General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Whoa. [View all]politicat
(9,810 posts)(Disclosure: have worked for major defense contractors, including an LM subsidiary and a GE subsidiary)
The rocket engines fall under import/export controls; if LM is buying them, then the DoD knows about it, and given that LM has a major share of launch services for satellites, I'm not surprised. Russian engines are still around the tech level of a Saturn, but they do the job and get what needs to go up into orbit, and probably for a lower dollar cost than building them here. For an essentially disposable product that comes with heavy environmental and personnel costs, I'm not surprised that LM outsources that. (Not being surprised does not mean approval.)
But HSBC -- Comey was there, on the Board, during the timeframe when the SwissLeaks investigation was ongoing. Comey was only there for about 7 months (appointed at end of January, 2013; would have had to leave the BOD by September, 2013 when he became FBI chief) and was immediately after HSBC got into massive trouble for money laundering and import/export control failures. Why hire someone for such a short period of time? It's not like nobody foresaw Mueller stepping down; he was already 16 months into a 2 year extension to his 10 year term. And everyone knew Comey was shortlisted to replace Mueller. Boards of Directors like long-term continuity, not short-termers. So they expected Comey to stay... and then he didn't.
There is something... strange here. I just don't know what.