And thank you for the email address and the link to your
http://www.stephennewton.com/tag/atlantic-bridge/ blog.
I started a compilation topic about ALEC (which now has over 400 replies, most of them with more links to information) in early March of this year, after finally, belatedly, finding out about ALEC and realizing how much it had to do with the wave of harmful right-wing legislation being pushed in so many American states this year (and in earlier years, but it became particularly noticeable this year, finally getting more attention, because of Republican gains in state legislatures in 2010).
This is the link to that compilation topic
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x591230and the hundreds of links you'll find there will take you to news stories and web sites about ALEC.
You asked about evidence of ALEC's contacts with the defense industry. That hasn't been a focus for ALEC here in the US, with ALEC's activities and lobbying primarily at state level, with much of the model legislation about domestic issues such as limiting voting (purportedly to prevent voter fraud, but actually to suppress voting by groups likely to vote Democratic), weakening regulations on business, and so on.
But ALEC is a corporate-front group, a giant lobbying machine, and its international interests are those that further business interests, which of course includes the defense industry.
ALEC's International Relations news page
http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=ir_newslinks to two news stories about the defense export treaty with the UK and Australia:
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4786799http://www.marketwatch.com/story/senate-oks-treaty-on-defense-exports-2010-09-30?reflink=MW_news_stmpThis page on the ALEC site about Karla Jones, director of the International Relations Task Force, is also interesting:
http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Karla_JonesKarla Jones assumed the position of Director of the International Relations Task Force (IRTF) and Federal Relations Working Group (FRWG) at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in July 2009. In this capacity, she has worked to expand the IRTF's previous EU focus to one that is more global in nature reaching out to countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to identify issues where promotion of ALEC's governing principles (free markets, limited government and individual liberty) and foreign national interests intersect. She has established partnerships with legislators and other officials and organizations abroad in order to highlight and advocate ALEC's policy positions and is also engaging with Congress and the relevant agencies and departments on IRTF and FRWG resolutions that require federal action.
Before joining ALEC, Ms. Jones was the Europe Project Director at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), in Washington, DC. While there, she raised JINSA's visibility as an opinion leader through extensive contacts with British MPs, German Bundestag members, Polish national leaders, Members of the European Parliament, senior EU officials and NATO officials. Through a variety of JINSA programs including leading JINSA delegations to meet with civilian and military leaders in various European countries and organizing speaking events across the United States, she worked to educate JINSA's board of directors and general membership about the importance of a healthy transatlantic alliance to achieving American national security objectives. Through her program, Karla also emphasized the role that the Israel-European and Israel-NATO partnerships play in international security.
Her background with JINSA is important because it's a neocon organization:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Institute_for_National_Security_Affairshttp://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Jewish_Institute_for_National_Security_AffairsThe link below
http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/InsideALEC/InsideALEC_Sept09_v8.pdfis to a PDF file with ALEC's Sept. 2009 newsletter, with an article by Jones -- "International Relations Task Force Launched" -- which includes this paragraph:
ALEC will continue to strengthen
partnerships with friends in Europe
through collaborative ventures with
The Atlantic Bridge and by increasing
our international legislative membership.
ALEC will consider ratification of
the U.S.-U.K. Defense Trade and Cooperation
Treaty, which would reduce the
bureaucratic obstacles to defense trade
with our most important strategic ally.