Former intelligence officials who warned lawmakers against an antitrust crackdown against the Big Tech Masters of the Universe have ties to those very same Big Tech companies, according to a report from Politico.
In a letter to lawmakers last week, a dozen former intelligence officials warned that overly tough antitrust action against the tech giants would empower communist China.
Masters of the Universe (collage)
The antitrust drive would “degrade critical R&D priorities, allow foreign competitors to displace leaders in the U.S. tech sector both at home and abroad, and potentially put sensitive U.S. data and IP in the hands of Beijing,” warned the former intel officials.
According to Politico, many of the signees have ties to Big Tech.
Seven of the 12, including Panetta, hold roles at Beacon Global Strategies, a public relations firm that according to a person familiar with the matter counts Google as a client. (The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the firm does not publicize its clientele.)
Five of the former officials, including former director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Robert Cardillo and former National Security Agency deputy director Richard Ledgett, serve as advisory board members at Beacon. Panetta and Michael Morell, a former acting CIA director under President Barack Obama, are senior counselors for the firm.
Sue Gordon, a former principal deputy director of national intelligence, is an advisory board member of the Antonin Scalia Law School’s National Security Institute, which counts Amazon as a major funder. James Foggo III, a retired Navy admiral, is a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, which Google lists as one of the organizations it funds.
Frances Townsend, who was a counterterrorism and homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, is on the national security advisory board for American Edge, a Facebook-funded group that opposes changes to strengthen antitrust laws.
Big Tech companies are in the crosshairs of regulators, and a coalition of Democrat and Republican lawmakers have introduced a set of five bills that would grant sweeping new antitrust enforcement powers to the federal government.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.
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