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The following document is from http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Global-Crossing-Perle.html?pagewanted=print&position=top
Global Crossing Retains Pentagon Adviser
New York Times - March 22, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:35 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Richard Perle, a Defense Department
adviser, said Friday he is helping bankrupt Global
Crossing Ltd. try to win government approval of its
sale to foreign companies, a deal that has prompted
concerns about national security. Perle would receive $725,000 for his work, including
$600,000 if the government approves Global Crossing's
sale to a joint venture of two Asian firms, according
to lawyers and others involved in the bankruptcy case. As chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Perle is
covered by the government ethics prohibition on using
public office for private gain. Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld named him to the board in 2001. Perle, an assistant defense secretary in the Reagan
administration and a presidential campaign adviser to
George W. Bush, said he has not violated ethics rules. ``The guiding principle here is that you do not give
advice in the Defense Policy Board on any particular
matter in which you have an interest,'' Perle said in
an interview. ``And I don't do that. I haven't done
that.'' Among his other business dealings, Perle is a director
of Autonomy, a data mining company that lists the
Defense Department and the Homeland Security
Department among its U.S. government customers. Global Crossing built a 100,000 mile, high-speed fiber
optic network before it collapsed under $12.4 billion
in debt in January 2002. Its plan to emerge from
bankruptcy would leave its investors with nothing,
while debtholders would receive pennies on the dollar
and a minority stake in the re-emerging firm. Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa and Singapore
Technologies Telemedia purchased the company for $250
million in August. But the deal requires federal
approval and is under review by a government group
that includes representatives from the Defense
Department. That review will take longer than expected, a result
of concerns about having the telecommunications
network controlled by a company with close ties to
China. Perle said he is helping Global Crossing figure out
how to structure the deal to allay national security
concerns. In a statement, the company said Perle is
aiding it in the regulatory review process. He said he has no conflict of interest because the
Defense Policy Board is not part of the review. Perle said the issue of a conflict was raised by what
he called an irrelevant and inappropriate reference to
his Defense Policy Board role in a document that is
being prepared for submission in the Global Crossing
bankruptcy case. The document is being revised, he said.
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