Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Fran Townsend to Cover for Carlyle in New Role?


Will Frances Townsend help a different Carlyle division in her new role as member of the President's Intelligence Oversight Board? While the deal is yet to close, The Carlyle Group is in talks with huge intelligence contractor and government consultant, Booz, Allen, and Hamilton. BAH's federal revenue rose from just under $1 billion in 2004 to nearly $2 billion in 2007. A double in just three years? That sounds devilishly Carlylish!

But back to Fran. As a member of the oversight board, will she be in a position to steer work to a likely new Carlyle affiliate? If they mess up, will Mrs. Townsend cover for the politically connected private equity firm? That skill is already on her "robust" resume.

Frances, then White House Homeland Security Adviser, omitted any mention of Carlyle's LifeCare in her Katrina Lessons Learned Report. What kind of intelligence is required to leave out the hospital with the highest death toll in a natural disaster? LifeCare lost 24 patients in its New Orleans long term acute care hospital.

Maybe Booz Allen's Government IT division can help the White House with their missing e-mails. The two year period covers August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck. A Congressional Committee already got stiff armed when it asked for e-mails between Andy Card and Fran Townsend. If Carlyle wins the huge government contracting arm of Booz, don't count on anything coming out. They owe Mrs. Townsend a favor.