Whistleblower Flareup

Illumination flares used by U.S. forces in search and rescue missions are supposed to pass a simple test: that they can be dropped from a height of 10 feet without igniting. A former employee of Alliant Techsystems Inc. says in a whistleblower lawsuit that the company provided flares to the military knowing they might not pass that test due to problems with their igniters. Later, the flares did in fact fail a Navy test.

Now the U.S. government has joined the whistleblower's suit. And if you think this is a small potatoes case, remember this: the Air Force and the Army bought $100 million worth of the flares.