Companies trying to score Pentagon contracts need not spend bundles of money on Washington lobbyists. Positive results can be attained inexpensively by following the steps prescribed by Matthew R. Kambrod in “Lobbying Defense: An Insider’s View.” The book provides a how-to guide for navigating the Byzantine procurement bureaucracy and dealing with appropriators on Capitol Hill. One notable, if questionable, piece of advice Kambrod offers is that the “hardest people with whom to do business are the civilian personnel with many years of tenure.” The truth is that many civilians in the Pentagon “simply do not have the ‘fire in their belly’ for developing combat systems,” Kambrod writes. When trying to sell a piece of hardware, “pick the military over the civilian if you have that option,” he recommends. While generals and admirals rule the building, contractors often find that the “most powerful people” who can get them in the door are young majors and lieutenant colonels.
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