Who is the highest paid U.S. government person?

Who is the highest paid U.S. government person? The Army's football coach. How long before the GOP demands the coach's pay be cut in half to reduce our deficit? ---BBB

West Point keeps coach's pay secret
By Jodi Upton, USA TODAY

While the nation debates how billions of dollars should be spent on the military in Iraq, the U.S. Military Academy gets to keep at least one budget item secret: how much it pays football coach Stan Brock.

The academy is the only public NCAA Division I-A school that refuses to release any information on its football coach's contract. Penn State and Temple also have refused to release information, though last month the Pennsylvania state supreme court ruled that any coaches who participate in the state retirement system must release some information.

The Military Academy's athletics department gets about one-third of its $24 million budget directly from the federal government, according to the school's most recent NCAA financial report, which covers the 2005-06 school year. But releasing how much of it goes to the football coach would be a breach of privacy and give an advantage to competitors, said U.S. Army spokeswoman Mary Keeney.

"We asked the school if they wanted it released, and they said no," says Keeney, who was filling in as the freedom of information officer at the Army's Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command, which replies to information requests for the academy.

The Air Force Academy, which is public and operates under the same federal open records laws as Army, released coach Troy Calhoun's $571,000-a-year contract. The Naval Academy's athletics department, which is set up as a non-profit organization separate from the academy, releases Paul Johnson's $1.05 million salary through its federal tax return. The Military Academy does not file such a return.

On average, Division I-A football coaches make more than $1 million a year. If Brock is making near the average, that potentially makes him one of the nation's highest-paid federal employees, making significantly more than President Bush's $400,000 salary. The Army's official denial says "release of this information would cause substantial harm to the competitive position and impair the Governments (sic) ability to obtain necessary information in the future." The denial was made on behalf of Brigadier Gen. Belinda Pinckney, who oversees the Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command. USA TODAY has appealed the denial.

Pinckney's spokeswoman, Laurie Pugh, declined to comment.

Tara Andringa, a spokeswoman for Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, said the committee had no idea why the Military Academy would not release the information but declined further comment.