Why won't military accept private help?

WASHINGTON — In his lifetime, my grandpa, Amasa Davidson, was a farmer, rancher, teacher, principal, electrician — and lifelong inventor and tinkerer.

I am told that during or shortly after World War I, he came up with what he thought was an invention that would revolutionize submarine warfare. Being a patriot, he offered to give it (not sell it) to the Navy.

I'm told he was frustrated that the Navy did not take his letters seriously and would not respond. Officers probably laughed about that rancher out in the dry Wyoming desert who thought he could build a better submarine. Heck, the next thing you know, some bicycle shop owners from Ohio will say they can build airplanes.

Grandpa was so frustrated that he did something rash — at least for those lean times as he struggled to provide for his wife and (then) five children. He grabbed his plans and raided his meager savings to pay for a train trip to faraway Washington, D.C.

The family said no one would see him in Washington, either. Camping out at the War Department did no good. The only thing he gained for his effort was the chance to walk up (and down) the Washington Monument. Exactly what he offered has been lost to history and was never examined by the Navy.

It turns out that the military's opinion of outside innovations may not have changed much during the past 85 years.

I wrote this week about how a private company worked with Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to develop software its commander sought to fix serious flaws in its security badge system. It worked so well that it won an Air Force anti-terrorism innovation award.

So Hill Air Force Base in Utah explored also buying it to solve similar security badge problems — which inspectors recently said could allow intruders there too-easy access. That's a big fear in a time of terrorism.

Problems at Hill ranged from not really knowing how many security badges were issued to not knowing if old badges were destroyed or how many duplicate badges employees may have. Also, current systems do not easily track who visits the base and make checking to ensure that visitors are allowed somewhat slow and difficult.

Now the story turns ugly and would gain some sympathy from my grandpa.

Memos and e-mails obtained by the Deseret Morning News show that the Air Force does not want Hill — or other bases — to buy that software to which it gave awards. Instead, it is pressuring them to continue using an old, hard-to-use, in-house Air Force computer system that is contributing to their security problems.