acquisition Workforce position. Clothilda Taylor, SES refused to investigate, because she already knew the score. I then did what military people always do, began to walk the matter up the chain of supervision.
I respectfully requested an Open Door Policy (ODP) meeting with her manager, Mr. Paul Cramer, SES. I was shocked to learn that Paul Cramer, SES, was intimidated and afraid to investigate minority managers. Cramer, attempted to dissuade me from taking further actions.
He wanted to keep things quiet. I suspected he already knew about the fraudulent activities and didn’t want it to reflect badly on him, OR he was involved in the fraud, who knows.
At that very moment, I requested an Open Door Policy (ODP) meeting with Dr. William LaPlante, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD A&S)). Paul Cramer refused my request, meaning that I was denied a meeting and forced to correspond only with Dr. LaPlante, SES via email. Denial of an ODP request was against policy.
Dr. William LaPlante, SES, refused to take action to investigate, and he refused to move me from within the sphere of influence of Clothilda Taylor, SES. In the interim, Karan Williams, was allowed to retire with full pay and benefits on the May 31, 2024, avoiding any investigation of her fraudulent activities.
As Scotty the engineer on the Enterprise used to say, “The haggis is in the fire for sure.” This means he was going to have problems with Clothilda Taylor from that time forward and it didn’t take long.
Clothilda Taylor, SES, began a campaign or retaliation nearly every day since that point. She harassed relentlessly me for blowing the whistle to the DoD IG and OSC on major contracting fraud!
After having enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1981, and being medically retired as a Lieutenant Colonel with a current 43+ years of service within the DoD, Clothilda Taylor, SES, and her subordinates embarked on a plan of building a case for my dismissal. She ended up giving me my one and only Unsuccessful Annual Performance Review (UAPR).
Yet, Clothilda Taylor, SES, and her subordinate Owen J. Simpson (AKA: “OJ” Simpson) continued to retaliate, discriminate, and harass me; even with sexual harassment from Simpson.
“OJ” Simpson, last supervisor who liked to sexually harass him knew that Rick Lamberth has three Master’s Degrees in business, contracting, and cybersecurity from accredited universities.
Simpson, in keeping with their calculated & chronic harassment, had me write five to fifteen page college-level research papers on DoD security.
Simpson ordered me to write these papers on DoD Security which was Simpson’s OPM job series classification for which he has no Master’s Degree for or certification.
Simpson knew that my OPM job series classification is Program Management yet threatened to punish me with these ridiculous papers on DoD security. In the past decades, I wrote several DoD analytical studies, papers for SESes and GO/FOs, but never a supervisor of a lower grade. This was harassment pure and simple.
INTEGRITY does not exist within certain directorates such as this within the Pentagon! The OUSD(A&S) DBO even attempted to coerce me into signing a “Gag Order.” I refused to sign any gag order, which enraged the DEI managers and WOKE cowards who enabled them.
The evil cabal of fraudsters want to keep everything, “Hush Hush” from higher ups, but especially from the American taxpayers. DEI Managers and Woke Cowards who enable them tend to hide in the shadows. They had a tendency to shun from the light of day, meaning they preferred to avoid any real transparency that might expose their misconduct.
They prefer everything kept in the dark so that they may continue to break federal laws at their convenience and on the taxpayer’s dime. These DEI Managers and Woke Cowards have no regard for the warfighters. They are only interested in lining their pockets and gaining as much power as possible to protect the contracting-fraud gravy train.
List of People who I believe have violated the law: 
Karan Williams
Clothilda Taylor, SES
List of People who Embrace DEI/WOKE Policies and protect those committing fraud:
Dr. William LaPlante, SES
Paul Cramer, SES
U.S. Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD) now retired.
Dr. Radha Plumb, SES
Donna Estep
Owen J. Simpson
Scotty Altizer
It still amazes me that after 32+years in the U.S. Army, and 12+ additional years without a single negative work performance rating, OUSD(A&S) DBO issued the following memorandum on March 10, 2025, SUBJECT: Notice of Decision to Remove Rick Lamberth
This decision was issued 35+ months after I filed a Whistleblower Protection Act incident report and EEOC/ADA violation reports. There was no question that I had been subjected to blatant retaliation, discrimination, and harassment by the DoD management of the OUSD(A&S) DBO.
The Notice of Decision read as follows…
“In reaching this decision I considered all the evidence supporting the charges and the specifications set out in the Notice of Proposed Removal, along with all the supporting evidence, I considered your reply and the evidentiary documentation you provided, and the factors described in Douglas v. Veterans Administration, 5 M.S.P.B. 313 (1981).
Specifically:
- The nature and seriousness of the offense: Your persistent misconduct is of a highly serious nature and fundamentally incompatible with the expectations of a federal employee. Such behavior significantly undermines the integrity of your position within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD(A&S)) and falls short of expectations.
- This is underscored by your repeated failures to correct your behavior which cannot be tolerated. The employee’s past disciplinary records: You were issued a Letter of Reprimand on April 3, 2024, for conduct unbecoming a federal employee.
- You were suspended for 5 days without pay for conduct unbecoming a federal employee and failure to carry out assigned duties on August 26, 2024. However, these disciplinary measures have failed to correct your behavior.
- I favorably considered that you have over 12 years of federal service, in addition to your military career.
- Due to your misconduct, I do not have confidence in your ability to perform assigned duties and have serious doubt whether you can be trusted to work without close supervision.
- The consistency of the penalty with those imposed upon other employees for the same or similar offense in like or similar circumstances: I am unaware of any employee who committed similar misconduct in my organization. This decision is consistent with actions that I would impose upon other employees for the same or similar charges of misconduct and is on par with the range in the Table of Penalties.
- The clarity with which the employee was on notice of any rules that were violated in committing the offense or had been warned about the conduct in question:
- You were notified of what was expected on multiple emails by your supervisor, as well as reminded of the potential consequences should you fail to comply with expectations via the reprimand from April 3, 2024, and the suspension issued on August 26, 2024. In both instances, you were notified that further misconduct may result in more severe disciplinary action, including removal from your position and federal service.
- The potential for employee rehabilitation: At no point have you acknowledged your misconduct and instead have claimed that management-created issues have been the source of the situation. Furthermore, your repeated misconduct, despite previous discipline, indicates that you are unwilling to change your behavior.
- The adequacy and effectiveness of alternative sanctions to deter such conduct in the future by the employee or others: I considered alternative forms of discipline but concluded that your removal is warranted and necessary.
- Based on these factors, I have determined that the charge is fully supported by the evidence and that a removal action is reasonable, warranted, and promotes the efficiency of the service.
- Your removal will be effective at the close of business today, March 10, 2025, and will become a part of your Official Personnel Folder. You will continue to be in active pay status until the effective time and date of this action.”
END LETTER
We, at MilitaryCorruption.com, strongly feel this entire matter should be thoroughly investigated and that Lieutenant Colonel Rick Lamberth be reinstated back at the Pentagon with orders to root out any and all corrupt practices. The two women (Taylor & Williams) and their enablers should be sanctioned.
It is a terrible shame that these generic and fabricated falsehoods have been levied against a man that loves his Country and fellow warfighters! We ask our readers to reach out to your respective Congresspersons to intercede on his behalf.
Because most people have been numbed by the staggering level of corruption in our government, they seldom contact their elected representatives to complain. This is analogous to citizens who are engulfed in crime, stop calling the police because the feel it’s fruitless to do so. Their failure to call is then identified as a “reduction” in crime.
That’s why we do what we do at MilitaryCorruption.com. We post the corruption online for everyone to see and deliberate on. This includes the 535 voting members of Congress. They have the opportunity to read our articles and do something… or, do nothing.
Failure to do anything about the fraud in Pentagon contracting departments is the core of the problem. This is why the DOGE team is so vitally important. They are doing exactly what we are doing, exposing fraud, waste and abuse, AKA: CORRUPTION!
Because the Congresspersons in the State of Maryland where LTC Lamberth resides have refused to get involved, LTC Lamberth came to MilitaryCorruption.com and asked us to publish the above letter to expose contracting fraud in the Pentagon. Sadly, this is only one person’s experience, there are probably thousands of people in the Pentagon who have knowledge of similar corruption.
Anyone who wishes to contact LTC Lamberth may do so at the number below. We are particularly interested in any other Pentagon contracting fraud that Pentagon employees may have witnessed. If you have information you wish to share, contact either MilitaryCorrruption.com or LTC Rick Lamberth directly.
If we all work together, we may be able to clean this up. All we want is to make the Pentagon a lean, mean, fighting machine. Right now it’s just another behemoth of the federal government that is bloated and clogged with fraud, waste and abuse that is no doubt seriously affecting its ability to do its job efficiently.
Again, contact us, or consider contacting LTC Lamberth at the number below…
LTC Rick Lamberth, USA (Ret.)
Program Manager, NH-0343-04 / GS-15
571.481.6540
linkedin.com/in/rick-lamberth-5a08051a
IMPORTANT NOTE: If anyone mentioned in this or any other article in MilitaryCorruption.com feels they have been maligned in anyway whatsoever, please contact us immediately and provide your written rebuttal. We have no interest in publishing anything that is not true and correct. We ask our readers, especially those mentioned in our articles to send us information you feel is crucial for our readers to have an accurate picture of what is really going on. Help keep us on the straight and narrow by giving us your version of events.
And, finally. If you have a story you would like published, please let us know. If you prefer to remain anonymous, we will do our very best to keep you anonymous. If you are presently working in the government, they buy a burner phone and let us know when to contact you. Our country needs for the good guys and gals to come forward and tell us what is really going on so we can tell the world with the hope that something will change and people will finally be held accountable.
Thank you,
Nelson Sloan
MC.com