For years now, I have been tracking what looked like the militarization of the USA homeland. Dan Quayle, real name James Quayle JD, is the Chairman of the Board of rich and powerful Cerebrus.
Read this diary for details on Dan/James Quayle and his ties with Cerebrus:
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Cerebrus purchased Dyncorp, details here:
Private Equity Firms Own War Contractors: DynCorp
Bank of America helped to finance the deal, details here:
DynCorp and Blackwater Now Owned by Private Equity Firms, Financed by TBTFs
Quayle joined Cerebrus in 2005. Interestingly enough, General Tommy Franks joined the Board of Directors of Bank of America that year, too. Franks left in 2009 just before the Blackwater sale to a Wall Street private equity firm.
In December, 2010 the Department of Defense quietly issued a Directive for how approximately 480,000 military, stationed IN the USA, can be used. Included in the Directive are instructions on how PRIVATE CONTRACTORS can also be used. How these assets can be used to quell CIVIL UNREST are included. Details here:
Department of Defense DIRECTIVE NUMBER 3025.18 December 29, 2010
Many Private Equity firms control Military Defense-like companies like DynCorp and Blackwater. And many professional, high ranking military people work with these Private Equity firms. Quayle's CEREBRUS is one. Many are following the example of THE CARLISLE GROUP. Why not? It's proven to be a cash cow. And now that America has been included as a Battlefield on the War on Terror, more money will roll in.
The Military/Private Equity Revolving Door is an ominous trend, in my opinion. The following is just a tiny snapshot:
This article, dated 2004 details the militarization of private equity firms:
Private equity firms follow in Carlyle Group's footsteps
Five of the past nine defense secretaries has ties to a private equity firm,
excluding those who are in the current administration, have ties to private equities.
Of the remaining four,
<> two are serving in the current administration (Donald Rumsfeld was the defense secretary in the Ford administration;
<> Dick Cheney served George H.W. Bush's administration),
<> one (Les Aspin) is deceased, and
<> the other, Caspar W. Weinberger, is the chairman of the company that owns Forbes magazine.
Every other defense secretary since Elliot Richardson held the post in 1973 has ties to a private equity firm:
Bill Cohen, the last defense secretary, entered the private equity market with his own firm, TCG Financial Partners.
Cohen's immediate predecessor at the Pentagon,
William Perry, founded Global Technology Partners to help equity firms invest in defense, aerospace and technology companies, after he left office. The group advises Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette's Merchant Banking Partners.
James R. Schlesinger, defense secretary in the Nixon and Ford administrations, is an advisor to the Lehman Brothers investment banking firm.
Harold Brown, defense secretary in the Carter administration, is a partner at Warburg Pincus, an investment firm with holdings in approximately 490 companies worldwide.
Frank Carlucci, defense secretary during Ronald Reagan's second term, was the first Pentagon chief to make his mark as an investment banker.
A number of senior Pentagon officials who served these secretaries also work for private equities.
Perry has three of his former deputies as his partners at Global Technology Partners.
John White was a deputy secretary of defense under Perry,
Paul Kaminski supervised Pentagon's acquisitions as an undersecretary at Defense, and
Ashton Carter was an assistant secretary of Defense. Perry's founding partner was former CIA director John Deutch.
My dad was a Lt Colonel in the Army Reserves and served with distinction his entire life until he retired. He wasn't offered any positions on the Boards of Private Equity Firms. But that was the old days.
And don't get me wrong, I appreciate the service of the men and women who choose to serve in our military.
However, in 2008 when the historic DoD move to assign an active duty Army IN THE USA was made, training for NON-LETHAL WEAPONS TRAINING for use IN the USA, by the first Army unit began. Details here:
US Non-Lethal Weapons Training Began on October 1, 2008
Too many of the member of Congress own large stock positions with The Too Big to Fail Banks. The Powerful Six. Details can be found here:
Forget What Party You Belong to. Congress Members Own Too Much TBTF Stocks!
The words of Eisenhower nag my sixth sense:
And this lecture from Theocracy Watch also colors my concern because so much has been written about the influence of Evangelicals in the Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs. The Non-Lethal-Weapon-Trained Army Unit is under the control of Colorado Springs. For those of you unfamiliar with this trend, I recommend listening to this five part video lecture. I listened to them in the background while doing other work. I put them together here:
Theocracy Watch, Cornell: Dominion Theology (1/5)