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In reply to the discussion: FBI Entrapment Created 'Illusion' of Terrorist Plots: Report [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)10. Mix in Secret Government and Spherical Snooping and its MONEY for those in the know.
The rest of us? Well, for 99-percent: We're not in the clear.
Behind the Curtain: Booz Allen Hamilton and its Owner, The Carlyle Group
Written by Bob Adelmann
The New American; June 13, 2013
According to writers Thomas Heath and Marjorie Censer at the Washington Post, The Carlyle Group and its errant child, Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), have a public relations problem, thanks to NSA leaker and former BAH employee Edward Snowden. By the time top management at BAH learned that one of their top level agents had gone rogue, and terminated his employment, it was too late.
For years Carlyle had, according to the Post, nurtured a reputation as a financially sophisticated asset manager that buys and sells everything from railroads to oil refineries; but now the light from the Snowden revelations has revealed nothing more than two companies, parent and child, bound by the thread of turning government secrets into profits.
And have they ever. When The Carlyle Group bought BAH back in 2008, it was totally dependent upon government contracts in the fields of information technology (IT) and systems engineering for its bread and butter. But there wasn't much butter: After two years the companys gross revenues were $5.1 billion but net profits were a minuscule $25 million, close to a rounding error on the companys financial statement. In 2012, however, BAH grossed $5.8 billion and showed earnings of $219 million, nearly a nine-fold increase in net revenues and a nice gain in value for Carlyle.
Unwittingly, the Post authors exposed the real reason for the jump in profitability: close ties and interconnected relationships between top people at Carlyle and BAH, and the agencies with which they are working. The authors quoted George Price, an equity analyst at BB&T Capital: " got a great brand, they've focused over time on hiring top people, including bringing on people who have a lot of senior government experience." (Emphasis added.)
For instance, James Clapper had a stint at BAH before becoming the current Director of National Intelligence; George Little consulted with BAH before taking a position at the Central Intelligence Agency; John McConnell, now vice chairman at BAH, was director of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the 90s before moving up to director of national intelligence in 2007; Todd Park began his career with BAH and now serves as the country's chief technology officer; James Woolsey, currently a senior vice president at BAH, served in the past as director of the Central Intelligence Agency; and so on.
BAH has had more than a little problem with self-dealing and conflicts of interest over the years. For instance in 2006 the European Commission asked the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Privacy International (PI) to investigate BAHs involvement with President George Bushs SWIFT surveillance program, which was viewed by that administration as just another tool in its so-called War on Terror. The only problem is that it was illegal, as it violated U.S., Belgian, and European privacy laws. BAH was right in the middle of it. According to the ACLU/PI report,
Though Booz Allens role is to verify that the access to the SWIFT data is not abused, its relationship with the U.S. Government calls its objectivity significantly into question. (Emphasis added.)
Among Booz Allens senior consulting staff are several former members of the intelligence community, including a former Director of the CIA and a former director of the NSA.
As noted by Barry Steinhardt, an ACLU director, Its bad enough that the administration is trying to hold out a private company as a substitute for genuine checks and balances on its surveillance activities. But of all companies to perform audits on a secret surveillance program, it would be difficult to find one less objective and more intertwined with the U.S. government security establishment. (Emphasis added.)
CONTINUED w Links n Privatized INTEL...
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/15696-behind-the-curtain-booz-allen-hamilton-and-its-owner-the-carlyle-group
Apart from picking up the tab, that i$.
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Mix in Secret Government and Spherical Snooping and its MONEY for those in the know.
Octafish
Jul 2014
#10
How FBI Entrapment Is Inventing 'Terrorists' - and Letting Bad Guys Off the Hook
Octafish
Jul 2014
#13
Ironic. While very conservative, the FBI Agent Donald Adams was quite a compelling person.
Octafish
Jul 2014
#62
I'm more worried about the Feds arresting cancer grannies for growing pot
Warren DeMontague
Jul 2014
#43
Like DCI William Colby said re Sam Giancana: ''We had nothing to do with that.''
Octafish
Jul 2014
#35
How else can the establishment (TPTB) justify its humongous anti-terraist budget and its
indepat
Jul 2014
#17
You mean the creep who WILLINGLY pressed a button convinced he was going to blow up a crowd
Warren DeMontague
Jul 2014
#42
Mohamud: "I want whoever is attending that event to leave, to leave either dead or injured"
Warren DeMontague
Jul 2014
#45
And apparently a jury of 12 people didn't agree with Glenn Greenwald, who is one.
Warren DeMontague
Jul 2014
#51
I wouldn't. But this guy did considerably more than that. And I have to believe you grasp that fact.
Warren DeMontague
Jul 2014
#53
Back in the 80s a major drug bust went haywire as it turned out ALL of the players were cops....
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#63
entrapment laws are a lot like vacation laws, maternity leave laws, sick pay laws
Adam051188
Aug 2014
#76