Retired senior officers cashing in

[CAVU]

This should be a crime. Just as with congressmen and lobbying, public service is being leveraged into a lucrative second careers. GOs, SES, and members of congress should have strict rules about who they can work for. I'd like a lifetime ban on employment with business that do work with the individual's former department. In the GOs' case, that'd be DoD. Congressmen? Anyone who does business with government, period. I'd settle for a 5 year ban, though.

There is already a far amount of legislation on the books (not just DoD but all former govt). You can get some good insight from DoD's "gouge" www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/resource_library/12_pgser_senior.pdf and it doesn't stop there. If you fit any of the categories, every company will want an ethics determination letter from the government's ethics attorney, usually you go to the command you were in prior to leaving active duty, and not just any attorney. They need to have the experience because it can get complex. There are more than just civil penalties at stake. Imprisonment for individuals and debarment for contractors.