Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal assisting Missouri Gov. Parson’s COVID-19 response
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s administration has turned to a Virginia-based consulting firm led by a retired four-star Army general to help with its COVID-19 response, although details of the arrangement are not yet clear.
The McChrystal Group, led by retired general Stanley McChrystal, is “helping the state provide project management support for a comprehensive response to the public and private COVID-19 needs identified throughout the Missouri healthcare system,” said Chris Moreland, spokesman for the Office of Administration.
“The McChrystal Group has experience in providing support for complex problems,” Moreland said in an email to The Star. “They are working in conjunction with all departments and the diverse health care system stakeholders to help the state ensure that we are providing services, supplies and equipment to meet Missouri’s rapidly changing COVID 19 needs.”
The Office of Administration, which handles contracting and purchasing for the state government, would not clarify how much McChrystal is getting paid for his work, saying only that the state is in talks with the Missouri Foundation for Health to cover the costs, “but we are still finalizing the details.”
The Missouri Foundation for Health, a nonprofit that describes its mission as “to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities most in need,” confirmed that discussions about fees for McChrystal’s services are ongoing.
According to its website, most of the McChrystal Group’s clients are corporations. It boasts that it helps organizations “tap into human potential in service of stronger business outcomes” by “developing your leaders, implementing strategy and measuring your organization’s performance.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the McChrystal Group says it can help organizations “get the most out of your teams during these trying and uncertain times.”
The consulting firm was hired by the City of Boston in March to oversee the city’s emergency response to the pandemic. The cost was $458,000 through the end of May, with the option of extending the contract at a rate of $230,000 a month.
McChrystal, 65, whose company did not respond to a request for comment about its work in Missouri, was the top commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan.
He resigned in 2010 following a Rolling Stone article featuring disparaging remarks by McChrystal and his staff about some of then-President Barack Obama’s senior civilian advisers — most notably his vice president, Joe Biden.
