US investigation into BAE Saudi arms deal watered down

[seemslikeadream]

US investigation into BAE Saudi arms deal watered down, leaked memo suggests
Document seen by the Guardian suggests US law firm influenced investigation into £43bn deal between UK and Saudi Arabia

Clayton Swisher, Ewen MacAskill and Rob Evans
Tue 6 Mar 2018 07.57 EST Last modified on Tue 6 Mar 2018 10.31 EST

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who according to the memo was a ‘key target’ of the US investigation. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP
The outcome of a US criminal investigation into alleged bribery in a £43bn arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia was watered down following a secret lobbying campaign, according to a leaked document.

The confidential memo seen by the Guardian provides a rare insight into behind-the-scenes negotiations between an American law firm hired by a Saudi prince and the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

The discussions took place in the runup to the DoJ’s completion in 2010 of an investigation into the deal between Saudi Arabia and Britain’s biggest arms firm, BAE.

The Washington-based law firm boasted in the memo that it had wrung a string of concessions from investigators that led to the removal of potentially embarrassing details from an official document announcing their conclusions.

The memo sheds new light on one of the most contentious arms deals in history, and underlines the lengths taken to prevent disclosure of any material that might damage the west’s relationship with the Saudis.

That relationship comes under the spotlight again this week with the visit to Britain of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is due to meet Theresa May in Downing Street. In November he initiated what has been portrayed as a drive to recoup billions of dollars accrued through corruption.

At least one prince alleged to have accepted a bribe in the arms deal was among 30 senior Saudis held under house arrest at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh.

Britain and Saudi Arabia have long sought to keep secret details of the arms deal known as al-Yamamah, which involved planes and other military equipment.

The leaked memo shows how a member of the Saudi royal family, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, hired a lobbying firm run by a former head of the FBI, Louis Freeh. According to the memo, the prince was a “key target” of the DoJ investigation after the Guardian revealed he had allegedly received more than £1bn in secret payments from BAE.

Friend of the world's leaders: man at the centre of arms deal
Read more
The memo was written by the firm for the Saudi ambassador to the US in January 2010.

The firm claimed that its “relentless” work, including “dozens of meetings, calls etc with BAE lawyers and very senior US government officials”, had persuaded DoJ investigators to remove anything identifying Bandar from the official document announcing the conclusion of the investigation into the alleged bribery.

Any details of the allegedly corrupt payments to Bandar had also been deleted from the draft document, leading the firm, Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan (FSS), to claim that it had achieved the “remarkable result” of getting the prince “cleared” in the investigation.

The firm claimed in the memo that it had secured a series of victories from the investigators in what amounted to an “exoneration of the good names” of the prince and Saudi Arabia.

The firm hailed the settlement in the BAE case as “a huge sea change” and a reversal of the investigators’ original plan.

BAE accused of secretly paying £1bn to Saudi prince
Read more
Asked about the contents of the memo, FSS said: “While it has been publicly reported that FSS represented HRH Prince Bandar in connection with the BAE matter, we take our responsibilities under the attorney client privilege most seriously and so cannot comment on our representation.

“Needless to say, HRH Prince Bandar was never alleged or charged by any governmental authority, including the US Department of Justice, with any violation of law, regulation or other proper standard of behaviour. Conversely, HRH Prince Bandar has been a dedicated, life-long public servant of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and a great friend and ally of the United States.”

The firm said it disputed the accuracy of the Guardian’s account of the memo and cautioned “publication could create a cause for claims of defamation”. It did not respond when asked what specifically was inaccurate.

Allegations that BAE used illicit payments to land the al-Yamamah contract – Britain’s biggest-ever arms deal – surfaced soon after it was sealed in 1985.

For years the British government denied there was any corruption. The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) launched an investigation in 2004. Two years later Tony Blair’s administration stepped in and abruptly terminated the SFO investigation, arguing its continuation would damage Britain’s national security.

In 2007 the DoJ initiated its own investigation after the Guardian revealed that BAE had been making regular payments to Bandar via the Riggs Bank in Washington DC.

Bandar, who was the Saudi ambassador to the US for more than 20 years, denied he had received improper payments from BAE. He said payments consisted of Saudi official funds and were used for purposes approved by the Saudi ministry of defence. He was not among those arrested and held at the Ritz-Carlton in the recent roundup.

Bandar hired Freeh, who had headed the FBI in Bill Clinton’s administration. With two former judges, he had set up the law firm Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan after he left the FBI in 2001.

The memo recorded a “significant” meeting between BAE, Freeh and his colleague Eugene Sullivan in January 2010. The arms company had shared details of its confidential negotiations with the DoJ investigators weeks before the settlement was published.

Sullivan, the memo’s author, wrote that the investigators had been intending to identify Bandar “anonymously but unmistakably as the recipient of $2bn in ‘corrupt bribes’ from BAE”.

He added the settlement would no longer refer to the “corrupt payments” that had allegedly been funnelled to Bandar via the Riggs Bank.

“This is a huge ‘sea change’ and reversal of the DoJ’s intended plan, and the direct result of our hard and successful work on the behalf of [Prince Bandar] and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the last four years. We respectfully suggest that no other lawyers in America could have gotten this result,” Sullivan wrote.

He said he and Freeh had had a “high impact” on the negotiations with the DoJ and the UK’s SFO over their years representing Bandar.

He wrote that in the initial stages of the DoJ’s investigation into the alleged payment of bribes by BAE in a number of countries, Bandar and the Saudis were “key targets” and would form a major part of any deal to settle the case.

He claimed his firm’s work had resulted in the DoJ agreeing there would only be a limited reference to the allegedly corrupt activities of the Saudis.

He added the settlement would not refer to bribery in the al-Yamamah deal, nor the deal itself – “a complete reversal with regard to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and 180 degrees from where the DoJ started”.

No Saudi would be named and instead there would only be a reference to a “Saudi official”. The firm claimed in the memo that anyone knowledgeable about the case would realise the “Saudi official” mentioned in the settlement should not be read as a reference to its client, Prince Bandar, but another Saudi prince.

“This nuance will undoubtedly be lost in the announcement (and the huge negative hype which the Guardian eg will give to the initial story),” the memo said.

The concessions outlined by the memo were evident in the document published by the DoJ in February 2010 when it announced that BAE had pleaded guilty to charges of false accounting and making misleading statements.

In simultaneous deals with the DoJ and the SFO, BAE paid almost £300m in penalties to end investigations into wrongdoing in its contracts with Saudi Arabia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Tanzania.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... are_btn_tw

2346218, Stench of conspiracy at BAE Systems -- US obtains Swiss records and flies in British witness
Posted by seemslikeadream on Sun Nov-25-07 09:29 PM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/stor ... 44,00.html

US obtains Swiss records and flies in British witness in BAE investigation

US corruption investigators have gone behind the back of Downing Street to fly a British witness to Washington to testify about Saudi arms deals with the UK arms firm BAE Systems, the Guardian can disclose. In a hitherto secret move, Swiss federal prosecutors have also agreed to hand over to Washington financial records linked to the Saudi royal family.

The US is seeking - but has so far been refused - more than a million pages of documents seized from BAE, its bankers, Lloyds TSB, and the Ministry of Defence during an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the US, who says there was no impropriety about a £1bn payment he received for brokering arms deals with BAE, has hired a former head of the FBI and a retired British high court judge to defend his position. The British government has been attempting to block all investigations into payments from BAE to members of the Saudi regime.

British ministers are refusing to grant a six-month-old official request from the US department of justice for mutual legal assistance, in defiance of the UK's anti-bribery treaty obligations. This follows the suppression of Britain's own Serious Fraud Office investigation, which was abandoned last year on the grounds that the inquiry might jeopardise national security. The move, following Tony Blair's intervention, infuriated anti-corruption campaigners.



Stench of conspiracy at BAE Systems


http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2192611,00.html
Stench of conspiracy at BAE Systems


Nils Pratley
Wednesday October 17, 2007
The Guardian


The boardroom dynamics of BAE Systems are hard to read at the best of times, but the natural reading of chief executive Mike Turner's departure seems clear: he was pushed.
The killer quote was provided by Turner in June, when he seemed to pitch publicly for an extension. "I'm a fairly young guy," he said. "I've been through some difficult times a few years ago, but the company is in great shape. Why would I want to stop now?"


Why indeed? He is 59, has worked at the company since his teenage years, and retirement age at BAE is 65. Turner himself says he will now look for a job elsewhere, albeit in a non-executive role. It's not as if shareholders were demanding change. The shares have performed wonderfully in recent years, a fact that usually baffles those who only associate BAE with allegations of bribery.
On the business front, Turner did well. He weathered the rows with the Ministry of Defence over the costs of the Nimrod aircraft and Astute submarine programmes. His single-minded vision for expansion - more American assets - was controversial, but successful. Becoming the world's biggest builder of armoured vehicles, from an American base, has paid off handsomely thanks to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

So why's he going? It looks as if winds of change are blowing through BAE. Chris Geoghegan and Steve Mogford, co-chief operating officers, have already resigned this year, so Turner's exit next August means members of BAE's old guard are becoming harder to spot.

New faces might be deemed desirable at this point: the US department of justice is still investigating allegations that BAE paid bribes to Saudi officials. BAE says its relationship with the US government is unaffected, but it's also its job to ensure that's always the case.

Was chairman Dick Olver behind Turner's departure? Was it a boardroom coup? There is sometimes danger in smelling conspiracy at BAE. On this occasion, the stench is powerful.




http://www.democraticunderground.com/di ... id=1692996

BAE brings in a pair of Army contracts


http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech ... aily5.html

A New Hampshire-based defense contractor reports it has won an $8 million federal research grant to develop a power amplifier for the U.S. Army.

A Merrimack, N.H., BAE Systems Inc. site is scheduled to develop a 160-watt gallium nitride amplifier to power communications and radar systems. The grant was awarded to BAE by the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, based in Fort Monmouth, N.J. BAE is expected to share the grant with Virginia-based materials science company Rohm and Haas Co. and the University of Colorado.


In a separate development, a Massachusetts-based unit of BAE reports it plans to develop night vision goggles for the U.S. Army for an undisclosed contract amount. The Program Executive Office Solider, based at Fort Belvoir, Va., commissioned the work, according to company officials.

BAE Systems Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of United Kingdom-based BAE Systems PLC. BAE Systems Inc. is headquartered in Rockville, Md. BAE Systems Information & Electronic Systems Integration Inc., a business unit of BAE Systems, is based in Nashua, N.H. BAE Systems PLC employs 88,000 workers worldwide and reported 2006 annual sales of $25 billion. The largest North American BAE operating group is the Electronics & Integrated Solutions group.


BAE already has an order from India for 66 BAE Hawk trainers, 42 of which are being built there.
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed Aug-29-07 06:07 PM

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... efer=india

BAE Systems to Develop Enhanced Night-Vision Goggle For U.S. Army


http://home.businesswire.com/portal/sit ... ewsLang=en


LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems will design and develop a digitally enhanced night-vision goggle as part of the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program. This next-generation goggle will use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions and in the presence of battlefield obscurants.

The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor on a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. This digital technology will provide improved image quality and will enable imagery to be shared among soldiers, improving platoon effectiveness.

“This program will demonstrate the maturity and effectiveness of digital fusion technology and its benefit to the warfighter,” said Margaret Kohin, Advanced Systems program director for BAE Systems in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Applying innovative technology to help our soldiers complete their missions is an objective BAE Systems stands behind every day.”

The contract is managed by the Program Executive Office Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

BAE Systems will incorporate its uncooled MicroIR® microbolometer sensor technology in the enhanced goggle. This technology also is used in the thermal weapon sights the company supplies to the Army. BAE Systems has two microbolometer foundries and has delivered more than 50,000 microbolometer-based imagers to date.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. BAE Systems, with 96,000 employees worldwide, had 2006 sales that exceeded $27 billion on a pro forma basis, assuming BAE Systems had owned Armor Holdings Inc. for the whole of 2006.

1692661, $519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles

http://www.thestreet.com/s/merger-bolst ... c=googlefi

OKLAHOMA CITY -- With its huge buyout of Armor Holdings, U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems (BAESY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) may have very well gotten more than its money's worth.

Notably, just weeks before that transaction closed, Armor landed a surprise $519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles. With similar MRAP business of its own, BAE has suddenly burst forward as a new leader in the multibillion-dollar MRAP game.

This story is the fourth installment in TheStreet.com's five-part series examining the top players in the multibillion-dollar MRAP bidding.

"In 2007 to date, BAE plus AH have captured ... No. 1 market share -- ahead of Force Protection (FRPT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and International Military and Government," a unit of Navistar (NAVZ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), noted JPMorgan analyst Harry Breach, whose firm has investment banking ties to BAE. Moreover, "we believe that further MRAP awards are likely later this year."

BAE demos DSL-esque military radio protocol
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed Aug-29-07 06:13 PM

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20 ... ia_link_16 /

According to BAE, "the demonstration included Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, Voice over IP, mobile ad-hoc networking, streaming video, and imagery."

The share price of BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company, has risen 225 per cent.


http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/b ... 337229.ece

Symon Hill, a spokesman for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “We think that most of the British public will object to the idea that these companies are profiting from war. While Iraqi civilians and British soldiers are dying, there are companies profiting from it.”

Accusations of making money from war are seen as unfair by the businessmen who run Britain’s defence industry. While the industry in the United States is loaded with former generals and admirals, British executives tend to be engineers or entrepreneurs. They are not career soldiers and get frustrated when they are presented as warmongers.

Revealed: official passes that give BAE access to the top at the MoD



http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/stor ... 44,00.html

Incestuous' relationship must end, says MP
Lobbyist among 38 given free access to ministry

Rob Evans and David Leigh
Thursday August 16, 2007
The Guardian


The Ministry of Defence has given security passes to 38 employees of the arms giant BAE, allowing them to go in and out of the ministry's headquarters as they please, it has been revealed.
The disclosure has triggered accusations that the relationship between the MoD and BAE is too close and allows the arms company to exert too much political influence over the government. The MoD is refusing to disclose the names of the BAE employees with the official passes, or why they were given them, saying the information would breach their privacy and security. However, it is known that one has been held by BAE's chief lobbyist, Julian Scopes. The pass gave him access to the top levels of the ministry, enabling him to lobby ministers and senior officials and promote BAE's commercial interests.

BAE - $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems,


http://www.epicos.com/epicos/portal/med ... ticle+View ;jsessionid=1DC948DE7A201E05F88DA8A5F1D73E43.tomcat2?articleid=81859&showfull=false


BAE Systems Receives Navy Basic Ordering Agreement for Weapons and Support Services
(2007-08-24)
By: Copyright Business Wire 2007 , Business Wire

BAE Systems has received a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) from the U.S. Navy for up to $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems, and provide support services over the next five years. Potential orders received under this BOA are expected later this year and will be carried out by BAE Systems' facilities in Minneapolis and Louisville.

"This agreement will give us the opportunity to continue to serve the U.S. Navy and provide our sailors with critical naval weapon systems and support services," said Dennis Morris, BAE Systems' president of Armament Systems.

The BOA covers a wide range of BAE Systems' programs including the transition of production of the Mk 110 57mm naval gun system; the overhaul, manufacture and upgrade of the Mk 45 5-inch naval gun for the Cruiser Modernization program, the Mk 75 76mm gun mount, the Mk 42 extended range guided missile handling mechanism, the Mk 32 surface vessel torpedo tubes (SVTT), and the Mk 36/53 decoy launcher systems (DLS); the manufacture of gun barrels; the overhaul of turbine pump ejection systems (TPES); and work associated with minor caliber guns.

"This BOA demonstrates to us that our employees have been successful in meeting the customer's needs -- and that's our priority - delivering solutions on time and on budget," said Morris.


BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier ELECTRONIC WARFARE

http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news ... 230807.htm

BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier
UK-based aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems says that its Electronics & Integrated Solutions (E&IS) business in Merrimack, NH, USA has been awarded an $8m contract from the US Army Communications-Electronics Command to develop a 160 Watt gallium nitride power amplifier for communications, electronic warfare, and radar applications. Partnering BAE Systems on the program are materials supplier Rohm and Haas of Blacksburg, VI, USA and the University of Colorado.

The solid-state technology will replace the older traveling-wave vacuum tubes that are currently used to produce high-power radio frequency signals, and are intended to aid warfighters by more effectively disrupting enemy communications and radar signals, while protecting friendly communications.

“DARPA has identified BAE Systems’ GaN technology as an important material for future military applications in electronic warfare, radar, and air-to-ground, air-to-satellite, and ground-to-ground communications systems,” says Dr John Evans, the manager for DARPA’s Disruptive Manufacturing Technology program (through which it solicits proposals to reduce cost and time for production of military components). BAE Systems was chosen from among 40 bidders.

“Using this technology, we can develop systems that are significantly less expensive, more reliable, and lower in weight,” says Tony Immorlica, program manager of microwave device programs at BAE Systems. The first prototypes could be deployed by the end of the decade

Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program


http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001 ... -elgi.html

BAE Systems, Congressional, Community and Army Leaders Celebrate Inauguration of Elgin Site
ELGIN, Okla.-(Business Wire)-August 22, 2007 - BAE Systems held a special inaugural ceremony in Elgin, Oklahoma to initiate work on BAE Systems - Elgin Operations, a 150,000 square-foot facility. The BAE Systems - Elgin Operations facility will be built by the city of Elgin in the Ft. Sill Industrial Park, and is scheduled to open in early 2009. Work at the new facility will initially focus on production integration and assembly of the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.



Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 1


Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 2

Al Jazeera: Trail of the Dove - Part 3

An exclusive interview with one of Britain's leading investigative journalists and a former insider, the Trail of the Dove reveals the extent of surcharges, commissions and the $100 millon secret fund used by the UK's leading arms firm, BAE Systems, to grease the wheels of the biggest arms deals in British history.

Al-Yamamah 'The Dove' is the name of a series of massive arms sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia. It is Britain's largest ever export agreement, and the prime contractor has been BAE Systems and its predecessor British Aerospace, which earned £43 billion in 20 years.

Both the UK's National Audit Office (report never released) and The Serious Fraud Office (halted) conducted investigations into corruption allegations. Trail of the Dove has also had access to ministry of defence secret documents and ambassadorial official correspondence that shows the level of corruption in the British arms trade.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWwdJpJkyKg
Former Saudi Ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan received hundreds of millions of pounds in secret payments from Britain's top defence manufacturer with the knowledge of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, according to the BBC.
The payments made by BAE Systems were actually a conduit to Bandar for his role in the multi-billion al-Yamamah arms agreement, Britain's biggest ever export deal signed in 1985, the state-funded broadcaster said it had learned Thursday.
The alleged bribes were said to have been discovered during a year-long inquiry conducted by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), but which was abruptly halted last December after Blair said the investigation was a threat to national security.
The dropping of the investigation also came amid concerns that it might jeopardize a new multi-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia to supply Eurofighters.
The BBC said that the payments, believed to total more than Pnds one billion (Dlrs 1.9 bn), were sent to two Saudi embassy accounts in Washington, were written into the government-to-government arms deal contract in secret annexes.
Allegations previously made in the British press have also suggested that Mark Thatcher, son of the British prime minister at the time, was also involved in the deal.
The al-Yamamah deal included the supply of more than 100 Tornado aircraft and is estimated to have been worth over Pnds 40 billion (Dlrs 78 bn) over more than a decade.
The new claims, to be made in the BBC's current affairs Panorama programme next Monday prompted the head of parliament's committee which investigates strategic exports, Labour MP Roger Berry, to call for a proper investigation into the allegations.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said that if ministers in either the present or previous governments were involved there should be a "major parliamentary inquiry".
"It is one thing for a company to have engaged in alleged corruption overseas. It is another thing if British government ministers have approved it," Cable said. (more) (less)






New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 1

New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 2

New Labour - Old sleaze - Saudis and BAE blackmail Part 3

NOW WE KNOW WHY:- Tony Blair has defended the government's decision to halt the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) investigation into alleged bribery surrounding BAE Systems' contracts with Saudi Arabia.

The prime minister told the House of Commons continuing the investigation would have damaged the UK's relationship with Saudi Arabia.

However, he refuted allegations the attorney general Lord Goldsmith had attempted to block a subsequent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) investigation as "completely and totally unfair and wrong".

It had been alleged Lord Goldsmith had warned officials not to disclose information to the OECD investigation.

Quizzed in prime minister's questions, Mr Blair defended the decision not to pursue an inquiry.

He said: "First of all these allegations are strenuously denied by the Saudi royal family, secondly if we were then going to conduct an investigation then that might last two, three years into these allegations that frankly I think would lead absolutely nowhere.

"What it would lead to is the complete wreckage of a relationship that is of fundamental importance of the security of this country, to the state of the Middle East, and to our relationship with countries in the Middle East."

Mr Blair continued: "I was asked for my advice as to what damage this investigation would do if it continued. I gave that advice because of the huge importance of working with Saudi Arabia on the Middle East peace process, on counter-terrorism, on the situation in the Middle East.




BAE Systems Receives $12.5 Million Contract to Provide Emergency Escape Windows To U.S. Army

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/sit ... ewsLang=en

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems announced today it received a $12.5 million contract to provide 1000 Vehicle Emergency Escape (VEE) Window kits plus 2,000 spare VEE Window panels to the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) for use on the up-armored M1114 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).

“It’s important that our soldiers have the best equipment available to keep them safe on the battlefield,” said Dennis Morris, president, BAE Systems, Armament Systems. “The VEE Window is a cost-effective, life-saving tool for enhancing the safety of crews riding in up-armored vehicles in dangerous combat zones where rollovers and accidents are a significant threat.”

The VEE Window is a simple technology developed by BAE Systems that allows crews of the HMMWVs to remove the ballistic windshields in less than five seconds and quickly exit the vehicle during an emergency, such as a rollover or accident. The VEE Window meets current M1114 ballistic properties and will be installed by unit maintenance personnel in theater.

The VEE Window was approved for the M1114 HMMWV following a series of performance and safety tests conducted this summer by the Army at its Aberdeen Test Center. The tests evaluated the effectiveness of the device, as well as the window’s overall structural integrity and operational effectiveness in a rollover or accident-like scenario. The VEE Window kits will be delivered to Army personnel in November.

BAE Systems is exploring VEE Window applications for other tactical and armored vehicles, including M1151/1152 HMMWVs, the Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, and the U.S. Marine Corps’ Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement and Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle programs.


BAE brings in a pair of Army contracts
http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech ... aily5.html

A New Hampshire-based defense contractor reports it has won an $8 million federal research grant to develop a power amplifier for the U.S. Army.

A Merrimack, N.H., BAE Systems Inc. site is scheduled to develop a 160-watt gallium nitride amplifier to power communications and radar systems. The grant was awarded to BAE by the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, based in Fort Monmouth, N.J. BAE is expected to share the grant with Virginia-based materials science company Rohm and Haas Co. and the University of Colorado.


In a separate development, a Massachusetts-based unit of BAE reports it plans to develop night vision goggles for the U.S. Army for an undisclosed contract amount. The Program Executive Office Solider, based at Fort Belvoir, Va., commissioned the work, according to company officials.

BAE Systems Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of United Kingdom-based BAE Systems PLC. BAE Systems Inc. is headquartered in Rockville, Md. BAE Systems Information & Electronic Systems Integration Inc., a business unit of BAE Systems, is based in Nashua, N.H. BAE Systems PLC employs 88,000 workers worldwide and reported 2006 annual sales of $25 billion. The largest North American BAE operating group is the Electronics & Integrated Solutions group.


BAE already has an order from India for 66 BAE Hawk trainers, 42 of which are being built there.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... efer=india

BAE Systems to Develop Enhanced Night-Vision Goggle For U.S. Army

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/sit ... ewsLang=en


LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BAE Systems will design and develop a digitally enhanced night-vision goggle as part of the U.S. Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle program. This next-generation goggle will use digital imagery to improve soldier mobility and situational awareness under all lighting conditions and in the presence of battlefield obscurants.

The helmet-mounted goggle will digitally combine video imagery from a low-light-level visible sensor and an uncooled long-wave infrared sensor on a single color display located in front of the soldier's eye. This digital technology will provide improved image quality and will enable imagery to be shared among soldiers, improving platoon effectiveness.

“This program will demonstrate the maturity and effectiveness of digital fusion technology and its benefit to the warfighter,” said Margaret Kohin, Advanced Systems program director for BAE Systems in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Applying innovative technology to help our soldiers complete their missions is an objective BAE Systems stands behind every day.”

The contract is managed by the Program Executive Office Soldier at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

BAE Systems will incorporate its uncooled MicroIR® microbolometer sensor technology in the enhanced goggle. This technology also is used in the thermal weapon sights the company supplies to the Army. BAE Systems has two microbolometer foundries and has delivered more than 50,000 microbolometer-based imagers to date.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. BAE Systems, with 96,000 employees worldwide, had 2006 sales that exceeded $27 billion on a pro forma basis, assuming BAE Systems had owned Armor Holdings Inc. for the whole of 2006.


$519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles

http://www.thestreet.com/s/merger-bolst ... c=googlefi

OKLAHOMA CITY -- With its huge buyout of Armor Holdings, U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems (BAESY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) may have very well gotten more than its money's worth.

Notably, just weeks before that transaction closed, Armor landed a surprise $519 million deal to supply the U.S. military with 1,170 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles. With similar MRAP business of its own, BAE has suddenly burst forward as a new leader in the multibillion-dollar MRAP game.

This story is the fourth installment in TheStreet.com's five-part series examining the top players in the multibillion-dollar MRAP bidding.

"In 2007 to date, BAE plus AH have captured ... No. 1 market share -- ahead of Force Protection (FRPT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and International Military and Government," a unit of Navistar (NAVZ - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), noted JPMorgan analyst Harry Breach, whose firm has investment banking ties to BAE. Moreover, "we believe that further MRAP awards are likely later this year."



BAE demos DSL-esque military radio protocol
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20 ... ia_link_16 /

According to BAE, "the demonstration included Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, Voice over IP, mobile ad-hoc networking, streaming video, and imagery."

The share price of BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company, has risen 225 per cent.
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed Aug-29-07 06:16 PM

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/b ... 337229.ece

Symon Hill, a spokesman for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “We think that most of the British public will object to the idea that these companies are profiting from war. While Iraqi civilians and British soldiers are dying, there are companies profiting from it.”

Accusations of making money from war are seen as unfair by the businessmen who run Britain’s defence industry. While the industry in the United States is loaded with former generals and admirals, British executives tend to be engineers or entrepreneurs. They are not career soldiers and get frustrated when they are presented as warmongers.


Revealed: official passes that give BAE access to the top at the MoD

http://www.guardian.co.uk/baefiles/stor ... 44,00.html

Incestuous' relationship must end, says MP
Lobbyist among 38 given free access to ministry

Rob Evans and David Leigh
Thursday August 16, 2007
The Guardian


The Ministry of Defence has given security passes to 38 employees of the arms giant BAE, allowing them to go in and out of the ministry's headquarters as they please, it has been revealed.
The disclosure has triggered accusations that the relationship between the MoD and BAE is too close and allows the arms company to exert too much political influence over the government. The MoD is refusing to disclose the names of the BAE employees with the official passes, or why they were given them, saying the information would breach their privacy and security. However, it is known that one has been held by BAE's chief lobbyist, Julian Scopes. The pass gave him access to the top levels of the ministry, enabling him to lobby ministers and senior officials and promote BAE's commercial interests.


BAE - $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems,
http://www.epicos.com/epicos/portal/media-type/html/use ... ;jsessionid=1DC948DE7A201E05F88DA8A5F1D73E43.tomcat2?articleid=81859&showfull=false


BAE Systems Receives Navy Basic Ordering Agreement for Weapons and Support Services
(2007-08-24)
By: Copyright Business Wire 2007 , Business Wire

BAE Systems has received a Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) from the U.S. Navy for up to $368 million to build and refurbish naval weapon systems, and provide support services over the next five years. Potential orders received under this BOA are expected later this year and will be carried out by BAE Systems' facilities in Minneapolis and Louisville.

"This agreement will give us the opportunity to continue to serve the U.S. Navy and provide our sailors with critical naval weapon systems and support services," said Dennis Morris, BAE Systems' president of Armament Systems.

The BOA covers a wide range of BAE Systems' programs including the transition of production of the Mk 110 57mm naval gun system; the overhaul, manufacture and upgrade of the Mk 45 5-inch naval gun for the Cruiser Modernization program, the Mk 75 76mm gun mount, the Mk 42 extended range guided missile handling mechanism, the Mk 32 surface vessel torpedo tubes (SVTT), and the Mk 36/53 decoy launcher systems (DLS); the manufacture of gun barrels; the overhaul of turbine pump ejection systems (TPES); and work associated with minor caliber guns.

"This BOA demonstrates to us that our employees have been successful in meeting the customer's needs -- and that's our priority - delivering solutions on time and on budget," said Morris.



BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier ELECTRONIC WARFARE

http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news ... 230807.htm

BAE wins $8m US defense contract to develop GaN amplifier
UK-based aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems says that its Electronics & Integrated Solutions (E&IS) business in Merrimack, NH, USA has been awarded an $8m contract from the US Army Communications-Electronics Command to develop a 160 Watt gallium nitride power amplifier for communications, electronic warfare, and radar applications. Partnering BAE Systems on the program are materials supplier Rohm and Haas of Blacksburg, VI, USA and the University of Colorado.

The solid-state technology will replace the older traveling-wave vacuum tubes that are currently used to produce high-power radio frequency signals, and are intended to aid warfighters by more effectively disrupting enemy communications and radar signals, while protecting friendly communications.

“DARPA has identified BAE Systems’ GaN technology as an important material for future military applications in electronic warfare, radar, and air-to-ground, air-to-satellite, and ground-to-ground communications systems,” says Dr John Evans, the manager for DARPA’s Disruptive Manufacturing Technology program (through which it solicits proposals to reduce cost and time for production of military components). BAE Systems was chosen from among 40 bidders.

“Using this technology, we can develop systems that are significantly less expensive, more reliable, and lower in weight,” says Tony Immorlica, program manager of microwave device programs at BAE Systems. The first prototypes could be deployed by the end of the decade

Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program

http://digital50.com/news/items/BW/2001 ... -elgi.html

BAE Systems, Congressional, Community and Army Leaders Celebrate Inauguration of Elgin Site
ELGIN, Okla.-(Business Wire)-August 22, 2007 - BAE Systems held a special inaugural ceremony in Elgin, Oklahoma to initiate work on BAE Systems - Elgin Operations, a 150,000 square-foot facility. The BAE Systems - Elgin Operations facility will be built by the city of Elgin in the Ft. Sill Industrial Park, and is scheduled to open in early 2009. Work at the new facility will initially focus on production integration and assembly of the Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon for the U.S. Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.



BAE wins $36.3M contract from Navy


http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/s ... aily2.html

BAE wins $36.3M contract from NavyMinneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Carissa Wyant Staff
BAE Systems gets $15M Army contract
LaBarge receives $5.7M BAE contract
BAE gets $8 million Army Depot contract
BAE Systems said Monday it won a $36.3 million contract from the Navy for a gun system.

The company was awarded a contract by the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center for the 62 MK 38 MOD 2 Machine Gun Systems, which will be delivered between July 2008 and June 2009.

The remote-controlled gun system is currently in service on eleven ships.

The order calls for a total of 243 systems through 2015.

BAE said the systems will be assembled and tested at its Louisville, Ky., facility.

Defense manufacturer BAE is based in Rockville, Md., with its armament-systems operations in Fridley.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/sit ... ewsLang=en
BAE Systems’ Infrared Seeker Successfully Guides THAAD Interceptor to Target
KAUAI, Hawaii--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor – successfully guided by a BAE Systems’ infrared seeker – directly hit and destroyed an incoming target during an Oct. 26 test here at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.

The test was conducted by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and Lockheed Martin, the THAAD weapon system’s prime contractor and systems integrator.

“In this test, THAAD missile intercepted its target at a higher altitude than any other test to date,” said John Watkins, BAE Systems’ THAAD program manager in Nashua, New Hampshire. “This test, combined with three previous intercepts, shows that THAAD can successfully take out an enemy ballistic missile.”

THAAD is designed to defend U.S. and allied soldiers, military assets, and population centers from the threat of ballistic missile attacks. The sophisticated system destroys enemy warheads through direct “hit-to-kill” technology. “It’s like hitting a bullet with a bullet,” Watkins said.

The BAE Systems seeker provides infrared imagery of the targeted warhead to guide the interceptor to its target. This success is part of THAAD intercept testing that will continue through 2009. Upcoming tests at the Pacific Missile Range in Hawaii will be conducted against increasingly complex targets outside the earth’s atmosphere.

BAE Systems began work on seekers for missile defense in the late 1970s. Initial work on the THAAD seeker began in 1991. The seeker development program started in 2000 and is scheduled to conclude in December 2007. A manufacturing contract awarded in December 2006 will lead to the delivery of the first unit equipped in fiscal year 2009.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defense and aerospace company, delivering a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions, and customer support services. BAE Systems, with 96,000 employees worldwide, had 2006 sales that exceeded $27 billion on a pro forma basis, assuming BAE Systems had owned Armor Holdings, Inc. for the whole of 2006.


http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/art ... 2007-1.htm

BAE Systems and General Dynamics Sign Collaborative Agreement to Support Modernization of U.S. Army Heavy Combat Vehicles

October 25, 2007: 10:00 AM EST


WARREN and STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics , have signed a memorandum of agreement to work collaboratively in support of the U. S. Army's Heavy Brigade Combat Team modernization plan, which will upgrade, modernize and achieve commonality on BAE Systems' family of Bradley fighting vehicles and General Dynamics M1 Abrams tanks, the primary combat vehicles of the Army's Heavy Brigades.

The agreement, developed with the Army's encouragement, defines how both companies will work with the Army's Project Manager for Heavy Brigade Combat Team, and the Abrams and Bradley Product Managers, to jointly translate warfighter requirements into capabilities through collaborative design and development of common solutions. The agreement also establishes the basic process for collaborative specification and product development and provisions for the common procurement of material to support system evolution on both companies' combat vehicles.

"As the Army adds capability to the Heavy Brigade Combat Teams, they desire common solutions to reduce logistics burdens, to lower development costs, and to make Soldier training easier," said Mark Roualet, senior vice president and chief operating officer General Dynamics Land Systems. "BAE Systems and General Dynamics have responded with an agreement that harnesses the expertise of the world's premier combat-vehicle developers to provide our customers the technology and capability they require in the 21st century."

"This agreement is the natural conclusion of initiatives started under the leadership of Kevin Fahey, the Army's Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat Systems to achieve greater commonality within the Heavy Brigade," said Raj Rajagopal, president of BAE Systems' Ground Systems business. "It is a win-win for the U.S. Army, BAE Systems and General Dynamics, and illustrates how our partnership with the Army continues to evolve and apply best industry practices to the benefit of our customer and the American taxpayer."

Where is Prince Bandar?
By Pepe Escobar

Was Prince Bandar "Bush", 63, son of Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz (perennial Saudi Defense Minister,1963-2001), semi-perennial ambassador to Washington (1983-2005), and secretive jihad financier, killed by a Syrian intelligence death squad?

Thunderous silence prevails on Syrian, Iranian and Arab media (most of it controlled by the Saudis). The same applies for al-Jazeera. This is DEBKA's somewhat fanciful take.

-
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NH02Ak03.html

===

Unconfirmed Reports: Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Dies of His Injuries After a Bomb Blast
Monday, 30 July 2012 13:49
http://hamsayeh.net/world/2078-unconfir ... blast.html

===


Saudi spy chief Prince Bandar assassinated, report says

Saudi Arabian spy chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been assassinated, a report says.


The Paris-based Voltaire Network confirmed the death of 63-year-old Prince Bandar on its website on Monday, citing unofficial sources.

The international non-profit organization, which publishes a free website (voltairenet.org) in eight languages, said that Prince Bandar was killed because of his role in the July 18 deadly bombing in Damascus.

The bombing killed at least four high-profile Syrian security officials, including Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha and his deputy Assef Shawkat who was also President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law.

However, there has been no confirmation or denial neither from Saudi officials nor from the Syrian government yet.

-
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2012/07/3 ... ed-report/

===
CIA’s favorite Saudi prince is laying the groundwork for a post-Assad Syria
King
Abdullah names Prince Bandar, director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency, on top of his post as secretary-general of the National Security Council.
By Zvi Bar'el | Jul.25, 2012 | 4:14 AM

-
http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/ci ... m-1.453434

===

U.S. reopens probe into bribery claims against Saudi prince
Middle East Desk

On Line: 29 July 2012 14:57
In Print: Monday 30 July 2012

The U.S. Justice Department has reopened probe into allegations against Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of receiving bribe sums from the UK’s largest arms dealer, BAE Systems.

The Justice Department is determined to continue the investigation, which was initially launched in Britain in 2006, under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to find out whether the British company has complied with the U.S. anti-corruption laws, Mehr News Agency has reported.

The Saudi Prince, who spent at least 20 years as the Saudi ambassador to the United States, received GBP hundreds of millions in bribes by the British contractor with the full knowledge of British Ministry of Defense, a report by state-run broadcaster BBC revealed for the first time in 2007.

The money was channeled to Prince Bandar’s account through a U.S. bank in Washington for over a decade.

BAE Systems paid the bribe sums to the prince when Riyadh was negotiating with the British arms dealer to purchase weaponry.

The then-Premier Tony Blair ordered the government to close the investigation into the case in December 2006, which triggered a widespread criticism of European officials and development and anti-corruption groups around the world.

Prince Bandar has denied the bribery allegations categorically, claiming he acted lawfully at all times.
-
http://tehrantimes.com/middle-east/1000 ... udi-prince

The Saudi Prince's Secret: Bush, Sr. Sold-Out CIA to Build Pakistan A-Bomb
Edited on Mon Jul-09-07 11:56 AM by leveymg
Lost in all the hullabaloo over Dubya's commutation of the jail sentence handed former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was this little gem of a news item from Pakistan:


Pakistan eases curbs on atomic scientist
By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer <i>Mon Jul 2, 1:49 PM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A.Q. Khan, the scientist who became a national hero for developing Pakistan's atomic bomb and went on to sell nuclear secrets abroad, can leave house arrest to meet with friends and relatives, officials said Monday.


Strange coincidence? Perhaps. But, not unrelated. For it’s a small, small world in spookdom.

A strange coincidence, indeed.

***

A large part of Valerie Plame’s job at CIA was to track the illicit trade in nuclear technologies peddled by Dr. Khan’s network. Khan’s Nuclear Walmart made it very easy for customers to buy what they needed to start home bomb-making. Khan’s one-stop shop for WMDs made it just as easy for the CIA to keep track of nuclear programs in at least half-dozen unfriendly countries, and a variety of criminal organizations in a dozen more that supplied money and know-how. When Khan’s operation was publicized on June 1, 2001 by a Bush Administration official, that long-standing CIA counter-proliferation program was also effectively ended. That official was Richard Armitage, who is also said to be the first to out Plame, a key manager at CIA Counter-Proliferation.

There was never any chance that AQ Khan or Libby would do hard time - they were both "made men" who know too much.

A.Q. Khan


Khan was a founding member of the CIA and ISI partnership, going back to the mid-1970s, when he first started stealing U-235 enrichment technologies from the nuclear lab where he worked in the Netherlands. According to a BBC interview with the former Dutch PM, Ruud Lubbers, the Dutch police wanted to arrest A.Q. as early as 1975, but the CIA interceded to prevent Khan's arrest and enforcement of an INTERPOL warrant after he fled back the following year to Pakistan. During the six year period the warrant was on the books, Khan travelled freely to dozens of countries pursuing his global nuclear proliferation mission. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4135998.stm ; http://www.hindu.com/2005/08/10/stories/200508100071160 ...

The CIA's involvement and protection of Khan goes back years before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, so the Cold War rationale offered for the Agency's quarter-century long involvement with the Pakistan's nuclear program begins to break down under scrutiny. It wasn't just simply a matter of doing a favor in exchange for the secret war in Afghanistan against Soviet invaders. Somebody wanted Pakistan to build atomic bombs, and the CIA was instrumental in allowing that to happen, as it was in the later spread of nuclear technologies to other countries.

The question is, why?



***

Intelligence historian Joe Trento writes in Prelude to Terror that the Reagan and Bush Administration entered into a quid pro quo with Pakistan and its Saudi and Gulf financial backers in exchange for their assistance in driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan. The financial, logistical, political and commercial networks that were cemented in place endured after the Russians retreated and the Soviet Union collapsed. To hear Trento tell it, the very same network of rogue spooks, corrupt bankers, and mercenary weapons designers was the seed from which BCCI, Iran-Contra, and 9-11 sprang.

This is the strange tale of the alliance of Middle East jihadists and their business partners, entrepreneurial elements of the CIA Old Guard led by George Herbert Walker Bush. Together, they developed a global network that peddled nuclear weapons, cultivated global terrorist groups, subverted the U.S. government, and tried to impose their own global dynasty under cover of a manufactured Forever War of religious genocide.

The Safari Club


The Khan network was the product of more than an alliance against the Soviet Union. It sprang out of a post-Watergate era partnership between disgraced former covert operators who had been thrown out of American intelligence, the Saudi Royal family, and third-country partners who provided manpower and technical assistance. It was called, “The Safari Club”. In early 1976, under its outgoing Director George H.W. Bush, elements within the Agency turned to the Saudi royal family for help. Those were difficult times for CIA Old Guard. As ground involvement in Vietnam ended in 1973, the Agency ramped up the covert operations and secret wars that spread into Laos and Cambodia. The Phoenix Program targeted tens of thousands of South Vietnamese officials and suspected Vietcong sympathizers for assassination, a program in which James Mann tells us in Rise of the Vulcans a naval officer, named Richard Armitage, participated. http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/000571.html

House of Bush, House of Saud

The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties

by Craig Unger

Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, had long been the most recognizable figure from his country in America. Widely known as the Arab Gatsby, with his trimmed goatee and tailored double-breasted suits, the 52-year-old Bandar was the very embodiment of the contradictions inherent in being a modern, jet-setting, Western-leaning member of the royal House of Saud.

Profane, flamboyant and cocksure, Bandar entertained lavishly at his spectacular estates all over the world. Whenever he was safely out of Saudi Arabia and beyond the reach of the puritanical form of Islam it espoused, he puckishly flouted Islamic tenets by sipping brandy and smoking Cohiba cigars. And when it came to embracing the culture of the infidel West, Bandar outdid even the most ardent admirers of Western civilization -- that was him patrolling the sidelines of Dallas Cowboys football games with his friend Jerry Jones, the team's owner. To militant Islamic fundamentalists who loathed pro-West multibillionaire Saudi royals, no one fit the bill better than Bandar.

And yet, his guise as Playboy of the Western World notwithstanding, deep in his bones, Prince Bandar was a key figure in the world of Islam. His father, Defense Minister Prince Sultan, was second in line to the Saudi crown. Bandar was the nephew of King Fahd, the aging Saudi monarch, and the grandson of the late king Abdul Aziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, who initiated his country's historic oil-for-security relationship with the United States when he met Franklin D. Roosevelt on the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal on Feb. 14, 1945. The enormous royal family in which Bandar played such an important role oversaw two of the most sacred places of Islamic worship, the holy mosques in Medina and Mecca.

As a wily international diplomat, Bandar also knew full well just how precarious his family's position was. For decades, the House of Saud had somehow maintained control of Saudi Arabia and the world's richest oil reserves by performing a seemingly untenable balancing act with two parties who had vowed to destroy each other.

On the one hand, the House of Saud was an Islamic theocracy whose power grew out of the royal family's alliance with Wahhabi fundamentalism, a strident and puritanical Islamic sect that provided a fertile breeding ground for a global network of terrorists urging a violent jihad against the United States.

On the other hand, the House of Saud's most important ally was the Great Satan itself, the United States. Even a cursory examination of the relationship revealed astonishing contradictions: America, the beacon of democracy, was to arm and protect a brutal theocratic monarchy. The United States, sworn defender of Israel, was also the guarantor of security to the guardians of Wahhabi Islam, the fundamentalist religious sect that was one of Israel's and America's mortal enemies.

CONTINUED...

http://www.thinkingpeace.com/Lib/lib006.html

, Bandar Bush: Kingdom COULD HAVE helped U.S. prevent 9/11
Posted by reprehensor on Fri Nov-02-07 04:21 PM
Ex-Saudi ambassador: Kingdom could have helped U.S. prevent 9/11

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/ ... index.html

(CNN) -- Saudi Arabia could have helped the United States prevent al Qaeda's 2001 attacks on New York and Washington if American officials had consulted Saudi authorities in a "credible" way, the kingdom's former ambassador said in a documentary aired Thursday.

The comments by Prince Bandar bin Sultan are similar to the remarks this week by Saudi King Abdullah that suggested Britain could have prevented the July 2005 train bombings in London if it had heeded warnings from Riyadh.

Speaking to the Arabic satellite network Al-Arabiya on Thursday, Bandar -- now Abdullah's national security adviser -- said Saudi intelligence was "actively following" most of the September 11, 2001, plotters "with precision."

"If U.S. security authorities had engaged their Saudi counterparts in a serious and credible manner, in my opinion, we would have avoided what happened," he said...

Continued...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/ ... index.html

------------------------------------------

Uh-huh.

U.S. authors Susan and Joseph Trento allege that hijackers Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar were protected by the CIA, and were indeed GID (Saudi) agents; http://www.cooperativeresearch.net/cont ... cianervous

UK author Nafeez Ahmed alleges that MI5 didn't need to consult the GID for information on the 7/7 bombers, the problems go much deeper;

COLLABORATION with Islamic extremists led British intelligence officers to ignore explicit warnings of a terrorist attack at least six months before the 7/7 London bombings, a new parliamentary briefing has claimed. The report supports calls by Rachel North, a survivor of the King’s Cross bombing that killed 26 people on the Piccadilly line Tube train, for a public inquiry into the events leading up to the attacks...

The report’s author Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed said: “The problem is there’s a huge bureaucracy. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of closed doors.” He added: “There’s no doubt that the government has lied about 7/7 and exaggerated the problem in Muslim communities. It has become a community problem because of excessive protection of specific extremist networks.”


But thanks for the really late offer Bandar Boosh!

The tight relations between Saudi intel and US intel in particular go back years and years, to at least Bill Casey, as chronicled by Steve Coll in his big, boring book, "Ghost Wars". Indeed, Osama was a Saudi asset, if not agent...

Ahmed's Rashid's "Taliban" is an oft-cited history of Afghanistan that chronicles the rise of the Taliban. Along the way, Rashid drops some useful information that he has gathered during his on-the-ground, on-the-scene journalism expeditions:

"...in 1986, CIA chief William Casey had stepped up the war against the Soviet Union by taking three significant, but at that time highly secret, measures. He had persuaded the U.S. Congress to provide the Mujaheddin with American-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to shoot down Soviet planes and provide U.S. advisers to train the guerrillas. Until then no US-made weapons or personnel had been used directly in the war effort. The CIA, Britain's MI6 and the ISI also agreed on a provocative plan to launch guerrilla attacks into the Soviet Socialist Republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the soft Muslim underbelly of the Soviet state from where Soviet troops in Afghanistan received their supplies. The task was given to the ISI's favourite Mujaheddin leader Gulbuddin Hikmetyar. In March 1987, small units crossed the Amu Darya river from bases in northern Afghanistan and launched their first rocket attacks against villages in Tajikistan. Casey was delighted with the news, and on his next secret trip to Pakistan he crossed the border into Afghanistan with President Zia to review the Mujaheddin groups.

Thirdly, Casey committed CIA support to a long-standing ISI initiative to recruit Muslims from around the world to come to Pakistan and fight with the Afghan Mujaheddin. The ISI had encouraged this since 1982 and by now all the other players had their reasons for supporting the idea." p.129

--------------------------

"His father backed the Afghan struggle and helped fund it, so when Bin Laden decided to join up, his family responded enthusiastically. He first traveled to Peshawar in 1980 and met the Mujaheddin leaders, returning frequently with Saudi donations for the cause until 1982, when he decided to settle in Peshawar. He brought in his company engineers and heavy construction equipment to help build roads and depots for the Mujaheddin. In 1986, he helped build the Khost tunnel complex, which the CIA was funding as a major arms storage depot, training facility and medical center for the Mujaheddin, deep under the mountains close to the Pakistan border. For the first time in Khost he set up his own training camp for Arab Afghans, who now increasingly saw this lanky, wealthy and charismatic Saudi as their leader.

'To counter these atheist Russians, the Saudis chose me as their representative in Afghanistan,' Bin Laden said later. 'I settled in Pakistan in the Afghan border region. There I received volunteers who came from the Saudi Kingdom and from all over the Arab and Muslim countries. I set up my fist camp where these volunteers were trained by Pakistani and American officers. The weapons were supplied by the Americans, the money by the Saudis." p.132

Page numbers from the 2001 Yale Note Bene paperback reprint.

Bandar and DOJ

by emptywheel

The Guardian has more on the potential involvement of US Banks in the BAE bribery scandal involving Bandar Bush bin Sultan and (though he has not been implicated in the US) Margaret Thatcher's son.

The US department of justice is preparing to open a corruption investigation into the arms company BAE, the Guardian has learned. It would cover the alleged £1bn arms deal payments to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia.

Washington sources familiar with the thinking of senior officials at the justice department said yesterday it was "99% certain" that a criminal inquiry would be opened under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Such an investigation would have potentially seismic consequences for BAE, which is trying to take over US arms companies and make the Pentagon its biggest customer.

As I noted last week, the payments appear to have been laundered through Riggs Bank, which for a long time was controlled by Bush crony Joe Allbritton and his uncle Jonathan. Now add in the underlying pressure here--that BAE is attempting to expand its contracting in the US. You know--to the Pentagon, which has been such a model of transparency and fair competition of late. And the whole thing stinks.

There's one more important detail in yesterday's Guardian report. DOJ has tried to go after BAE bribery before.

There is a history of rancour between British officials and US prosecutors over BAE bribery allegations. Released documents show that the former FCPA prosecutor Peter Clark clashed with Sir Kevin Tebbit, former MoD permanent secretary, over the UK's refusal to pursue allegations of corruption in the Czech Republic and in Qatar.

In the Qatar case, £7m was discovered to have been paid by BAE to the foreign minister of the Middle East oil state, and deposited in offshore accounts in Jersey. One source said: "We said to Sir Kevin, 'There's a roomful of documents in Jersey indicating bribery'. But he told us he had got a letter sent after the event from the ruler of Qatar saying he had no objections to the payment. We didn't regard that as altering the legal situation."

It's not clear when this happened, though it appears that Peter Clark was Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section at DOJ from 1991 until (apparently) late 2004, when he left for private practice. But it appears that DOJ has been watching BAE for some time--and that the connection to the US is what allows DOJ to go after BAE directly.

Given how closely this ties to BushCo, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Unofficial Reports: Al-Qaeda's Chief Financier Bandar Bush Is Dead
On Sunday, July 29, Voltaire Network reported that Prince Bandar bin Sultan is dead. He served as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington from 1983 to 2005, and was just recently promoted to the head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency. Apparently, he was killed from injuries suffered in a bomb blast on July 26.

Voltaire Network explains that the attack was orchestrated by the government of Syria as an act of retaliation for the bombing of high-level Syrian generals in Damascus on July 18 that was overseen directly by Prince Bandar, who is also known as Bandar Bush.

Here is an excerpt from Voltaire Network's article called, "Syria reportedly eliminated Bandar bin Sultan in retaliation for Damascus bombing":

"Though not yet announced by the Saudi authorities, the death of Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been confirmed to Voltaire Network by unofficial souces.
Prince Bandar had just been appointed head of Saudi intelligence on July 24: a promotion which was interpreted as a reward for having organized the attack in Damascus on July 18. The Saudi services, with logistical support from the CIA, had managed to blow up the headquarters of the Syrian National Security during a Crisis Cell meeting: Generals Assef Chaoukat, Daoud Rajha and Hassan Tourkmani were killed instantly. General Amin Hicham Ikhtiar died soon after from his wounds. This operation, called "Damascus Volcano" was the signal for the attack on the capital by a swarm of mercenaries, mainly coming from Jordan.

Prince Bandar was himself the target of a bomb attack on July 26, and subsequently succumbed to his injuries." [1].
If the unofficial reports are true then Bandar Bush's absence from the region in this volatile period will be missed by the CIA. Who will steady the ship in Saudi Arabia now that the CIA's safe pair of hands is gone?

-
II. The Death of The Prince of Darkness

"Swift death rushes upon us." - Horace.
On Monday, July 30, Voltaire Network confirmed its report that Bandar Bush is dead and added that the Saudi leadership has not answered questions from the international media about whether Bandar Bush is dead or alive.

It is highly suspicious that the Saudi government is not setting the record straight about the status of Bandar Bush. His sudden death, coming just days after he was hailed as the new leader of Saudi intelligence, is an incredibly important and shocking development that has major political and military ramifications.

Here is an excerpt from Voltaire Net's second article on this developing story called, "Riyad neither confirms nor denies Prince Bandar’s death":

"All through the day, numerous media have tried to ascertain whether or not Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been the victim of a deadly attack on July 26, as announced by Voltaire Network citing a non official-source.
Strangely, Saudi authorities have not responded to inquiries by the media, refusing to confirm or deny the death of their newly appointed chief of the intelligence services." [2].
It appears that Syria has inflicted a severe loss on the Saudi and American leadership, and they do not want to admit it because it is humiliating. If this analysis is not right, then why else are they silent about his death?

-
http://disquietreservations.blogspot.ca ... chief.html

===

Did Washington Kill Its Favourite Saudi Prince, Bandar Bush?
Saman Mohammadi
Infowars.com
August 1, 2012

-
But the question that must be asked is who else wanted Prince Bandar dead besides Syria? What if a different party is responsible for his death? There are several interpretations about who was behind Prince Bandar’s death because the Saudi leadership is not releasing any information about this shocking story. This article represents only one interpretation. It takes as its premise that the government in Washington is the suspect.

I admit this is conspiracy theorizing, but it is grounded in facts and history. In the attempt to find out why Prince Bandar was killed we must not concentrate on the obvious and point to Syria. Appearances can be deceiving in these situations. If it is shown with proof and official statements that Syria was responsible then take this article’s conclusions as a conspiracy theory, and nothing more.

But until the world knows with absolute certainty who killed Bandar Bush and why, it is our task to ask questions and look at every possible angle. We must keep in mind that many people wanted to see Prince Bandar go away; for some, permanently. A man like him makes a lot of enemies.

Last year, historian Webster G. Tarpley explained on the Alex Jones show that Prince Bandar was preparing to say goodbye to Washington and move Saudi Arabia closer to nuclear Pakistan and China. Over the years, dissent within the Saudi royal family has grown, and it seems that the question of which nuclear power to look to for protection has divided the leadership the most.

The recent assassination of Prince Bandar makes Tarpley’s analysis from last year that much more important. According to Tarpley, Prince Bandar was distancing himself from the American Eagle. He knew his regime was targeted by Washington for regime change, so he started looking at Pakistan to provide security. Naturally, Washington would be pissed by Bandar’s aggressiveness.

The prideful Eagle saw a rebellion looming in Saudi Arabia’s inner circle and wanted blood.

II. Prince Bandar Bush: A Man of Two Clans

Prince Bandar Bush was truly a man of two clans. As Washington’s adopted son, his fate was tied to a hostile house that is famous for disloyaty and betrayal. He was planning to strike against his American father, and as a result he was no longer considered the favourite son in the family. The American father wasn’t in the mood of tolerating a rebellion. So he took out his whip and made sure the Saudi prince knew who was the boss.

There can be only one prince of darkness in this world, and he resides in the White House in Washington.

It is generally known that Prince Bandar was one of Al-Qaeda’s chief financiers but he should not be made the scapegoat. He acted merely as an executioner for the tyrants who control the CIA, Wall Street, and the White House. The sin of creating Al-Qaeda belongs to the CIA alone.

III. The Eagle Sees All: Washington Refuses To Be Checkmated

In this interview with Alex Jones in April 2011, historian Webster G. Tarpley discussed Prince Bandar’s decision to move Saudi Arabia closer to nuclear Pakistan and China, and away from the United States because of its “color revolution” policy. Tarpley says that the prince was wise to Washington’s plot against the Saudi royal regime and sought a future in which Washington was no longer Saudi Arabia’s superpower patron.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

“The idea that Bandar is turning towards an alliance with Pakistan in order to defend Saudi Arabia against the U.S. is a kind of strategic revolution. Up to now, Saudi Arabia has relied on the United States for security. But now the people around Bandar see, obviously, that Obama is the main threat, that the U.S. regime, the CIA, the NED [National Endowment for Democracy], are the main threat to the internal security of Saudi Arabia. So they’re looking for an option. Now once you say Pakistan, of course, you’re also saying nuclear weapons. You can say in a certain way it’s quite possible that Bandar has arranged that Saudi Arabia is now under the Pakistani nuclear umbrella.

This is quite a new thing in world affairs. These are two countries, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, who have been under the US yoke, totally dominated by the US, bombed in the case of Pakistan, who are trying to make a jailbreak.” [You can hear the quote starting at the 2:45 mark to the 3:40 mark].

Later in the interview, Tarpley added that an alliance between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, and Russia would signal the end of U.S.-British dominance in the Middle East. Washington would essentially be checkmated had Prince Bandar succeeded in disconnecting Saudi Arabia from Washington’s iron grip. This bold move would’ve marked the start of a whole new ball game in world politics.

IV. Washington’s Dark History of Double-Crossing Its Allies

It is said that great powers don’t have permanent allies, only permanent interests. In the case of Washington it couldn’t be more true.

In the late 1970s, Washington threw the Shah of Iran under the bus in a dishonourable fashion after discovering that he had cancer through the Shah’s right hand man, General Hossein Fardoust. Instead of letting the Iranian people decide their own political fate, Washington acted against the Shah by destabilizing his regime while covertly supportinghis successor, Ayatollah Khomeini. Read more about this secret history in, “An Epic Deception: America’s Overthrow of The Shah And The Secret Quest For A One World Government.”

Washington is cold-blooded in its mad pursuit of hegemony in the Middle East, and that is normal behaviour by a superpower. But we don’t live in normal times. The nuclear age and the era of a lone superpower don’t mix. One is coming to an end, hopefully both. Washington must give up its hegemonic power and ambitions peacefully, or else it risks dragging the Middle East and the world to the nuclear abyss.

Saman Mohammadi is the writer and editor at The Excavator

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http://www.infowars.com/did-washington- ... ndar-bush/

A few weeks ago:

Saudi King, Crown Prince Meet With CIA Director, SPA Reports

Saudi King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz held separate meetings with U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the official Saudi Press Agency said, without saying where it got the information.

The talks with Salman dealt with “matters of common concern,” the news service reported today. King Abdullah met Petraeus yesterday in his palace in the Saudi city on the Red Sea, according to the news service.

Saudi King Abdullah names his heir

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has appointed his defense minister, Prince Salman, as heir apparent, opting for stability and a continuation of cautious reforms at a time of challenges for the world's biggest oil exporter.

Crown Prince Salman, 76, has built a reputation for pragmatism and is likely swiftly to assume substantial day-to-day responsibilities from a king 13 years his senior.

Since the death of King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, the country's founding father, the succession has moved along a line of his sons. Salman becomes Abdullah's third heir after the deaths of two older brothers: Crown Prince Sultan last October and Crown Prince Nayef, the interior minister, on Saturday.

The swift decision came as no surprise; analysts had already said they expected Salman to continue the gradual social and economic reforms adopted by King Abdullah as well as Saudi Arabia's moderate oil pricing policy.

At stake is the future direction of a country that sits on more than one fifth of the world's proven global oil reserves.

As crown prince and later as king, Salman will have to tackle challenges ranging from an al Qaeda security threat to systemic joblessness at a time of unparalleled Middle Eastern turmoil, all set against a regional rivalry with Shi'ite Iran.

Like other Sunni-Muslim-led Gulf monarchies, Saudi Arabia is nervous about the rise of Islamist movements such as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in the turmoil created by successive "Arab Spring" revolutions, as well as growing discontent among the region's Shi'ite population groups.

"I would predict we will see more Saudi activity abroad, particularly considering what is going on throughout the Arab world today," said Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent former Saudi newspaper editor.

"Prince Salman is pragmatic; I think he will not mind dealing with Islamist Arabs like the Muslim Brotherhood."

As crown prince, Salman will keep the defense portfolio and serve as deputy prime minister to King Abdullah, Monday's royal decree said.

KEY POST

From 1962 until last year, Prince Salman served as governor of Riyadh, a position that gave him more contact with foreign governments than many other senior royals.

That role saw him arbitrating disputes between members of the ruling family, putting him at the centre of the kingdom's most important power structure.

He also had to maintain good relations with senior clerics and tribal leaders, meaning he has experience working with all the main groups that count in Saudi policy-making.

The decree made no mention of the Allegiance Council, a family body that Abdullah set up to ensure smooth successions, which does not legally have to come into play until he dies.

Salman's younger brother Prince Ahmed was made Nayef's successor as interior minister after spending decades as his deputy.

Prince Ahmed is seen as unlikely to alter security policies at a time when Saudi Arabia faces a threat from al Qaeda in neighboring Yemen and unrest among its Shi'ite Muslim minority.

"He was always close to Prince Nayef, but he was more involved in administrative matters, not security. He has vast experience here," Khashoggi said.

Nayef built a formidable security apparatus that crushed al Qaeda inside the kingdom and is a vital element of a global struggle against Islamist militants.

His services arrested thousands of suspected militants and successfully infiltrated Islamist cells, but came down hard on political dissent.

"Prince Nayef was not simply a lone figure on policies that have been pursued but was working as part of a consensus at the highest levels," said Robert Jordan, U.S. ambassador to Riyadh from 2001 to 2003.