Defense chief recuses from ‘war cloud’ contract

Defense Secretary Mark Esper will recuse himself from the Pentagon’s $10 billion “war cloud” contract competition due to his son’s employment with one of the companies that sought the deal, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.

Esper, who in late July ordered a review of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program over concerns of bias in the competition, has “attended informational briefings to ensure he had a full understanding of the JEDI program and the universe of options available,” chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.

“Although not legally required to, he has removed himself from participating in any decision making following the information meetings, due to his adult son’s employment with one of the original contract applicants.”

The statement added that “out of an abundance of caution to avoid any concerns regarding his impartiality,” Esper has delegated decision making for JEDI to Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist.

The JEDI competition is down to final contenders Amazon Web Services and Microsoft to offer cloud-computing to supercharge the Department of Defense’s (DOD) war capabilities, including on the battlefield.

Amazon has been largely favored to win the lucrative contract — which could last for up to 10 years, though it begins at only two — as it says it is best-equipped to store the necessary top-secret and highly classified information.

We know you were wondering too: The Pentagon statement does not indicate which company Esper’s son works for.