Shop

When the U.S. government decided to boost incentives for National Guard service and combat veterans, no one envisioned a system in which a single bureaucrat could approve tens of millions of payments to officers and others who probably weren't eligible. Yet these and other apparent abuses occurred in California's National Guard even after flags were raised, and they gained top-level attention only after Sacramento Bee reporter Charles Piller revealed them. As Piller reported, up to $100 million in potentially illegal or improper incentive payments were made to service members, including Guard captains and majors who knew they were ineligible for disbursements.