Rumsfeld: Lack of "Adult Supervision" at Air Force Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld blamed the Air Force procurement scandal on rapid turnover in top management ranks, which left “very little adult supervision” of the service’s deputy acquisitions chief, Darleen Druyun. Druyun confessed in October to providing favorable treatment for the Boeing Co. in return for jobs for her daughter, son-in-law and eventually herself. She was sentenced to nine months in prison. During Druyun’s nine years as deputy assistant secretary for acquisition, Rumsfeld said, the Air Force’s other top acquisition positions – at the secretary, undersecretary and assistant secretary level – turned over several times, with months of vacancies between appointments. “So what you had with all these vacancies over a 10-year period, you had the only continuity was that single person, who’s now pleaded guilty and is going to go to jail,” he said at a Nov. 23 Pentagon press briefing. ”…Over time I’m told what she did was acquire a great deal of authority and make a lot of decisions, and there was very little adult supervision above, below or on the side.” Rumsfeld said Air Force Secretary James Roche and Assistant Secretary Marvin Sambur became concerned about Druyun’s power and took steps to rein her in before she retired in 2002. Roche and Sambur announced their resignations last month. Sambur, who was Druyun’s immediate superior as assistant secretary for acquisition beginning in 2001, said he does not feel responsible for the scandal. “God knows why because, from my point of view, I was the one who cleaned up her act in terms of getting her to retire six months after I came here,” he told Government Executive magazine. “All the things that she admitted to having done, happened before my watch.” He said Air Force officials have asked to interview Druyun to learn more about how she got away with steering contracts to Boeing and approving inflated payments.