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Technology Stocks : LORAL -- Political Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (179)	5/26/1998 6:32:00 PM
From: Dragonfly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 880

Also, as I understand it the encryption technology was not at risk on those waivers. Why encryption technology are you talking about? You think there was a US military encryption system on the sat that exploded? Dragonfly

To: jlallen who wrote (179)	5/26/1998 6:50:00 PM
From: Snake	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 880

An interesting board you have over here. Just to throw in my $.02 here. Reagan, Bush and Clinton have essentially carried on the same policy regarding waivers for American satellite manufacturers to launch using a Chinese vehicle under watch by the U.S. There are procedures and regulations that must be followed so the U.S. does not have unauthorized transfer of technology to China. Loral was granted a waiver for its 1996 launch. The regulations at that time did not address a failed lauch investigation and any communications regarding such. It is a matter of law whether the transmission of the report violated the export waiver. When the 2nd waiver was granted, some people in the State Dept felt that a violation may have occured and disagreed as to whether a new waiver should be granted. Ultimately, it was the opinion of the State and Commerce Depts that no new technology would be transferred, so they approved the waiver. Justice was/is investigating the matter of law discussed above regarding whether Loral criminally violated the 1996 waiver and exported technology to China. The notes regarding the process to get an approval of the 2nd waiver were released last Friday, I believe, to the media. They showed that the Sandy berger and the NSA agreed that no new technology would be transferred and that Loral was under investigation, but had not been indicted or charged with any crime, and that an indictment would be needed to change their minds. All makes sense due to the arguement that a company or person should not be punished if there is not enough evidence yet to be charged with a crime. Clinton has extended waivers to Motorola. I am not sure about Lockheed and Hughes. The notes show that there was a process that was followed in the Loral 2nd waiver, and ultimately, State and Commerce agreed that the waiver should be granted. Justice was afraid it may hurt an investigation. The regulations at that time also expressly state that any investigation report must have a separate waiver to transfer to China. This really is a legal issue that has gotten tangled in with politics due to Schwartz's contributions and the allegations of Chinese military contributions. Ultimately, Loral will probably be cleared of any criminal wrong doing in my opinion. I base my opinion on digesting the fact sheets of Loral and Hughes as well as the Loral conference calls regarding the matter with the news reports from the various papers and so forth. The press has sufficiently butchered the story of what is involved in launching satellites and the issue of transferring the failure report and the regulations that the companies must follow. All my opinion of course, not an endorsement of Clintons alleged affairs, Whitewater, or anything else political regarding Democrats and Republicans. Short-term, the stories spell bad news for Loral. Some people are accumulating during this mess, but I believe in a wait and see approach here. This is too complicated a story to unwind for the general public. The bad PR has done its damage to Loral's reputation and even if they were cleared tomorrow, the public will be talking about it for the next month or so.