Today, Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, Jon Soltz, Co-Founder and Chair of VoteVets.org and two Whistleblowers, Jeff Kenner and Tamra Elshaug, who worked for Sioux Manufacturing, held a tele-conference to discuss the need for a congressional investigation into a $74 million Department of Defense contract awarded to a North Dakota manufacturing company, Sioux Manufacturing Company, which has been outfitting our nation's troops with substandard Kevlar helmets.

Tape recordings of employees discussing the production of the substandard Kevlar for helmets were publicly played and posted for the first time during the TELE-PRESS Conference today. Those recordings and transcripts can be found here [0].

VoteVets.org is the largest political group of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, representing 14,000 veterans and military families, and over 60,000 civilian supporters. The group launched a petition [1] calling for an investigation of substandard helmets.

Mr. Kenner is the former Weaving Supervisor at SMC, who had worked at SMC for twenty years. SMC employee records reflect glowing employee evaluations of Mr. Kenner, which included a letter to Mr. Kenner wherein SMC's production manager described him as "an inspiration to co-workers."

Mrs. Elshaug is the former Materials Purchasing Manager at SMC, who had worked for SMC for 26 years. SMC employee records also reflect glowing evaluations of Mrs. Elshaug, including a review signed by SMC President Carl McKay, wherein he stated that "Tammy has to be considered one of our most valuable employees" who "regularly exceeds all job requirements."