He served on the board of directors of a company corporation called: Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
NYSE: SAI is a FORTUNE 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications company headquartered in the United States with numerous federal, state, and private sector clients. It works extensively with the United States Department of Defense, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the United States Intelligence Community, including the National Security Agency, as well as other U.S. Government civil agencies and selected commercial markets.
In fiscal year 2003, SAIC did over $2.6 billion in business with the United States Department of Defense, making it the ninth largest defense contractor in the United States. Other large contracts include their contract for information technology for the 2004 Olympics in Greece[1] and from 2001 to 2005, SAIC was the primary contractor for the FBI's failed Virtual Case File project.[2]
In 1991, SAIC was charged with falsifying data submitted to the EPA on soil samples from toxic waste dumps, for which it ended up paying $ 1.3 million in fines and restitution.
According to investigative journalists Bartlett and Steele, (heard on NPR discussing this @ http://api.npr.org/templat
"everyone agrees [that] no Washington contractor pursues government money with more ingenuity and perseverance than SAIC. No contractor seems to exploit conflicts of interest in Washington with more zeal."
Mark Boster, a former deputy assistant attorney general, joined SAIC in 1999. Boster paid $30,000 to settle charges he violated federal ethics rules by calling Justice on behalf of the company just three months after he switched sides.
SAIC personnel were instrumental in pressing the case that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and that war was the only way to get rid of them. When no weapons of mass destruction were found, SAIC personnel staffed the commission set up to investigate how American intelligence could have been so disastrously wrong, including Gordon Oehler, the commission's deputy director for review a 25-year CIA veteran, Jeffrey R. Cooper, vice president and chief science officer for one of SAIC's sub-units and Samuel Visner, a SAIC vice president for corporate development who had also passed through the revolving door and back to the NSA.
David Kay, who later chaired the Iraq Survey Group (which showed that Hussein didn't possess WMD, thereby proving that the war was launched under false pretenses), is also an SAIC shareholder and former director of SAIC's Center for Counterterrorism Technology and Analysis.
In 1998, Kay testified before a Senate committee that Saddam Hussein "remains in power with weapons of mass destruction" and that "military action is needed." Another SAIC stockholder and board member Wayne Downing, was used as a military analyst in the build-up to the war in Iraq. SAIC also hired Iraqi exiles including Khidhir Hamza, a member of the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council, once perceived as a conduit for Iraqi exiles living in the U.S. who would be called upon to serve in the newly established government. (Operating under a $33 million contract, SAIC organized the Iraqi exiles and reported to Douglas Feith, then undersecretary of defense for policy and a key assistant to Donald Rumsfeld Feith's deputy, Christopher "Ryan" Henry is a former SAIC senior vice president, according to Bartlett and Steele.
Another SAIC "subject-matter expert" was Shaha Riza, whose relationship to Paul Wolfowitz was one of the reasons for his downfall as President of the World Bank.
During the Iraq war SAIC was awarded a $ 15 million no-bid contract (which later grew to $82 million) to establish a "free and independent indigenous media network" in Iraq. According to Bartlett and Steele, "with SAIC's cooperation, the network quickly devolved into a mouthpiece for the Pentagon -- "a little Voice of America."
In addition to having many friends in high places, SAIC also pays lobbyists from FBA Inc. and Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis. In 2004, its lobbying expenditures topped $1.5 million.
The company's PAC, SAIC Inc., has spent hundreds of thousands so far in the 2008 election cycle.
Contracting: Incompetence and other Costly Errors
In 1995, SAIC was charged with defrauding the government over its efforts to design a flat panel display screen for fighter jets. The government alleged that SAIC received millions of dollars but never produced a fully operational model and misled the government about the status of their progress. According to media reports, in December 1995, SAIC settled with the government and paid a fine of $2.5 million.
In 1998 that SAIC paid $1,124,850 to settle a case of "Voluntary Disclosure Cost/Labor Mischarging."
On May 10, 1995, the Department of Justice announced that SAIC was among three government contractors that would pay a total of $230,000 to settle alleged False Claims Act violations in which they allegedly failed to properly test electrical cables installed at a U.S. Treasury facility under construction in Fort Worth, Texas, that prints money… SAIC was the prime contractor on the project. Its share of the settlement was $125,000.
A 2006 GAO report (GAO-06-698T) reported (p. 13) that SAIC billed the FBI twice for the same invoice as a subcontractor for the Trilogy project.
Level of involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal
Because of his senior status in the CIA, Gates was close to many figures who played significant roles in the Iran-Contra Affair and was in a position to have known of their activities. In 1984, as deputy director of CIA, Gates advocated that the U.S. initiate a bombing campaign against Nicaragua and that the U.S. do everything in its power short of direct military invasion of the country to remove the Sandinista government.[16] The evidence developed by Independent Counsel did not warrant indictment of Gates for his Iran-Contra activities or his responses to official inquiries.
Gates was an early subject of Independent Counsel's investigation, but the investigation of Gates intensified in the spring of 1991 as part of a larger inquiry into the Iran/contra activities of CIA officials. This investigation received an additional impetus in May 1991, when President George H.W. Bush nominated Gates to be Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). The chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) requested, in a letter to the Independent Counsel on May 15, 1991, any information that would “significantly bear on the fitness” of Gates for the CIA post.
Gates consistently testified that he first heard on October 1, 1986, from Charles E. Allen, the national intelligence officer who was closest to the Iran initiative, that proceeds from the Iran arms sales may have been diverted to support the Contras. Other evidence proves, however, that Gates received a report on the diversion during the summer of 1986 from DDI Richard Kerr.[17] The issue was whether the Independent Counsel could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gates was deliberately not telling the truth when he later claimed not to have remembered any reference to the diversion before meeting with Allen in October.
Grand Jury secrecy rules hampered Independent Counsel's response. Nevertheless, in order to answer questions about Gates' prior testimony, Independent Counsel accelerated his investigation of Gates in the summer of 1991. This investigation was substantially completed by September 3, 1991, at which time Independent Counsel determined that Gates' Iran-Contra activities and testimony did not warrant prosecution.
Independent Counsel made this decision subject to developments that could have warranted reopening his inquiry, including testimony by Clair E. George, the CIA's former deputy director for operations. At the time Independent Counsel reached this decision, the possibility remained that George could have provided information warranting reconsideration of Gates's status in the investigation. George refused to cooperate with Independent Counsel and was indicted on September 19, 1991. George subpoenaed Gates to testify as a defense witness at George's first trial in the summer of 1994, but Gates was never called.
According to documents, Gates apparently knew about Oliver North's efforts to raise money for the Contras; critics claim that the new Secretary of Defense did not undertake sufficient measures to stop the scheme from going ahead. Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, who investigated the Iran Contra scandal, remarked that Gates was "less than candid" about his role in the affair but did not bring charges.
Prior to Iran and Iraq gates thought it was a good idea to bomb Nicaragua
In 1984, Gates, who was then CIA Deputy Director, recommended to his boss, William Casey, that the United States use air strikes to destroy Nicaragua's "military buildup." In his memo, Gates remarked that he was advocating "hard measures" that "probably are politically unacceptable."
According to documents, Gates apparently knew about Oliver North's efforts to raise money for the Contras; critics claim that the new Secretary of Defense did not undertake sufficient measures to stop the scheme from going ahead. Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, who investigated the Iran Contra scandal, remarked that Gates was "less than candid" about his role in the affair but did not bring charges.
After leaving SIAC he joined, Though Gates's tenure on SAIC's board of directors proved brief, he maintained ties to the company even after leaving when he joined the advisory board for VoteHere, an electronic voting machine firm tied to SAIC.
I will keep diggin on this one but i think this might be enough info for me. What does this say about Obama for endorsing him?
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