A Daily Caller investigation has found that (unsurprisingly, given what’s happened) the Obama administration and LightSquared are as thick as thieves. A few highlights:
- “Before Barack Obama became president, he was personally an investor in SkyTerra [which became LightSquared].”
- “[White House personnel director Don] Gips’ personal financial disclosure forms show he had between $250,000 and $500,000 of his personal finances invested in SkyTerra via stock options.”
- “It’s unclear what specifically Gips and [incoming FCC director Julius] Genachowski were discussing at that White House meeting; but shortly after that meeting SkyTerra named two members of Obama’s White House transition team to senior leadership positions at the company.”
- “Not too long after those Obama-tied hires, lawyers for Falcone’s Harbinger fired off an email that may suggest FCC coordination to approve the sale of SkyTerra to Harbinger outside of what is procedurally acceptable. . . Harbinger’s lawyers seemed to know a month ahead of time that the FCC would approve their proposal.”
The Daily Caller also found that the FCC drove LightSquared’s competition GlobalStar out of business with adverse regulatory decisions. Worse, those adverse decisions came in circumstances nearly identical to ones in which LightSquared received favorable decisions.
POSTSCRIPT: Testimony to the House Subcommittee on Aviation explains why LightSquared’s network would be so damaging to the GPS system. Of particular interest is page 4, which explains why GPS receivers can’t simply filter out interference. (Via Instapundit.)
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