"The brother of Osama bin Laden is a director of a US telecom giant, Irridium LLC, according to reports. IRIDIUM
alamo-girl.com
8/28/98 DAWN (Pakistan) Masood Haider "The brother of Osama bin Laden is a director of a US telecom giant, Irridium LLC, according to reports. Although the Clinton administration has made Osama the world's most wanted man, the rest of the family does millions of dollars in business with the US, reports say. Sheikh Hasan bin Laden, one of Osama's many brothers in a Saudi family of immense wealth and far- flung enterprises, is listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a director of Iridium LLC, the New York newspaper Daily News said. Irridium, which plans to put the first global network of cell phones and pagers into operation next month, has launched satellites four times aboard China's Long March rockets. The launches by Irridium, Hughes Electronics and Loral Space and Communications triggered a furore in Congress this summer amid allegations that China picked up missile targeting know-how from its arrangements with the US firms. Irridium confirmed that Hasan bin Laden is a director of the Irridium Middle East Corp subsidiary and that the Saudi bin Laden Group, the family's investment arm, has put money into the global phone link firm.."
Mr. Mondale, nephew of the former vice president, was the first employee of Iridium and is the Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning for Iridium LLC. Before joining Motorola, he was a Vice President at Fairchild Space and Defense Corporation where he was responsible for the international and commercial activities of Fairchild Space from 1989 to 1990. Prior to joining Fairchild, Mr. Mondale was Legal Counsel to the then Space Division of Matra, S.A. (now Matra-Marconi Space, N.V.), based in Paris, France, following several years of private legal practice in Washington, D.C. Mondale has guided the marketing, strategic planning, and government affairs disciplines within the company since its inception.
DR. EDWARD F. STAIANO Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Iridium LLC and Chairman, Iridium World Communications, Ltd. before joining Iridium LLC was a 23-year veteran of Motorola credited with growing Motorola's General Systems Sector to record levels. The sector is composed of cellular infrastructure, cellular equipment, computer, and network management businesses.
Iridium has ties to late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and the Democratic party. Leo Mondale and Motorola executive Edward Staino hired four of Brown's former employees with high level security clearances to help run Iridium's project on worldwide telecommunications. In May of 1995 a former assistant secretary of Commerce, Lauri Fitz-Pegado, a long-time friend of Brown and special adviser to the chairman of the DNC, became vice president of the Iridium division called Global Gateway Management. Her responsibilities at Iridium include coordinating meetings and trips with international investors. She was joined there by her former Commerce assistants Pilar Martinez, Charlotte Kea and Andrew Balfour, who was a director under the executive secretary for Commerce.
ROBERT W. KINZIE Chairman, Iridium LLC before joining Iridium was the Director of Strategic Planning for the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) - the 121 member-country international organization, which owns and operates the global commercial communications satellite system. Mr. Kinzie also has over 20 years experience in the satellite communications industry with the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT). From 1962 to 1965, Mr. Kinzie was an economist at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. He also held positions at the U.S. Bureau of the Census and was on the staff of a United States Congressman.
While at Commerce, Sockowitz, a 1992 Clinton/Gore fundraiser, held a top-secret clearance and kept classified files in a safe. After being transferred to the SBA (without a debriefing) he came back to Commerce and remove 136 files. After he left the SBA he was not debriefed. He now works for the Strategic Planning Group in Bethesda, Md., an international business consulting firm. Justice stopped looking into the security breach matter in December '96 without ever talking to Sockowitz, or his boss whom he followed to SBA, Ms. Lew. Nolanda Hill told Judge Lamberth in March of 1998 that Brown worried that Sockowitz might have ''funneled information to others.'' Documents include satellite encryptions from Hoyt Zia, chief counsel for Commerce's Bureau of Export Administration. Zia is a former Democratic National Committee fund-raiser and close friend of Huang. Also in the Sockowitz files were memos, notes, and file folders from Commerce and the National Security Council on encryption or decoding software, exports and policy options; Satellite-project information; "Space Launch;" "Uranium from Russia;" A CIA report on Russian economic development; and Biographies on foreign political leaders in Bosnia, Croatia, India, Turkey, and Russia.
Insight 9/1/97 Tim Maier concerning Sockowitz ". "He knew what he was doing," says one congressional investigator. "He had to. He held one of the highest level of clearance - top secret with code word." . "He is another Craig Livingstone," says one congressional investigator, referring to the bouncer and political operative who became White House security chief and resigned after supervising the illegal acquisition of 900 FBI files on Reagan and Bush appointees. Congressional investigators believe Sockowitz zeroed in on these files because they were a hot commodity in an explosive high-tech market. So hot were they that in November the CIA "blocked access" and prevented House investigators from viewing the documents taken by Sockowitz even though the investigators had all the proper clearances. "
Motorola took part in Brown trade-mission trips.
The Iridium system is backed by nineteen strategic investors from around the world. Seventeen of the investor partners also participate in the operation and maintenance of 12 ground station "gateways" that link the Iridium system to the public switched telephone networks:
Iridium Africa Corporation Iridium Africa is associated with Mawarid Overseas Company Limited.
Iridium Andes-Caribe is a consortium of private Venezuelan investors
Iridium Brasil is a diversified Brazilian corporation
Iridium Middle East Corporation is owned by Mawarid Overseas Company Limited (see Iridium Africa), and Triniford Investments S.A., which is affiliated with the Saudi Binladin Group. Binladin is among the largest industrial groups in Saudi Arabia.
Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center A leading aerospace engineering and manufacturing company in the Russian Federation
Lockheed Martin Corporation A world leader in defense and space systems technology
Iridium Canada, Inc. BCE Mobile Communications, Inc. and BCE Telecom International, Inc. - both of which are affiliated with BCE Inc., Canada's largest telecommunications company
Iridium China (Hong Kong) Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Aerospace, a major diversified industrial group in China and also the parent company of China Great Wall Industries Corporation.
Iridium India Telecom Limited is a consortium of Indian financial institutions that initially invested in Iridium LLC through infrastructure Leasing & Financing Services, Ltd..
Iridium italia S.P.A. is an affiliate of Telecom Italia,
Raytheon Company is one of the world's leading companies in the conception, development, manufacture, and sale of electronic systems, equipment, and components for government and commercial use.
SK Telecom Affiliated with Korea Telecommunications Corporation
South Pacific Iridium Holdings Limited is a subsidiary of PT Bakrie & Brothers, an Indonesia-based diversified holding company.
Sprint Iridium, Inc. is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which is a diversified telecommunications company.
Thai Satellite Telecommunications Co., Ltd. is affiliated with United Communications Industry Co., Ltd., which is the second-largest cellular telecommunications provider in Thailand
Motorola, Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications and electronic equipment, systems, components, and services.
Nippon Iridium (Bermuda) Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Iridium Corporation, which is a consortium formed in Bermuda by DDI Corporation
o.tel.o A subsidiary of VEBA AG and RWE AG, two of the largest corporations in Germany
Pacific Iridium Telecommunications Corporation (PITC) is a subsidiary of Pacific Electric Wire & Cable Co., Ltd., a diversified international corporation.
Repeat: Iridium Middle East Corporation is owned by Mawarid Overseas Company Limited (see Iridium Africa), and Triniford Investments S.A., which is affiliated with the Saudi Binladin Group. Binladin is among the largest industrial groups in Saudi Arabia
In 1993, Lockheed Martin (an investor) made one political contribution. In 1995-96, the company made 576 contributions - both to Republicans and Democrats, including $1.6 million in political action committee, or PAC, gifts. Sockowitz walked out with the classified information on the billion-dollar satellite deal that Lockheed entered into with the Khrunichev Space Center in Russia - which is part of the Iridium deal.
Russia's ministry of Atomics (an investor) was allowed to obtain supercomputers capable of designing nuclear weapons. A Russian organized crime figure, Clinton White House guest Grigor Loutchansky, is a player in Iridium's telecommunication plan. Loutchansky is suspected of trafficking in nuclear materials. Sockowitz had a folder called "Uranium from Russia," which may have contained details on US efforts to purchase left over weapons-grade uranium from Russia and revealed where 1,000 tons of such uranium may be stored.
Beijing (an investor) obtained special export waivers. In 1994, AT&T was allowed to send video-conferencing and sophisticated remote command and control systems to a Beijing based company HUA MEI, whose board of directors are members of the People's Liberation Army, or PLA. In 1996 RSA Data Security signed a distribution and development agreement with China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Graduate School Laboratory of Information Security, which trains Chinese intelligence agents. RSA had been courting a relationship with China ever since the company attended an encryption conference in Beijing in 1995. The company toyed with selling its encryption patent to the federal government but never did. Indeed, it obtained a special waiver for sales to Beijing at a time when competitors were being prosecuted for selling similar encryption technology overseas. Sockowitz had the files on RSA and its patented encryption technology. Iridium's Chinese partner, Iridium China (Hong Kong) Ltd., is managed by mainland-born Wang Mei Yue. Wang Mei Yue also happens to be head of China Aerospace International Holdings Ltd. (CASIL) in Hong Kong. CASIL is part of China's defense industrial complex, and is also where Liu Chaoying, the daughter of a top Chinese military official, was employed as a vice president; she is the figure who allegedly funneled money to the Democratic Party. According to the South China Morning Post of Hong Kong, three officials from CASIL sit on the board of Iridium China. China did not have MIRV capability before the Iridium launch.
9/1/97 Tim Maier Insight Nation "… Congressional investigators believe Sockowitz zeroed in on these files because they were a hot commodity in an explosive high-tech market. So hot were they that in November the CIA "blocked access" and prevented House investigators from viewing the documents taken by Sockowitz even though the investigators had all the proper clearances…..Upon first impression the inventory list appears to be a collection of intelligence documents with no apparent common thread connecting them. But there may be. Insight has discovered a trail that leads from Commerce to a Washington based multi-billion dollar satellite company called Iridium. The bulk of the Sockowitz files contain information that could be greatly beneficial to Iridium or its competitors - especially in terms of contracts, customers, and international assessment of foreign countries. Iridium is working with an international team of leading aerospace and electronic leaders in Russia and Red China to construct a worldwide telecommunications network…..Created by Motorola in 1987, Iridium has direct ties to late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and the Democratic party; Leo Mondale, a nephew of the former vice president, is vice president of strategic planning for Iridium. This year Mondale and Motorola executive Edward Staino hired four of Brown's former employees with high level security clearances to help run Iridium's project on worldwide telecommunications. Motorola also took part in Brown trade-mission trips. Lauri Fitz-Pegado, former assistant secretary of Commerce - and a long-time friend of Brown - and special adviser to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, or DNC, now is vice president of the Iridium division called Global Gateway Management. She went on board May 5, 1997. Her responsibilities at Iridium include coordinating meetings and trips with international investors. She is joined there by her former Commerce assistants Pilar Martinez, Charlotte Kea and Andrew Balfour, who was a director under the executive secretary for Commerce…"
The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...TAS has learned of a separate joint venture between the Riadys and China Aerospace International (CASIL), known as the Shanghai Commercial Investment Fund. Until now, U.S. government investigators were not able to tie the Riadys to CASIL, a key player in several satellite ventures involving U.S. companies. A CASIL vice president, Liu Chaoying, set up a joint venture with Johnny Chung in California known as Marswell Investment that was financed through a $300,000 wire transfer (some of which Chung donated to the DNC) from the head of Chinese military intelligence. TAS first revealed the Chung- Liu connection two years ago ("While America Sleeps," June 1997). Liu's Hong Kong company, Marswell Investment Ltd., was created in 1995 using subscriber shares from two PLA front companies, Chearfit and Timeway Ltd., which operate out of the same office as a third front company, Silver Faith Holdings, which U.S. government investigators have tied back to the Chinese Triads. Liu Chaoying controls numerous other Hong Kong front companies as well, including Cheung Tai Hong Holdings Ltd., Giant Enterprises, and CASIL Import & Export Company Ltd.
The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...The Lippo-CASIL connection provides new insight into what the Chinese were hoping to get from the Clinton-Gore White House: waivers of U.S. sanctions to give them access to U.S. missile and satellite technology. In April 1993 Clinton waived the Tiananmen sanctions to allow Motorola to launch up to 12 satellites in China for its Iridium global wireless communications network. As part of that deal, the Chinese got help from U.S. companies in designing a "smart dispenser" that enabled them for the first time to launch multiple satellites from a single rocket. According to a December 1996 report from the Air Force National Air Intelligence Center, first revealed by Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz, the Iridium smart dispenser "could be developed into a credible PBV (post-boost vehicle) with a few relatively minor changes." Post-boost vehicles are used to deliver multiple nuclear warheads to separate orbits, so they can strike different targets independently. Multiple warhead technology was a key priority for the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND) collectors, and was a capability the Chinese had previously lacked.
The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...In October 1997, CASIL acquired a 14.71-percent interest in Asia Pacific Telecommunications Satellite Holdings Ltd., a listed company in Hong Kong and New York. APT was founded in 1992, with investors from Hong Kong and Thailand, to own and operate a network of telecommunications satellites. The company now operates two Hughes HS 376 satellites (Apstar-1 and Apstar-1A), and one Space Systems Loral FS-1300 satellite (Apstar IIR), launched between 1994 and October 1997. "The powerful APT...has the largest synchronous satellite transponder capacity available in the Asia-Pacific region," according to a U. S. government cable from Hong Kong obtained by TAS.
The American Spectator 8/99 Kenneth R. Timmerman "...But APT served another purpose, according to a recent Pentagon report first revealed in these pages ("Red Star Over Washington," May 1999). Following the failure of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) own network of military communications satellites in 1996, "the Chinese were desperate to find a substitute for military communications. They had no choice but to resort to the use of previously purchased U.S. satellites for their encrypted communications," the report states. Those satellites were owned and operated by APT. "This decision was just a step in the continuing process to integrate Hughes equipment for its military--a decision which goes back to at least 1992. Various munitions license applications during 1995 and 1996 reveal an export pattern of Hughes satellite-related equipment through PLA front companies. They include SCL, CESEC (China Electronic Systems Engineering Company), and Huaying," the DOD memo states. "Ironically, many of these exports did not identify these front companies as being associated with the PLA. From what we now know, Hughes employees in China were knowledgeable that they were PLA-associated entities." None of the licenses were vetted for the PLA association, the memo went on, since a military end-user would have been grounds for denying exports. ...Hughes's failure to disclose the PLA involvement in APT, and in a related cell-phone venture known as APMT, may have violated U.S. export control laws. "In seeking approval of APMT," the Pentagon report states, "Hughes provided only the Singapore address of the APMT joint venture between China and Singapore. This had the deceptive effect of attempting to disassociate the APMT project from the Chinese military and make it look benign, even though the Chinese sought configurations on the APMT satellite that would allow for eavesdropping." The Pentagon discovered that many of the Chinese technicians being trained by Hughes in California were in fact members of the PLA...."
Infoworld / Network World 8/13/99 David Rohde "...Satellite telephony provider Iridium declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, culminating its struggle to recover from marketing and distribution mistakes dating from last fall's service launch. The company is not ending operations, but rather seeking a court-approved workout plan. Chief investor Motorola said it thinks Iridium can come up with a bankruptcy restructuring plan within 30 days...."
8/13/99 Ilaina Jonas Reuters "…Stocks of two of the three leading satellite telephone companies plummeted Thursday under the weight of major financing woes that cloud their future. Shares of Iridium World Communications LLC dropped more than 28 percent, or 1-11/16, to bottom out at an all-time low of 4-1/4 on the day after the struggling operator of a $5 billion satellite network defaulted on $1.5 billion in loans. The plunge landed the stock -- which 15 months ago was trading at a lofty 72-3/8 -- as the No. 1 percentage loser on the Nasdaq market Thursday….. Late Wednesday Washington, D.C.-based Iridium said it had defaulted on a $800 million loan and another $750 million loan after it failed to meet customer and revenue growth targets required under the larger of the two loans. Iridium, London-based ICO and Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd (Nasdaq:GSTRF - news)., an international group led by Loral Space & Communications Ltd (NYSE:LOR - news)., are scrambling to launch hand-held satellite phone services to allow customers to stay in touch any time from anyplace on the globe. Shares of Globalstar closed down 1/4 to 28. Iridium, the only company to launch service so far, has repeatedly stumbled, and its principal backer, telecommunications equipment maker Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news), has raised the possibility that it may have to liquidate….``At this time, banks may feel that Iridium's future is significantly enhanced by a restructuring that includes a significant Motorola cash infusion,'' C.E. Unterberg analyst William Kidd wrote in a research report. But Kidd warned an Iridium bankruptcy ``may be awfully close.'' …." |
