The Anatomy of Public Corruption

The Flawed Anthrax Investigation

PCB10019 The Anthrax Investigation

Bennett Customer

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Pete Bennett a resident of Contra Costa County since 1978 has left numerous requests for police reports. Behind Bennett is a meter reader, a Walnut Creek Police Car and the boot of an officer while he lay bleeding in the street. Bennett was taken to Kaiser for scans when did get the skull fracture, then she noticed the broken collar bone, then the rotator cuff, then she noticed this was the first assualt case based on my charts.

The Titan's Feel Good Story Bennett Public Poison Allegations HEAD of the FBI’s Anthrax Investigation Says the Whole Thing Was a SHAM Posted on The FBI head agent in charge of the anthrax investigation – Richard Lambert – has just filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit calling the entire FBI investigation bullsh!t: In the fall of 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, a series of anthrax mailings occurred which killed five Americans and sickened 17 others. Four anthrax-laden envelopes were recovered which were addressed to two news media outlets in New York City (the New York Post and Tom Brokaw at NBC) and two senators in Washington D.C. (Patrick Leahy and Tom Daschle). The anthrax letters addressed to New York were mailed on September 18, 2001, just seven days after the 9/11 attacks. The letters addressed to the senators were mailed 21 days later on October 9, 2001. A fifth mailing of anthrax is believed to have been directed to American Media, Inc. (AMI) in Boca Raton, Florida based upon the death of one AMI employee from anthrax poisoning and heavy spore contamination in the building. Pete Bennett said "POISON" publicly Less than four days later my The Strack Family (Mormon) (Bennett relatives) were murdered in Springville UT. The COD was poison, methadone and cold medicine (codeine). There are stolen trust documents linked to this murder are with Alamo 1st Members linked to my former Employer Ivory Consulting , whose clients include GE Capital, Caterpillar and other companies that require leasing solutions. Chris took all my files with the help of the Mormon Church which economically devastated me financially. What I'm saying today will end up in a RICO lawsuit just Mr. Lambert's allegations which mirror my separate story. My former employer assisted with abducting, then brainwashing my sons into the Mormon Church.

When uncorvring a long list of suicides, accidents and fires near these people it was clear they are experts thieves. Alice Roberts estate was plundered by David Nearon is one of many examples. Exonerating Evidence for Ivins Agent Lambert won’t publicly disclose the exculpatory evidence against Ivins. As the New York Times reports : [Lambert] declined to be specific, saying that most of the information was protected by the Privacy Act and was unlikely to become public unless Congress carried out its own inquiry. But there is already plenty of exculpatory evidence in the public record. For example : Handwriting analysis failed to link the anthrax letters to known writing samples from Ivins No textile fibers were found in Ivins’ office, residence or vehicles matching fibers found on the scotch tape used to seal the envelopes No pens were found matching the ink used to address the envelopes Samples of his hair failed to match hair follicles found inside the Princeton, N.J., mailbox used to mail the letters No souvenirs of the crime, such as newspaper clippings, were found in his possession as commonly seen in serial murder cases

The FBI could not place Ivins at the crime scene with evidence, such as gas station or other receipts, at the time the letters were mailed in September and October 2001 Lab records show the number of late nights Ivins put in at the lab first spiked in August 2001, weeks before the 9/11 attacks As noted above, the FBI didn’t want to test the DNA sample found on the anthrax letter to Senator Leahy. In addition, McClatchy points out : After locking in on Ivins in 2007, the bureau stopped searching for a match to a unique genetic bacterial strain scientists had found in the anthrax that was mailed to the Post and to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, although a senior bureau official had characterized it as the hottest clue to date.

Anthrax vaccine expert Meryl Nass. M.D., notes : The FBI’s alleged motive is bogus. In 2001, Bioport’s anthrax vaccine could not be (legally) relicensed due to potency failures, and its impending demise provided room for Ivins’ newer anthrax vaccines to fill the gap. Ivins had nothing to do with developing Bioport’s vaccine, although in addition to his duties working on newer vaccines, he was charged with assisting Bioport to get through licensure. *** The FBI report claims the anthrax letters envelopes were sold in Frederick, Md. Later it admits that millions of indistinguishable envelopes were made, with sales in Maryland and Virginia. *** FBI emphasizes Ivins’ access to a photocopy machine, but fails to mention it was not the machine from which the notes that accompanied the spores were printed.

FBI Fudged the Science 16 government labs had access to the same strain of anthrax as used in the anthrax letters. The FBI admitted that up to 400 people had access to flask of anthrax in Dr. Ivins’ lab. In other words, even if the killer anthrax came from there, 399 other people might have done it. Moreover, even the FBI’s claim that the killer anthrax came from Ivins’ flask has completely fallen apart. Specifically, both the National Academy of Science and the Government Accountability Office – both extremely prestigious, nonpartisan agencies – found that FBI’s methodology and procedures for purportedly linking the anthrax flask maintained by Dr. Ivins with the anthrax letters was sloppy, inconclusive and full of holes . They found that the alleged link wasn’t very strong … and that there was no firm link . Indeed, the National Academy of Sciences found that the anthrax mailed to Congressmen and the media could have come from a different source altogether than the flask maintained by Ivins. Additionally, the Ft. Detrick facility – where Ivins worked – only handled liquid anthrax. But the killer anthrax was a hard-to-make dry powder form of anthrax.

Ft. Detrick doesn’t produce dry anthrax; but other government labs – for example Dugway (in Utah) and Batelle (in Ohio) – do. The anthrax in the letters was also incredibly finely ground; and the FBI’s explanation for how the anthrax became so finely ground doesn’t even pass the smell test Further, the killer anthrax in the letters had a very high-tech anti-static coating so that the anthrax sample "floated off the glass slide and was lost" when scientists tried to examine it. Specifically, the killer anthrax was coated with polyglass and each anthrax spore given an electrostatic charge , so that it would repel other spores and "float". This was very advanced bio-weapons technology to which even Ivins’ bosses said he didn’t have access. Top anthrax experts like Richard Spertzel say that Ivins didn’t do it. Spertzel also says that only 4 or 5 people in the entire country knew how to make anthrax of the "quality" used in the letters, that Spertzel was one of them, and it would have taken him a year with a full lab and a staff of helpers to do it. As such, the FBI’s claim that Ivins did it alone working a few nights is ludicrous. Moreover, the killer anthrax contained silicon … but the anthrax in Ivins’ flask did not . The FBI claimed the silicon present in the anthrax letters was absorbed from its surroundings … but Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories completely debunked that theory. In other words, silicon was intentionally added to the killer anthrax to make it more potent. Ivins and Ft. Detrick didn’t have that capability … but other government labs did .

Similarly, Sandia National Lab found the presence of iron and tin in the killer anthrax … but NOT in Ivins’ flask of anthrax. Sandia also found that there was a strain of bacteria in one of the anthrax letters not present in Ivins’ flask. (The bacteria, iron, tin and silicon were all additives which made the anthrax in the letters more deadly.) The Anthrax Frame Up Ivins wasn’t the first person framed for the anthrax attacks … Although the FBI now admits that the 2001 anthrax attacks were carried out by one or more U.S. government scientists, a senior FBI official says that the FBI was actually told to blame the Anthrax attacks on Al Qaeda by White House officials (remember what the anthrax letters looked like ). Government officials also confirm that the white House tried to link the anthrax to Iraq as a justification for regime change in that country. And see this People don’t remember now, but the "war on terror" and Iraq war were largely based on the claim that Saddam and Muslim extremists were behind the anthrax attacks (and see this and this ) And the anthrax letters pushed a terrified Congress into approving the Patriot Act without even reading it .

Coincidentally, the only Congressmen who received anthrax letters were the ones who were likely to oppose the Patriot Act . And – between the bogus Al Qaeda/Iraq claims and the FBI’s fingering of Ivins as the killer – the FBI was convinced that another U.S. government scientist, Steven Hatfill, did it. The government had to pay Hatfill $4.6 million to settle his lawsuit for being falsely accused. Ivins’ Convenient Death It is convenient for the FBI that Ivins died.

The Wall Street Journal points out : No autopsy was performed [on Ivins], and there was no suicide note. Dr. Nass points out : FBI fails to provide any discussion of why no autopsy was performed, nor why, with Ivins under 24/7 surveillance from the house next door, Garbage being combed through, the FBI failed to notice that he overdosed and went into a coma. Nor is there any discussion of why the FBI didn’t immediately identify tylenol as the overdose substance, and notify the hospital, A well-known antidote for tylenol toxicity could be given (N-acetyl cysteine, or alternatively glutathione). These omissions support the suggestion that Ivins’ suicide was a convenience for the FBI. It enabled them to conclude the anthrax case, in the absence of evidence that would satisfy the courts. Indeed, one of Ivins’ colleagues at Ft. Deitrich thinks he was murdered . Whether murder or suicide, Ivins’ death was very convenient for the FBI, as dead men can’t easily defend themselves.

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California Software Company Executives Charged In Conspiracy To Defraud The Tennessee Valley Authority

Meet The Lakers

Kobe Bryant

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Pete Bennett met Kobe Bryand at Sieberlich Accountancy while giving his friend the receptionist for lunch. Nicest guy ever, was not signed as he was just out of high school and considering his options.

The Murderous Billionaire

Southern Pacific Chairman

Pete Bennett sued Philip Anschutz in 1987 but lost when witnesses vanished before trial. Years married a non-practicing Mormon who unknown to Bennett was raised by members of Alamo 1st Ward but unknown element was she raised by the same Mormon Attorney that ordered the murder on 1990.

More Details:

Meet the Witness Killers

Southern Pacific Chairman

Pete Bennett sued Philip Anschutz in 1987 but lost when witnesses vanished before trial. Years married a non-practicing Mormon who unknown to Bennett was raised by members of Alamo 1st Ward but unknown element was she raised by the same Mormon Attorney that ordered the murder on 1990.


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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Middle District of Tennessee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, September 13, 2021

California Software Company Executives Charged In Conspiracy To Defraud The Tennessee Valley Authority

Company Allegedly Sought More Than $300,000 in Fraudulent Incentive Payments from TVA Through Software Installation in Rutherford County Schools

NASHVILLE – A seven-count indictment unsealed Friday charged two Danville, California men with conspiracy to defraud the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) of more than $300,000, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee. 

Anthony Gigliotti, 74, the CEO of Autonomic Software, Inc., (Autonomic) was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.  Alexander Gigliotti, 36, the Vice President of Autonomic, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.  Both were arrested by U.S. Marshals in Danville, California on Friday and will appear in the Middle District of Tennessee at a later date for further proceedings. 

According to the indictment, Autonomic was a software company located in Danville, California, which provided a variety of software to private and public sector organizations.  In 2016, Autonomic installed power management software in Rutherford County school systems, in connection with TVA’s EnergyRight program, an incentive-based program designed to save energy and reduce costs through the installation of energy-saving software.  To be eligible for the energy conservation funds, customers were required to pay a portion of the software materials costs.

Instead of following the program requirements, Autonomic represented to the Rutherford County School District that schools would not incur any costs associated with the software installation.  Following the installation of the software, Autonomic submitted 47 invoices, totaling $588,240 to Lockheed Martin, the contract administrator of the EnergyRight program.  The invoices were made out to Rutherford County Schools and represented that each school incurred costs associated with Autonomic’s software installation.

Alexander Gigliotti also sent an email to a Lockheed Martin representative in support of seeking the incentive payments from TVA, with a breakdown of an invoice regarding purported costs incurred by Rutherford County Schools, claiming that the school paid $22 per computer related to software and $8 per computer related to support.  In fact, Rutherford County Schools did not incur any costs associated with any invoice from Autonomic.  Lockheed Martin then mailed incentive payments to Autonomic that corresponded to each invoice.

The Autonomic software failed to function as initially represented and approximately one year after the installation, Rutherford County Schools purchased energy saving software that could effectively quantify energy savings and which cost substantially less than Autonomic’s total purported materials costs.

The indictment also alleges that Anthony Gigliotti lied to TVA agents by falsely stating that Alexander Gigliotti was not involved in any of the previous TVA or school system work. 

If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison.

This case was investigated by the TVA Office of Inspector General and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Beth Myers.

An indictment is merely an accusation.  The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

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Dead Whistleblowers -Billionaires are not always right

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is receiving assistance and financial backing from eBay founder and tech billionaire Pierre Omidyar, according to a report by Politico.

Omidyar, who founded online marketplace eBay in 1995, serves as the chair of philanthropic organization Luminate. Luminate is managing Haugen’s government and media relations in Europe, Politico reported, and donated $150,000 to Whistleblower Aid, the non-profit representing Haugen in her complaints filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Neither Haugen nor Luminate responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. (RELATED: Facebook Whistleblower’s Push For Stricter Social Media Regulation Is Raising Free Speech Concerns)

Whistleblower Aid was co-founded by Mark Zaid, an attorney who represented Alexander Vindman, the national security official that alleged former President Donald Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a phone call. Omidyar donated $100,000 in 2016 to NeverTrump PAC, a political action committee with the mission of preventing the election of Trump, declaring the former president a “dangerous demagogue.”

Omidyar is also funding the Center for Humane Technology, a nonprofit which employs former Obama administration official Bill Burton in a public affairs role. Burton, who runs Democrat-linked consultant firm Bryson Gillette, is advising Haugen on media and communications strategy, The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month.

Omidyar is a donor to left-wing and Democratic causes, contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to almost exclusively Democratic candidates, according to data from OpenSecrets. He currently funds The Intercept.

Through his Omidyar Network he has also donated to the Anti-Defamation League.

Haugen is herself a Democratic donor, making dozens of contributions to Democratic Party candidates including now-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to Federal Election Commission filings. She testified before the Senate earlier this month on the harms of Facebook, advocating for stricter government oversight of social media.

Omidyar is also a critic of major tech companies, calling for regulation and antitrust enforcement against social media platforms as well as funding the American Economic Liberties Project and the Open Markets Institute, both of which advocate for the breaking up of Big Tech companies.

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Beat Pete, Take Food, Arrest Pete, Steal From Pete, Deny Pete Food, Water and Shelter

Bennett Customer

No Police Report

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Pete Bennett a resident of Contra Costa County since 1978 has left numerous requests for police reports. Behind Bennett is a meter reader, a Walnut Creek Police Car and the boot of an officer while he lay bleeding in the street. Bennett was taken to Kaiser for scans when did get the skull fracture, then she noticed the broken collar bone, then the rotator cuff, then she noticed this was the first assualt case based on my charts.

2004 Kinder Morgan Explosion

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Bennett traveled through the Broadway Bypass heading to court with Judge Golub where Bennett was laden with triple fines. This explosion and related investigation was rigged but the real owners lead the the 1990 Witness Murder in Bennett vs. Southern Pacific

Philip Anschutz

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Chairman of the Board of Southern Pacific well aware that in order to beat Plaintiff Pete Bennett they needed to kill someone and they did.

Alamo 1st Ward Murders

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Pete Bennett met Nate Greenan sometime in the early 2000s, they both performed at Vinnies Bar and Grill in Concord. That same week Bennett was arrested where Deputy Vince Jimenez placed a dangerous inmate in his cell then witheld medication of a highly unstable inmate.

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The Living, Dead and Destroyed Outsourcing Stories

The Living, Dead and Destroyed Outsourcing Stories

Pete Bennett's grassroots efforts regarding the impact of the H-1b eventuall destroyed his family, career and his health.

Outsourcing

Bennett appeared on PBS with Oracle Spokesman Robert Hoffman. The core topic was outsourcing of US Jobs and the impact of the H-1b visa.
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Nothing in San Francisco not even the reward for the murder of Officer Lester Garnier

Harris indicts Childs

Indict, fire or kill US Programmers so as too outsource your personal reocords.
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Mr. Childs was seen at Pacific IT Professionals a 4,000 member IT Professional association

Outsourcing Clearing Procedure

Bennett met Mr. Childs at local tech meetings. Many in tech consider his arrest and charge overkill but length of sentence more disturbing.
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Nothing in San Francisco not even the reward for the murder of Officer Lester Garnier

The Untold Dead Candidates Stories

What Pete Bennett and Kamala Harris know but only Pete is will to share.

2016 ~ Pete Bennett beaten downtown Walnut Creek

the 1984 Timothy Lee Murder on Concord CA

Pete Bennett a resident of Contra Costa County since 1978 sat back for years watching endless incidents of murders, hate crimes and setups of suspects. His first case was a car arson fire at the end of Santa Monica Drive.

1982 to 1996 The Railroad Billionaire

Philip Anschutz Chairman of Southern Pacific
The KKK comes around

Attorney Rick Kopf appeared in Contra Costa County Superior Court on behalf of Southern Pacific. Back in 1989 this collection of parties from Southern Pacific likely colluded in destroying Bennett vs. Southern Pacific by killing a key witness.


Today Bennett believes the murders and hate crimes lead to the investigators.

1he 1978 KKK Invitation

The KKK comes around
Bennett relocated to Walnut Creek California during June 1978 renting a cottage house next to Coop Grocery on Geary Road. The property was owned by Jack Bennett (Cousin) and Irene Gorgas of Ideal Homes located on N. Main at Geary.

1979-1992 ~ Sheriff Rainey

The KKK comes around
Sheriff Richard Rainey has part of Contra Costa Sheriff since the mid sixties. Bennett arrived in June 1978 where he ran into a series of people clearly connected to the KKK. Given the large number of cold cases something is amiss in the statistics.

1979-1992 ~ Mark Peterson

The KKK comes around
Mark Peterson held the highest level of trust in Contra Costa County as District Attorney. During June 2017 Peterson was charged with perjury connected his fibbing on Fair Political Practices forms (FPPC). During 2010 Bennett met with Peterson with at least a dozen withenss.

Southern Pacific General Counsel

The KKK comes around
This attorney and his connections to the inner power structure of Contra Costa County was defense council in the Matter of Bennett vs. Southern Pacific filed in 1987 lost in 1990.

2003 to 2015 Mark Coon

The KKK comes around
Mark Coon was the most gracious person. He met with Pete Bennett in regards to the City of Concord Entertainment Permit. The dispute arose when Bennett attempted to busk downtown in Todos Santos Park. Bennett went the Concord Police Department where he met with Chief Livingston. Years later Bennett realized Livingston was present at the Pine Wood Derby the same weekend his sons were taken.
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Bennett / Supervisor Glover Meeting - April 2009

 

Bennett / Supervisor Glover Meeting - April 2009 

When Danville PD concealed the 2004 Danville assault I started calling the FBI as by December of 2004, I was getting tickets, been set on fire, pulled over, accused of dealing drugs, thefts and DUI. 

After the Eric Nunn fatal crash my opinion which includes members of his family was this was a murder not an accident.   Then in April 2009 a purely coincidental meeting was me taking a restaurant seat with Supervisor Glover where that evening we learned we shared near identical and near fatal bacterial events. 

For years I went to the ER with maladies of intestinal, bacterial and heart attack symptoms but often call the nurse advice line. After several years of calls one day the nurse said - have you considered that you were being poisoned which after the Nunn crash I knew something was going on. 

The County ER staff is controlled by the county, they are like so many others incidents connect to the same risk management entities using he along most other Contra Costa Cities utilize MPA.

After filing claims with the City of Walnut Creek they gave me the phone number for the Municipal Pooling Authority located on San Miguel Drive where across the street my friend who worked at McNamara Law but few know this is another local attorney like my attorney offices were burned down in 2012. 

The coincidences fall in line with other allegations with State Senator Mark DeSaulnier whose been fully informed of events which precede the PG&E Gas Explosion which precedes the CNET Arrests in March 2011. Mark's answer to my car accident and incidents was to call the Legislative Threat Assessment Unit who like everyone have been fully informed. 

All of this precedes the deaths of relatives of State Senator Richard Rainey (ret) and Don Perata (Ret) but there plenty of other deaths. 
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Andrew Charles Schwartz #64578

Attorney Profile

Andrew Charles Schwartz #64578

License Status: Active

Address: Casper Meadows & Schwartz, 2121 N California Bl #1020, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Phone: 925-947-1147  |  Fax: 925-947-1131

Email: schwartz@cmslaw.com  |  Website: www.cmslaw.com

License Status, Disciplinary and Administrative History

All changes of license status due to nondisciplinary administrative matters and disciplinary actions.

Date License Status  Discipline  Administrative Action 
Present Active    
6/27/1975 Admitted to the State Bar of California

Additional Information:

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Mainframe Designs Cabinets and Fixtures

About the Business About the Business

Mainframe Designs Cabinets and Fixtures

Bennett was approaching millions annually when injured in 1987.
Former location of main frame designs cabinets and fixtures
Former location of main frame designs cabinets and fixtures a vendor to Chevron, Safeway, Fresh Choice, Wendy's and Contra Costa County College District

The matter of Bennett vs Southern Pacific created a situation where operatives coming from Southern Pacific Police Department, Southern Pacific, and the assets of Southern Pacific pipeline partners that part indelibly linked Enron Corporation which leads to the sale of Enron assets to Kinder Morgan, we're in 2004 in Walnut Creek California a pipeline exploded killing five.

About the Business

By 1987 the shop was closing in on one million in revenues with ample customers calling for projects for restuarants, banks, schools, shopping centers and multi-store operations.

How it started

Pete Bennett founded Mainframe Designs in 1980. The first shop began in the garage/carriage house on at 1563 Geary Blvd. Humble set of tools, work hard, play hard and stumble often.
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Pete Bennett: PBS NEWS HOUR June 2007

PBS NEWS HOUR

The Battle for Jobs, Data, Information and Jobs

Pete Bennett with Oracle Spokesman Robert Hoffman

Pete Bennett

June 2007
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PBS

June 2007
Evicted 2007

Mysterious Loss of Contracts

Mysterious Medical

Infections

Beatings
Attempts on his life

The Mormon Connection

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When friends of God came knocking at my door it didn't take long for my truck to explode.

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John

 

Quick Facts

June 2007

Evicted 2007

Mysterious Loss of Contracts

Mysterious Medical

Infections

Beatings
Attempts on his life

Nancy Pelosi

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John

Mysterious Loss of Contracts

Mysterious Medical

Infections

Beatings
Attempts on his life

xxxx_card_title_xxxx

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John


Research Portal

TRANSCRIPT

NewsHour Correspondent: Business leaders in Silicon Valley and other high-tech centers say they need more foreign workers to keep America competitive. Microsoft’s chairman Bill Gates made the case before Congress this spring.

BILL GATES, Chairman, Microsoft: Now we face a critical shortage of scientific talent. And there’s only one way to solve that crisis today: open our doors to highly talented scientists and engineers who want to live, work and pay taxes here.

SPENCER MICHELS: The law allows 65,000 specialized workers, ranging from engineers to architects, and even including fashion models, into the U.S. each year, plus another 20,000 graduate degree holders. They, plus some categories like teachers not included in the cap, get what is called an H-1B visa.

With that temporary pass, they can stay and work here for up to six years. Today, there are more than 260,000 H-1B employees in the U.S.

Companies insist they need foreign workers because there are not enough qualified Americans to fill the jobs.

ROBERT HOFFMAN, Oracle Corporation: The Senate and the House have made this issue a high priority.

SPENCER MICHELS: Robert Hoffman is a lobbyist for software maker Oracle, which currently has about 1,850 H-1B employees. He says the company needs software and computer engineers right away.

ROBERT HOFFMAN: Companies like Oracle and Microsoft have hundreds of job openings currently right now. We want to hire the American worker, but if they’re not there, what alternatives do we have? Either we hire the H-1Bs, or if the H-1Bs aren’t available, we’ll have to move work offshore. We’ll move the work where the workers are.

SPENCER MICHELS: According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Sharon Rummery, the demand this year for H-1B visas was enormous.

SHARON RUMMERY, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: On the very first day that the H-1B visa became available, we received more applications than we had available slots. As it turned out, we got more than 119,000 H-1B visa applications.

SPENCER MICHELS: So what do you do?

SHARON RUMMERY: When that happens, we go to a computer-generated, random selection process.

Securing the best and brightest

Christian Plante

Canadian H-1B Visa Holder

You want to make sure you make it easy for people to come here to the United States, and then you want to make sure that companies have the right means to keep them here.

SPENCER MICHELS: A large coalition of high-tech firms, called Compete America, and co-chaired by Oracle's Hoffman, says the global economy demands a free flow of workers.

ROBERT HOFFMAN: Half, or more than half in some instances, of our graduate students that are pursuing masters and PhDs are foreign-born. Companies like Google, Yahoo, eBay were all founded by immigrants. So what we're trying to do is making sure that we have the very best and the very brightest here in the country innovating and creating jobs.

SPENCER MICHELS: People like Umar Mughal, who lives today with his wife in an apartment in San Jose, he came to America from Pakistan to attend Purdue University in electrical engineering. After graduation, he got a job in Silicon Valley and got married on a visit home.

For the past six years, he's been working in marketing for Altera, a company that makes specialized computer chips and employs about 160 H-1B workers. He has applied for a green card, a work permit for permanent residents, so he can stay here after his visa expires.

UMAR MUGHAL, Pakistani H-1B Visa Holder: I wanted to be in tech. That's what I was passionate about, and I wanted to start working here. The other thing is, once I moved, I really like the lifestyle over here.

SPENCER MICHELS: We talked to Mughal and two other H-1B holders from Canada and India in Altera's cafeteria. All three agreed that, for its own benefit, America needs to encourage, not block, foreign workers. Christian Plante came here from Quebec.

CHRISTIAN PLANTE, Canadian H-1B Visa Holder: The goal is really to snatch talent and keep the talent here because it's going to go somewhere else. It's going to go to China; it's going to go to the European Union. You want to make sure you make it easy for people to come here to the United States, and then you want to make sure that companies have the right means to keep them here.

DEEPAK BOPPANA, Indian H-1B Visa Holder: I think reverse brain drain is, to a certain extent, very real. I've known friends who have gone back to India because of the booming economy there.

A 'money game'


Pete Bennett

Software Developer

It's really a game of two for one. I can get two H-1B visa workers for one American.

SPENCER MICHELS: But software developer and amateur guitar player Pete Bennett doesn't buy any of the arguments to bring in H-1B workers. Bennett, who runs a Web site called "No More H-1B," says he has a hard time finding work, and he blames the H-1B visa program.

PETE BENNETT, Software Developer: It's really a game of two for one. I can get two H-1B visa workers for one American. Many of the U.S. workers that were displaced are in the higher wage category. This is a money game; this is about big money.

SPENCER MICHELS: The workers we met at Altera said they were paid equally with Americans, but a recent survey from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think-tank, found that more than half of new H-1B high-tech employees were paid below the starting salary of an entry-level computer scientist.

The Department of Labor says that, under the law, companies where foreigners make up at least 15 percent of the workforce must attest that they've tried to hire Americans first. But most companies hire fewer foreigners than that, and they have no such requirement. They simply have to post internally their intention to hire a foreigner.

For those companies, a Labor Department document states, "H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker." That's a fact that frustrates these American high-tech professionals who are out of work.

Laid off Americans

SPENCER MICHELS: After being laid off, Andre Levy spent two-and-a-half years getting a master's degree to be more competitive. He's been looking for a job for more than a year.

ANDRE LEVY, American Citizen: I have a degree from a world-class university here in the bay. I have a master's degree from a pretty darn good university. I am not sure exactly what else I can do.

SPENCER MICHELS: He says he knows H-1Bs generally get paid less, because when he was a manager, he hired them.

ANDRE LEVY: It was a cost issue. I mean, they were cheaper because they were short-term. We didn't pay benefits or any of that sort of stuff. We had a number of folks from Russia, as well. They were willing to live four in a two-bedroom apartment.

SPENCER MICHELS: Kim Doty was laid off in January.

KIM DOTY, American Citizen: Not only are some of my jobs being outsourced, but when I look at other positions, I'm being told that I'm too qualified to take some of those roles. And a lot of it, I think, has to do with my salary, at this point demanding a lot higher salary than what they're looking at.

SPENCER MICHELS: Foreign workers also come with the skills industry wants now. And American workers say they need retraining to stay competitive.

But training funds have been cut, says the director of this job center in Silicon Valley. Companies pay the government $1,000 for each H-1B worker they hire, money to be used for job training. But much of it has been perted out of Silicon Valley to poorer communities, says Mike Curran.

MIKE CURRAN, North Valley Job Training Consortium: So what we used to have was millions of dollars of training six or seven years ago, because the H-1B created a pool for that, and we could take existing workers here and give them new networks, and new technologies, and new access to new training, has evaporated. All of that money has been taken off of the table.

Congress debates H-1B visas


Sen. Dick Durbin

(D) Illinois

We need to really put this back on track. And the first rule ought to be very simple: American workers take the jobs first.

SPENCER MICHELS: The H-1B debate is playing out in Congress right now as an important element in the broader immigration discussions. President Bush recently called on Congress to raise the cap. Republican Senator John Cornyn has been leading efforts in the Senate to get more H-1B visas.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), Texas: There's been a lot of misunderstanding and some suggestion that you're actually bringing in foreign workers, paying them less, and putting Americans out of jobs. That's not the case. This is to supplement really our lack of qualified people in some of these high-skilled areas.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), Illinois: There are some who say, "Well, clearly, we need more H-1B visas." I disagree with that completely.

SPENCER MICHELS: On the other side, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin fears that foreigners will return to their own countries armed with technology learned here and compete with American companies.

SEN. DICK DURBIN: The system is clearly being abused. We need to really put this back on track. And the first rule ought to be very simple: American workers take the jobs first.

SPENCER MICHELS: As Congress continues to wrangle over immigration, the H-1B visa controversy is expected to remain a major issue in the debate.

JIM LEHRER: The Senate deal on immigration reached today would raise the cap on H-1B visas to 115,000, which is nearly double the current number allowed, and it would open the door to future increases.

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