Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20160418 : v

CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings April 18, 2016

Morning for washington journal. The house of representatives convenes for legislative business at 2 00 p. M. To consider several bills, including one dealing with the Homeland Security to consolidate their headquarters. Discuss workers who had been fired and preventing the iris preventing paying bonuses to their employees. The senate will continue working on a bill for the federal aviation. You can see the house live right here on cspan. New yorks president ial primary is tomorrow. Donald trump will hold a rally in buffalo, which you can see p. M. On cspan2 at 7 00 eastern. Thetor Bernie Sanders said republican candidate made an ugly statement about Hillary Clinton. Hillary. Her crooked because of the Campaign Finance system, he said the entire government is crooked. Live coverage of the residential race continues tuesday night for the new york state primary. Join us for 9 00 p. M. Eastern for speeches and reactions, taking you on the road to the white house on cspan, cspan radio, and www. Cspan. Org. Reporter this week on q a sally denton, as she talks about her book the profiteers, which takes a look at the largest , the largestration engineering and Construction Company in the world. Brian lamb sally denton, author of the profiteers. In your notes section, you write this, i was denied access to Caspar Weinbergers papers. Why . Sally i was really shocked about that and it turns out it is not really shocking at all, that a lot of Public Officials who give their papers to the library of congress, with restrictions that keep them from the public for as long as the family wants, and it was the of congress that made the arrangement with Caspar Weinbergers family or maybe with him personally, that they would be restricted and the son would determine who would be able to view them. I was really kind of surprised but i have learned through my , friend, that it is a usual thing. I thought that maybe you would put personal papers and a situation like that, what not papers related to your position as secretary of defense or secretary of state. Brian what difference does that make to you in this book . Sally i think it would have created a treasure trove of documents for me relating to his role as secretary of defense, and i was looking specifically for his relationship, and the sentencing memoranda for the Jonathan Pollard case. Brian why does that relate to your book . Sally Jonathan Pollard has been spying for israel, as we all now know, and he had, among the things he had given the israelis back in 1985, evidence of American Companies building chemical plants in the middle east for israels enemies and Caspar Weinberger became very interested in making sure that pollard did not get an easy sentence. Notes, youher in the say the nsa was not helpful or , forthcoming. What is in an essay . Sally it is actually an Economist Agency within the department of energy, and it is in charge of the maintenance of the Nuclear Weapons laboratory, which figures commonly in my book. Brian why . Sally bechtel, the company im writing about manages most of the Nuclear Weapons complex at this point. There are 17 labs. I was focused primarily on Lawrence Livermore, the weapons lab. Brian bechtel is what . Sally bechtel is the first major Multinational Company from the American West which is why , it interested me because i am from the west, fourth generation and i grew up in the , town that was their signature project way back in the 1930s. Bechtel is the quintessential Multinational Company that is involved in all aspects of construction and engineering throughout the world. Brian how cooperative was bechtel with your project . Sally well, i didnt really i , initially contacted bechtel early on when i was first researching it and they directed , me to the company website. I had actually been there before i had even wrote my book proposal to simon schuster, so i was familiar with the website, but they directed me to the online press kit, and then when i found that everything i needed was not only available on the website, but there were three corporate histories that are very intensive, dating back through several generations, so between that i did not really , need any more from the corporate spokesperson. I also, i did apply for a Media Fellowship at the Hoover Institute, which is where i had been for my previous two books, and specifically with the interest of interviewing both Stephen Bechtel junior and George Shultz, an executive and i was denied that fellowship. Brian why . Sally they said it was because my project did not relate closely to any of the scholars there, and i could not imagine a book project that was more relevant to the Hoover Institute which is very supported, longstanding support from the bechtel family and henry assinger, who was also bechtel consultant. I figured, if this book is not relevant, i will never write a book that is, apparently. Brian is George Shultz still attached to hoover . Sally yes. Brian lets go back when he was confirmed in joe biden is in the chair during the confirmation hearing. Joe biden are you going to go back to bechtel . I have no plans, have given no thought to what i will do. Joe biden let me tell you why i asked, there have been a number of questions on my colleagues who have done a lot of research on bechtel and its relationship with the arab world and everyone is aware of the saudi policy among whom they deal with, if they deal with the israelis. If, in fact, you were some are going to suggest to do that if in fact you are required to take the position in the interest of the United States of america that was viewed as being very supportive of israel and against the interest of saudi arabia, that you might very well be reluctant to do so because you would know that that would prevent you from ever being able to resume a position at bechtel. Oh no. I do not have any such concern in my mind at all. Brian that was 1982. There is a lot in there that i want to ask you about. He became secretary of state until 1989. Did he ever go back to bechtel . Sally he went immediately back to bechtel and remains there, quite elderly. Brian 95. Sally he went immediately back yes. And was an active participant in the Company Since then. Brian does that make a difference to you . Sally you know, this is not a, i think what the main thrust of this book and what was surprising to me, this is not a gotcha story. This company is particularly interesting because it is one of the largest privately owned companies, so it does not have the same transparency that other public corporations do. I think that that kind of revolving door, the weinberger in shultz, that revolving door has become common so it does not seem unusual anymore. At the time, it was really the beginning of, i would argue that bechtel created the revolving door, that there was never a company more integral with the u. S. Government. And i mean the cooling off , period that is standard, it is almost a joke. I mean nobody pays attention , anymore. The lines are so blurred, to see joe biden, senator biden talking about that at that time, i cannot imagine that even being a discussion these days. It is so rare on capitol hill for someone to question a nominee about his corporate ties. Brian George Shultz, secretary of labor, director of office of management and budget, executive Vice President at bechtel, president and director of bechtel, secretary of state, director and senior counsel at bechtel. Is he still on the board . Sally you know, i dont know. Another thing relating to the board of directors and shareholders, all of that you have to take it face value because they are not required to file anything with the Security Exchange commission or shareholder reports. What his relationship is or his familys relationship is is not declared. Brian and on weinberger, secretary of defense, chairperson of the federal trade commission in washington vice , president of general counsel, secretary of defense. You focus a lot on both weinberger and George Shultz in the book. Tell us more about why. Sally not really. I dont think i focus a lot on that era, the reagan revolution as it relates to the expansion , of bechtel throughout the world, the expansion of the American West as a power center, and so reagan coming, both men, as you have said had been in the next and administration also a California Political figure, but the theme of the book beginning with the hoover dam was really the first mega project, the creation of a publicprivate development that made california possible, made the american southwest possible. Cities that would never have sprung up if it werent for hoover dam. I really focus on, it is really just a few chapters of that era, but the reagan era for me really represented a shift in economic power to the west. It was the sagebrush rebellion, much of what we see now going on with cliven bundy, the impulse underneath the surface came to the forefront during the reagan revolution. For him to tap bechtel executives to come into the cap cabinet was really, i think, newsworthy. Brian before we go on with the bechtel story, one time in your life you work for Jack Anderson. Sally i sure did. Brian and, i think, i have some things you said about him, but before i get to that, why did you work for him and when did you work for them . When did you work for him . At g sally i worked for him in 1977 and 1978. I had been with a local newspaper in northern new mexico, and was just starting out in journalism and had had a series of explosive stories about the young women tied to a drug conspiracy. And jack brought me to washington as an intern initially and then hired me as a staff reporter. Brian how long did you work for him . Sally i think i was there close to two years. Then i went to kentucky. Brian you write, like all great morals, Jack Anderson had feet of clay. He entered into business partnerships with nefarious characters, squandered an empire that by all rights belong to the public trust, protected sources who were manipulating him allowed his ego to dictate his , judgment and abandoned those who were most devoted to him. Sally well, you know when i , arrived there, he was legendary. Most people do not even know who most people dont even remember who he was. I grew up, my father was a lawyer to the publisher of the Las Vegas Sun for many years, and drew pearson, who was Jack Andersons project, he had been actively involved when it joe mccarthy was taking him on and he was trying to get hank indicted for murder. There was a longstanding relationship between the drew pearson Jack Anderson, washington merrygoround column and las vegas, nevada. When i arrived here, when i arrived in washington to work for jack, he was in the 1000 newspapers. We had Good Morning America three days a week, mutual broadcast radio five days a week. It was a wonderful empire, and i was just thinking the other day it was astounding for the , interns. We had every week, there would be huge gunnysack mailbags from people all of the country saying, you need to come to my town and look at the corruption here, my city council, my county commission, my governor is corrupt. It was so rampant, it was stunning. But in the end when i say he , squandered it, there was so much talent when i was there. Clark mullen hoff, james gravy, joe sphere, it was a hotbed of journalistic minds when a journalism was respected, on the forefront of investigative reporting, on the heels of watergate. It was really heavy stuff, and jack was unable to really relinquish any control to any of the talent that was there and he was just hanging on and hanging on and ended up losing all of the many of the papers he had as syndication fell apart. It was just a sad relinquishment, i thought. Brian i cannot find this one, but it seems i read somewhere where you may have been critical of bob woodward. Sally i dont think so. Brian lets go back to the book, the profiteers. What was the original title . Sally the original title was behemoth. That was my working title for quite a while. The whole book change. I grew up in boulder city and my and when i first started exploring this book, i had done a cover story for science and Technology Magazine on the 75th anniversary of the hoover dam and i left boulder city in 1970 and was going home to visit family, i had not been back. So, when i started looking at bechtel as a book project, i had no idea they had gone on for five generations and expanded throughout the entire universe, basically doing asteroids. So, i called it behemoth. And then, once i got deep into the research, four years of research and writing once i got , deep into the research, there was a quote from the gao about the profiteering, i cannot remove or the exact quote, but never before have there been so much money made by so few men at many at the tax payers expense and i thought this was , more about profiteering than it is about anyone company. Brian have they ever done anything illegal . Sally i dont think so. That is one of the other stunning things, that all of this is legal. [laughter] this is what i write, that this is not a biography of this family as a as another thing i found going on, the family was really not interesting. They were interesting for what they represented, not for themselves as characters. But, they were representative of a larger thrust and philosophy of American Business and american politics and American Foreign policy. Brian where did Stephen Bechtel sr. Fit in all of the bechtels . Sally the company starts with Warren Bechtel who was an oldfashioned American Western. The hoover dam was really his project, his protege. It was called Six Companies, but there were actually a companies. There were actually eight companies. This was a huge hoover project, to channel the colorado, the raging Colorado River to provide water and irrigation and electricity, primarily to southern california. Bechtel got the contract with, it companies but they called themselves, Six Companies after the chinese family. There was no company in the American West that was big enough to tackle this job. There was arguably not a company in the east. All of these companies came together to put up the money and to get the bid to build this dam. Brian is kaiser the same one that built the car, the hj kaiser automobile . Sally i think so and also the panama canal. Brian here is a video of Stephen Bechtel senior, assuming not alive anymore. Lets watch this. Sally no. We received considerable press, comments about what would happen. I discussed it with my father. Meanwhile, my father had been talking with his friends in the utah Construction Company, and i believe they approached dad and dad talked with henry kaiser who was a partner about whether we ought to be interested in the investment or not. We knew it was a big job, an important job, knew had to be done well. There was a certain amount of expertise that no one had had before. From that group of people that were there, or some of the strongest men in the construction industry. Brian what was he like and how important was he to the building of the company . Sally i think he was really significant in taking the company to the next phase. In fact, all of these generations, five generations of bechtel men and they all do that in their own way. His father, warren, died quite young under mysterious circumstances in moscow in 1933, and stephen senior, it is really just stephen but he names his , son stephen, so i designate between senior and junior and others do, too. He is the one after the dam was built warren did not see to live , the dam built, and when he died there was a struggle for the bechtel family fortune and company, and stephen, the middle son ended up taking charge. , it was his relationship with john mccone, who was a College Classmate from uc berkeley that , really signifies his relationship with john maccallum, who had worked for consolidated steel which , provided all of the steel for the hoover dam, a massive contract, as you can imagine, and also a relative of his wife, a man named john simpson who was , partners with the shorter firm schroeder firm in new york. This really launched bechtel from a relatively small, not small but in the American West, huge, but still an American Company and launched it into the , International Intrigue leading into world war ii. He became director of the cia under john f. Kennedy. Brian how long was he there . Sally he was not there very long. Lbj did keep them on for a short time after the kennedy assassination. Brian was he a republican or a democrat . Or did that matter . Sally he was a republican although i do not know if that , matters. They had all been forged from this radically reactionary anti

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