End run? What happens to axed programs

On December 3rd I did a piece on FutureMap being restarted under a private corporation - Net Exchange (Futures trading is back). Now the Pentagon is doing it again. Last winter, Rumsfeld got all kinds of heat for the "Office of Strategic Influence" -- a propaganda office that would leak false stories to the "foreign" press. The "office" was purportedly closed after significant public and Congressional concerns were raised. Like any of us would believe it didn't exist prior to and after. But no, like FutureMap, The "Office" has gone private - Pentagon and Bogus News: All Is Denied (Schmitt, NY Times, 12/05/03). The Pentagon has awarded a $300,000 contract to SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation).

Trying to track down info on SAIC is not too difficult. SAIC bills itself as "the largest employee-owned research and engineering firm in the nation. " It was started in 1965 by J.R. Beyster, and was purchased by General Sciences Corporation (SAIC site). However, trying to track down information on GSC (supposedly their parent company) is difficult at best. Other than showing up as a government contractor (generally with SAIC) for the DoD, NASA, and the EPA (to name a few), this obviously well connected, high tech, firm has no web presence. Interesting. But hey ... there is always their 2003 annual report .... and it does prove instructive. (see at end of this article)
One of the partially owned subsidiaries that stands out is Bechtel - which has been in the news about crony contracting in Iraq.

Anyway, the pattern seems pretty clear. If you can't get the whole program funded then there are a couple of ways to go. First, you can break the program into pieces and fund through unrelated appropriations. Two, you can tag onto Homeland Security (TIA and CAPPS II with the airlines) or perhaps to HUD (TIA and tracking those in public housing). Three, just contract it out to a private corporation (FutureMap to NetExchange, and the Office of Disinformation to SAIC). Such creative folks we have in Washington. Nice to know we get our monies worth.

SAIC Annual Report Company Ownership Info (pages 50-51)

S A I C S U B S I D I A R I E S
Telcordia Technologies. Serving many of the world?s leading service providers, our Telcordia subsidiary is one of the world?s largest telecommunications software and consulting companies, and the leading provider of operational software for the telecommunications industry.

SAIC Frederick. Our SAIC Frederick subsidiary operates the National Cancer Institute?s leading center for cancer and AIDS research. In addition, our SAIC Frederick subsidiary operates and manages the Advanced Biomedical Computing Center (ABCC), the world?s only supercomputer devoted exclusively to biomedical research.

ANXeBusiness Corp. ANXeBusiness, our 80% owned subsidiary, offers complete extranet services and a global, secure network for business-to-business communications worldwide. Mitsubishi Corporation owns a minority interest in ANXeBusiness, and it teams with SAIC and ANXeBusiness to offer intranet and extranet services in the Asia- Pacific marketplace.

S A I C J O I N T V E N T U R E S
Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC. Bechtel and SAIC combined their expertise to meet the unique challenges involved in research and possible development of the nation?s first high-level radioactive waste repository.

AMSEC LLC. AMSEC LLC is a joint venture between SAIC and Newport News
Shipbuilding, now part of Northrop Grumman. Serving the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and other maritime customers, AMSEC LLC crews provide technical support for virtually every shipboard system.

Data Systems & Solutions. A joint venture between SAIC and Rolls-Royce, Data Systems & Solutions provides enterprise asset management, predictive maintenance, and process optimization to clients in many industries.

Of course, those are only the ones they give detailed descriptions of. They have their own host of wholly owned subsidiaries that are "Minority Owned Interests." Hey is someone else owns a "minority business, is it still a minority owned business? Guess so.

SAIC Minority Owned Interests "Private Companies"
Agile\ix Corporation, ClearCube, CosmoCom, e-bank LLC, Granite Systems, LifeSpan Bioscience, NetNumber Inc, NextEngine, OpenNet Telecom, Packet Video Corp., Vocal Data, Wisor Telecom.

SAIC Venture Capital (Minority owned public companies)
Cyberplex, Intrusion Inc., Nuance Communications.

SAIC Partial Ownership
ANXeB, DANET, DS&S, AMSEC LLC, BECHTEL