From: geeman@best.com
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 12:38:17 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Re: HOT Summer IN White House
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19691231160000.006d1054@best.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



the New Yoahkah just ran a piece on the gfriend-o-Brown.
Quite worth a read.  Most of the first paragraph below seems
sort of lifted from that article.


At 09:42 AM 6/20/97 -0700, Tim May wrote:
>
>
>This item is one of many such articles outlining the corruptions within
>Washington. Some of these corruptions are huge, and go far beyond simple
>pork-barreling. On a level with Watergate, it seems to many of us.
>
>I don't usually forward items from "talk.politics.crypto," as I assume
>many of you are already reading it. But this particular item fits with the
>"Washington as crime capital in more ways than one" them I've been
>hitting.
>
>Look especially for how favors were granted for high tech exports.
>
>--Tim
>
>> From: softwar@us.net (SOFTWAR)
>> Newsgroups:
>talk.politics.crypto,alt.politics.org.nsa,alt.politics.org.fbi,alt.politics
.cia,alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.datahighway,talk.politics.misc,alt.po
litics.democrats.d,alt.politics.usa.republican
>> Subject: HOT Summer IN White House
>> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 10:35:29 GMT
>
>> 
>> It's going to be a long hot summer for the Clinton
>> administration.
>> 
>> Wednesday night ABC Primetime did a special on Ron Brown's
>> girlfriend.  The accusations  flying around the dead Secretary
>> of Commerce do not bode well for the living inside the Beltway.
>> First, it seems that Ron acquired an offshore bank account with
>> nearly a million dollars deposited for him by the Government of
>> Vietnam.  Vietnam wanted to normalize trade relations with the
>> US and bribing the top dog at Commerce certainly helped grease
>> the skids.  Vietnam got their trade deal but Brown found out
>> that the FBI knew about his bank account.  So he could not touch
>> the money.  The bribery accusation is collaborated by an
>> ex-Vietnamese official who has also turned his evidence over to
>> the FBI.  Mr. Brown's girlfriend plans to testify before both
>> the Senate and the House committees investigating wrongdoing in
>> the Clinton administration.
>> 
>> Another revelation which should come as no shock is that the
>> First Lady put John Huang in the Commerce Department.  This
>> demand apparently did not sit well with Mr. Brown, who,
>> according to his girlfriend, did not like Mrs. Clinton.  It
>> seems that Ron's strong personality ran smack head on into
>> Hillary's demanding attitude.  Yet, he bent over backward and
>> made sure that Huang was hustled into his government position,
>> complete with a secret clearance.  Once Huang entered the
>> Commerce Department strange events really started to pop up.
>> The Commerce Department initially denied Huang had access to
>> anything important. It is now known that Huang attended dozens
>> of secret CIA briefings.  Huang is alleged to have discussed
>> secret materials with his former employers at the Lippo group.
>> The allegations come from material obtained by taps on Huang's
>> Commerce Department telephone.
>> 
>> Can the same be said for Ira Sockowitz?  
>> 
>> No.  Ira Sockowitz was placed into his Commerce position
>> directly and personally by President Clinton.  It was Ira
>> Sockowitz who ran Ron Borwn's airline seating arrangements,
>> between working on government affairs.  Whenever Mr. Brown would
>> fly on a government sponsored trade trip - Ira would line up big
>> Corporate powers to ride along on the party plane.  Mr.
>> Sockowitz had more experience as a DNC fund-raiser than security
>> software.  Despite this lack of technical skills Mr. Sockowitz
>> entered the field of banking security software at Commerce.  It
>> is the Commerce Department which approves or denies export of
>> such financial software.  The amount of money involved, invested
>> and possible returns, are staggering.  Obviously, the
>> push/pull/shove involved in getting such a product approved is
>> no easy task.  Few export licenses have been issued and those
>> who have them are not too anxious for any others to join them.
>> 
>> Just how easy was it to obtain such a privilege?  Not very.  Not
>> even Fortune 500 companies could obtain export rights from the
>> Commerce Department.  Letters from IBM, Motorola, Digital, HP
>> and a host of other billion dollar firms clearly indicate their
>> unsuccessful efforts to obtain Commerce licenses to export their
>> products.
>> 
>> However, letters from certain other companies are covered with
>> redacted notes which the Commerce Department refuses to release.
>> One letter to the Commerce Department in particular was faxed to
>> someone (also redacted) along with a memo on how to obtain a
>> "waiver" for export.  Another set of Sockowitz documents being
>> withheld are a set of hand written notes on a conversation, a
>> three pages fax and two applications for license for export
>> dated 8/11/94.  The Clinton administration will not say who sent
>> the fax nor will they say who Ira Sockowitz talked to.  Yet,
>> clearly the topic was a license to export.  A license that could
>> have been worth billions of dollars.
>> 
>> It's going to be a long hot summer for the Clinton
>> administration.
>> 
>> 1 if by land, 2 if by sea.  Paul Revere - encryption 1775
>> 
>> Charles R. Smith
>> SOFTWAR
>> http://www.us.net/softwar
>> 
>> Pcyphered SIGNATURE:
>> 5317BD5D86A9257B2048D1D80523D9ACF320DB56A078CA4EA62BABF7A43EBE6B
>> 2F5FB787CDEF242FA01EF13984F7071AC2B401DAD0010740F1F024C3CCF9D841
>> 9760977F67662EEF
>
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