3Com Sale Collapses on Security Concerns

US leery of giving Chinese telecom access to networks

(NEWSER) - National security concerns have scuttled the buyout deal for 3Com by private equity firm Bain Capital and a Chinese telecom, the Wall Street Journal reports. 3Com, which supplies networking services to the Defense Department, withdrew its application from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, having been unable to reach an agreement on the involvement of the Chinese company, Huawei. More»

US will check telecommunication buyout for security risks

(NEWSER) - Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co. will help private equity firm Bain Capital buy 3Com Corp., a flailing US telecommunications company, by picking up almost 20% of the tab. Recently Chinese businesses have bought strategic stakes in US companies rather than full buyouts to skirt political scrutiny, which can lead to a deal collapse, reports the WS Journal. More»

(NEWSER) - The global economic crisis is raising the threat to national security, the Washington Post reports. Experts and intelligence officials worry that mounting inflation and unemployment in Third World countries could spark radical movements and destabilize friendly governments. What’s more, strained budgets in the West mean less money to spend on the military and technology to counter the new threat. More»

First Lady didn't handle intel but was a presidential sounding board

(NEWSER) - Hillary Clinton spent her 8 years in the White House informally advising her husband and jetting around the world mediating social crises, the New York Times says, but the first lady had little direct experience with war or terrorism. She didn’t do “the heavy lifting of foreign policy,” snipes an ex-Clinton State Department official who’s now supporting Barack Obama. More»