Posted on 11/30/2007 11:11:24 AM PST by JZelle
U.S. intelligence agencies informed a Treasury Department-led review committee recently that a merger between 3Com and a Chinese company would threaten U.S. national security, The Washington Times has learned.
Bush administration intelligence officials said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) recently submitted a required threat assessment to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, which is conducting a 30-day investigation of the proposed deal between 3Com and China's Huawei Technologies.
The assessment, which is classified, described the deal as posing a "threat" to U.S. national security, according to officials familiar with the document.
"The deal is in trouble," said one official, who noted that pro-business officials who in the past dismissed critics of the deal are now worried the merger will be blocked because of the assessment.
The proposed $2.2 billion merger was announced quietly in October, with 3Com stating that the main purchaser would be the international investment firm Bain Capital Partners an apparent bid to play down the role of Huawei, China's main producer of computer network equipment and an international supplier.
Reports in The Times about Huawei's past illicit activities including bribery, economic espionage and violating U.N. sanctions led Bain to voluntarily submit the deal to the Treasury Department for review.
3Com manufactures computer network intrusion-prevention equipment used by the Pentagon and U.S. government agencies. Intelligence officials are concerned that the technology China would gain from 3Com will boost the Chinese military's computer warfare capabilities.
Asked about the assessment, DNI spokesman Ross Feinstein said, "In accordance with the statute, the intelligence community prepares threat assessments for the CFIUS process, but we do not comment on these assessments."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
“... that a merger between 3Com and a Chinese company would threaten U.S. national security...”
No kidding!
This intell report?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/15/AR2007111502120.html?hpid=sec-nation
DOD officials admit that they have no way of knowing who produces the parts and equipment we need. Niiiice
If Hitlery gets in its a done deal.
The GOP doesn’t seem to be any better.
These GOP idiots cave to businesses who don't care how many communities they ruin by employing thousands of illegal aliens, without proof, without housing, ability to drive legally, without paying school taxes for FREE educations, without paying insurance payments for FREE healthcare, etc.
Most of the GOP are merely biding their time to pull yet another amnesty dream, to give away what is left of our country, while the dims register the illegal aliens to vote with their "motor-voter" laws and FREE social programs!
INTERESTING SIDENOTE:
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston, Massachusetts-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts, and two other partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company: T. Coleman Andrews III and Eric Kriss. Bain Capital was originally conceived as a combined equity start-up and leveraged buyout fund, an innovative strategy at the time.
DUNCAN HUNTER CALLS ON ROMNEY TO OPPOSE BAIN PARTNERSHIP WITH CHINESE COMPANY
Duncan Hunter, calling it straight!
I really hope his campaign starts getting traction!
What a freakin’ mess..
Yeah, but there was another post on a thread earlier today that stated Romney had not been personally involved in the Bain deal since 1999.
Actually, Romney, along with one of his partners,left Bain in 2001 to head the 2002 Olympics.
Do you have a link to that thread you were refering?
Bain was involved with another company directly tied to national security concerns in the 1990s......Raytheon.
Romney was there at that time.
3Com has been working with Huawei for a while. When this relationship started up 4 or 5 years back, I thought this could give Huawei a real bump up, technology-wise. 3Com has been an also-ran for the past decade. But it still has worthwhile technology. I think the odds are good that a good chunk of 3Com’s technology already resides with Huawei via theft or illegal transfers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.