Reply #22: Follow the $$$ [View All]

[Selena Harris]

< History[br />(GA) was founded July 18, 1955 in San Diego, California as the General Atomic division of General Dynamics for the purpose of harnessing the power of nuclear technologies for the benefit of the United States of America.


The initial projects were the TRIGA nuclear reactor and Project Orion.

GA was sold in 1967 to Gulf Oil and renamed Gulf General Atomic. In 1973, GA was again renamed as General Atomic Company when Royal Dutch Shell Group's Scallop Nuclear Inc. became a 50-50 partner in the company. When Gulf Oil bought out its partner, effective January 1, 1982, Gulf subsequently renamed the company GA Technologies Inc. In mid-1984, Chevron took ownership of GA following its merger with Gulf Oil.

In 1986, the was sold to a company owned by Neal Blue and Linden Blue when it assumed its current name.

In 1987, former U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, Thomas J. Cassidy Jr. joined General Atomics, and in a period of three years, successfully established General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. as a leader in the field of unmanned aircraft.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) was spun off in 1994 as a General Atomics affiliated company.<1>



Government influence
General Atomics was the single biggest corporate underwriter of Congressional trips between January 2000 and June 2005, according to a nine-month study of congressional travel disclosure forms. The company spent more than $660,000 on 86 trips taken by members of Congress, their aides and families. Most of that was spent on overseas travel related to the unmanned Predator spy plane made by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

The company said it had sponsored travel for members of Congress and their staffs "to promote enhanced understanding of General Atomics' technology research and product development." The company also noted that excursions were reviewed by "the appropriate Congressional ethics committees prior to travel."

In April 2002, for example, the company paid for Letitia White, who was then a top aide to Representative Jerry Lewis, and her husband to travel to Italy. White left Lewis' office nine months later, to become a lobbyist at Copeland Lowery. The next day, she began representing General Atomics. Lewis, her former boss, was at the time chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee.<10>

Other controversy
In 2001, the company was sued for allegedly overcharging the U.S. government for projects between 1992 and 2001.


WikipediaHmmh, San Diego...Jerry Lewis and Duke Cunningham country,right?