CHICAGO, March 9  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- An independent review of the
procedures and practices of The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) related to the
company's hiring of current and former government employees has found no
instances of wrongdoing or noncompliance similar to the Mike Sears-Darleen
Druyun case, which prompted the Boeing board of directors to request the
review. However, according to a report prepared by a team led by former
Senator Warren Rudman and colleagues from the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton & Garrison LLP, the company's existing policies and procedures can be
improved and should be carried out more consistently.

    Boeing released the report today. The Boeing board commissioned the study
in November after an internal company investigation led to the dismissal of
the two senior executives for violating company hiring policies.

    "Although Boeing has well-established written policies and procedures that
govern the hiring of U.S. government employees, we found that these policies
and procedures can be enhanced in some respects, and that emphasis needs to be
focused on the consistent execution of those policies and procedures," Senator
Rudman said. "There is no 'magic bullet' to ensure that everyone follows
established policies and procedures in hiring government employees, but
additional training, safeguards, and centralized oversight and control can
substantially reduce the risk that mistakes will be made in the hiring
process."

    The Rudman team conducted a three-month examination and review of Boeing's
internal policies, oversight mechanisms, organizational structure, process
management and monitoring systems for hiring current or former government
employees. The report details 10 recommendations to augment and strengthen the
company's existing hiring processes. The full report is available at http://www.boeing.com/ .

    "Boeing's board of directors requested this independent review to identify
any weaknesses in our hiring system and to make recommendations that would
improve and strengthen our capacity to manage the process of hiring current
and former government employees," said Boeing Chairman Lew Platt. "As Senator
Rudman's report notes, our existing policies and procedures have many strong
features. However, the report found room for improvement, as well as
inconsistencies in how our policies and procedures are implemented. These
deficiencies can create unnecessary risks for the company and its employees.
To reduce these risks, we need consistent application of our policies and
procedures across the company.

    "We have already begun to put into action many of the report's
recommendations, and we will follow through and implement all of them. We are
tightening up central oversight, improving record-keeping, monitoring the
records of people as they move through the system, increasing our audits of
the records and results, and improving training in all of these areas," Platt
said.

    Senator Rudman noted: "Boeing has not been ignoring these issues. Rather,
it has already started to address a number of the points identified in our
report. In fact, although some of our recommendations may go further than
Boeing has so far, a number of our recommendations are similar to, or build
upon, changes that the company has already adopted or begun to implement."

    Platt added that the company remains deeply committed to integrity in all
of its business practices, and he pointed out that a Boeing internal
investigation -- not outside reviews -- uncovered initial concerns in this
area. "We intend to continue making the necessary improvements so that we
become the standard of ethics and integrity," he said.

    Rudman is a former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire and former chairman of
the Senate Ethics Committee. Most recently he was a member of the Conference
Board's Commission on Public Trust and Private Enterprise, which recommended
significant reforms related to corporate governance, business ethics, and
auditing and accounting issues. He is a director of the Chubb Corporation,
Allied Waste, Boston Scientific, Collins & Aikman and the Raytheon Company.


SOURCE: The Boeing Company

Web site:  http://www.boeing.com/