U.S. intelligence blocks sale of defense contractor to Israeli firm > SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Monday, March 27, 2006 >WASHINGTON A leading Israeli firm has abandoned its bid to acquire a U.S. defense contractor in the wake of the major controversy over U.S. approval of United Arab Emirates operations of six major U.S. ports. Executives said Check Point decided not to pursue plans to buy the U.S. software firm Sourcefire for $225 million after objections were raised by the U.S. intelligence community. Sourcefire has been a leading supplier to such intelligence agencies as the CIA and FBI, Middle East Newsline reported. "Certain members of the committee have outstanding concerns that there's potential risks to national security were the transaction to proceed," Treasury Department spokesman Tony Fratto said. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews proposed foreign takeovers of U.S. companies, has been investigating Checkpoint, with headquarters in Ramat Gan, Israel. Executives said CFIUS was believed to have drafted a recommendation to block the acquisition of Sourcefire on grounds of national security. "The timing for this acquisition may have been bad, and given the respective technologies it became complex," Checkpoint said in a statement. The pullout by Checkpoint, less than six weeks after it announced acquisition plans, came in wake of CFIUS approval of United Arab Emirates operations of six major U.S. ports. In a move that sparked opposition in Congress, CFIUS approved the purchase by the UAE state-owned Dubai Ports World of the London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which manages the ports of Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, Miami and Baltimore. Amid congressional threats to block the DP World takeover, CFIUS has undertaken an additional 45-day review of deal. At the same time, DP World said it would transfer port operations to a U.S. firm. Officials have long expressed concern over the activities of Israeli firms in the U.S. defense and security market. They said Israeli activity could result U.S. technology leakage and industrial espionage. The privately-held Sourcefire, reported to have earned $30 million in 2005, has produced software designed to protect networks from attacks. Executives said 13 percent of its revenues stem from the Defense Department. Source: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453822.0618055556.html <http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453822.0618055556.htm\ l> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
