"Nothing is true, everything is permitted."--Statement attributed to Hassan-i Sabah (more likely 'Budayl', a later Islamic heretic of Isma'ili Islam)
S.A.I.C.UNIVERSE--Edward Teller, eat your heart out, you were never this wrong-headed (just nuts). It helps to have friends in Congress, especially if you get them laid (or something within the law with a little touchy-touchy), drunk, and ply them with Cuban cigars. You know, just like Randy 'Duke' Cunningham and his pals who are also up-on-charges. Some of the same players with 'Duke' are related to SAIC. Yes, it's 'expensive to do business in Washington,' it really is. Of course, you won't find anything about how they really get those contracts with the Pentagon and the intelligence community in any of the 200-odd pages of founder Dr. J. Robert Beyster's book "The SAIC Solution: How We Built an $8 Billion Employee-Owned Technology Company," published in August.
True, Beyster had the advantage of starting SAIC when the Pentagon was on a spending spree because of the Cold War and the Vietnam War. He knew it would not last forever and started to branch out into other categories. [Ed.-yeah, what a shame, we should have an endless war.] A key part of his strategy was pursuing mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The most stellar deal was the $4.5 million acquisition of Network Solutions in 1994. His goal was to grab a share of telecom business and pick up clients like AT&T (NYSE: T). Network Solutions also managed the registry for Internet domain names. As the market surged, so did the value of the company. With SAIC as its largest shareholder, Network Solutions went public in 1997, raising $67 million. It raised $779 million in a follow-on offering in 1999 and raised another $2.3 billion in 2000. Then a few months later, Network Solutions sold out to VeriSign (Nasdaq: VRSN) for $19.6 billion (who said M&A is a bad thing?). (Motleyfool.com, 08.28.2007)The review at Motley Fool is pretty adulatory, with no research whatsoever into the numerous lawsuits that SAIC has been involved in. Some included fraud on government contracts. I'll let you readers do some of those web searches, prove me wrong. Right, who said "M&A is a bad thing"? Well myself, and many others, actually.
This is just too much power, it's corporate welfare, and it undermines all the basic-tenets of the marketplace by eliminating any chance of competition--but that's the argument of capitalists, and this writer isn't one (I'm biased, I know). What SAIC really constitutes is the 9th biggest military/intel contractor in the United States. What else is missing here? Oh yeah: real questions about SAIC's behavior behind-the-scenes in the warrantless wiretapping scandal. Were they involved? They certainly have the capabilities--just look at their anagram: "Science Applications International Corporation." You think they could hack into a database? You think they know the back-doors? They should, considering that they owned Network Solutions for several years.
Why do I think this book is a PR-response to the fear within SAIC that a very big storm is coming their way? The very same day of the Motley Fool book review, SAIC was magically awarded a three-year, $85 million contract to service what is now a sub-entity of the Department of Homeland Security, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. It's nice to have friends in high-places, strategically positioned to facilitate with a nod (or a no-bid contract):
The three-year deal awarded by the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday will provide the agency with hardware and software maintenance, help desk support, directory and messaging services and network and security operations support. Under the contract, the government contractor will support more than 19,000 agents at 550 sites for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. (AP, 08.29.2007)
Admiral Roughead is mentioned as a speaker in a couple of military association and foundation newsletters (National Defense & Transportation Association & the Naval War College Foundation), along with Harlan Ullman in the NWCF publication. While brother Gary isn't in the phone records of Pamela Martin & Associates, his brother is, and Mr. Ullman has been identified as a client by Ms. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, former proprietor of the aforementioned escort firm. Corporate sponsors of both newsletters and institutions list SAIC as a donor. Further searches on the internet--that could be done by anyone in minutes--would likely yield more of the same. But back to Ronald Roughead again. Some of Ronnie's testimony is in a past article at this site titled 'Pax Americanus...,' and makes for some very funny reading. We're supposed to believe that Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups are using modified video games to recruit young people.
One--ostensibly called 'Sonic Jihad'-- betrays the media (games, movies, music, etc.) ignorance of whoever concocted it for the House Intelligence Committee back at SAIC (or whatever little contractor's home, after-hours). Another piece of evidence was also presented--a short 11-minute clip from the internet. It has been discredited back in May 24th of 2006 as a joke by its creator--a 25-year-old Dutch gamer named 'Samir':
The 11-minute video shows a man in Arab head-dress carrying an automatic weapon into combat with U.S. invaders, and it was shown to a U.S. Congressional Committee this month as evidence of a militant campaign to recruit Muslim youth on the Internet. "It was just for fun, nothing political," said Samir, a 25 year-old Dutch gamer, in an interview with Reuters. "It has nothing to do with recruiting people or training people." Samir, who did not want to be identified by his full name, is a Muslim who was born and raised in the Netherlands and is a fan of U.S. movies and rap music. (Reuters, 05.24.2006)So, what's this all about? Why play-up the threat? The answer--my friend--is blowing in-the-wind (from Washington)...in the form of dollars (and no sense). Republicans are curiously credulous about such so-called 'evidence,' but being a corporate welfare freak is a bipartisan affair.
One would assume they want to believe a little too much on Capitol Hill, carrying a priori assumptions with them about the rewards that will meet them in this life (there is no other, no pie-in-the-sky). Forget Hassan-i Sabah's promise, the Garden of Earthly Delights is here for those who service the contractors (no hash necessary, power is the ultimate drug & aphrodisiac). Conquest means never having to understand your victims.
On Samir, that Code Red threat to America (05.24.2006): http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,196889,00.html
For heaven's SAIC (Motley Fool indeed): http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/08/28/foolish-book-review-the-saic-solution.aspx
Gary's Brother Ron Roughead attempts to gain a contract for SAIC with some
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