Prison-made US combat helmets endangered soldiers: report

Defective combat helmets produced for the US military using prison labor in Texas put soldiers' lives at risk, according to a report released Wednesday by a Justice Department watchdog agency. Poorly supervised inmates also used dangerous, improvised tools, including makeshift hatchets, which could easily have become prison weapons, according to the Justice Department's Inspector General. Nearly 150,000 of the helmets were manufactured between 2006 and 2009, a period during which the White House ordered "surges" in combat troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan.