Expect the brewing Obama administration LightSquared “pay to play” scandal to be front and center later this Fall.
Today, Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH), Chairman of the House Armed Services officially asked on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, to launch an investigation into the charge that the Obama administration put Democratic party politics ahead of national security.
Rep. Turner and five other lawmakers from the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces asked Issa (R-CA) to investigate the Obama administration’s fast tracking of a broadband wireless system supported by a big Democratic donor that could jeopardize national security.
Specifically, they asked the oversight committee to examine the roles played by the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, the White House, and LightSquared. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget, its science policy office and the FCC were involved in accelerating approval for LightSquared’s wireless program. Air Force General William Shelton, the commander of the U.S. Space Command had objected to the program saying it would interfere with military’s Global Positioning System.
OMB tried to get Gen. Shelton to change his testimony and secretly passed onto LightSquared the general’s congressional testimony that was to be delivered before the Armed Services Committee.
Commercial telecom companies have complained that the LightSquared program would interfere with aviation, marine and consumer GPS systems too.
Earlier this year, the FCC issued an unusual waiver of its own long established rules even after the Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn warned the FCC Chairman LightSquared would interfere with national security.
LightSquared executives each gave the Democratic Party more than $30,000 in the hopes they could grease the skids on getting the fast track FCC approval. The relationship between the wireless company and President Obama goes back to 2005 when then Senator Obama briefly invested $50,000 in LightSquared’s predecessor company. The President’s personnel director also invested a half a million dollars in the earlier wireless company.
LightSquared positioned itself to be the company to erect 400,000 wireless towers throughout the country to meet an ambitious Obama goal of providing broadband wireless to 98% of the American people.
Members of the House subcommittee said in a letter to Issa and ranking Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings, “It is troubling to see reports of high dollar donors being given unusual consideration in the regulatory process, especially when the consequences entail what Air Force General William Shelton called ‘significant interference to military GPS.’”
What in the hell is going on with this administration? Seems like they’re going for broke to get re-elected!!!!!
Since we generally don’t use GPS-guided weapons within our own borders, this is probably not as big a national security issue as some are making it. However, the other concerns are real and serious. This is a potential threat to commercial and consumer navigation, including hikers potentially getting lost in the woods and dying, and cars and trucks going off the road.
But the last paragraph is the most damning. It’s highly irregular for a specific company to be given a private allocation. That’s simply not how it’s done.
The biggest thing about this story is the fact that this administration has pressed a four star general to lie and change his testimony and now they say there is another official who was pressured. Then you have Obama who was going to profit from this . It is just like the Chicago Carbon Xcahnge that Obama was instrumental in creating years before he was in office. Then he makes it to the White House to implement Cap and Trade which is part of the CCX, all of this including the Solyndra speaks of big time corruption. He shuts down the coal fired plants to force us into installing solar panels and wind mills so his buddies can make big time money , buddies include Al Gore and George Soros. It is utterly breathtaking the height of deception coming from this White House. I don;t think he is worried about re-election. I think we are going to have a major war in the middle east thinks to his foreign policies then he will declare Martial Law . Nothing else makes since because he knows we are waking and he is slipping yet the corruption and his policies of destruction keep on coming . People better prepare because there is something very wrong going on.