SpyTalk

 

In effect, writes James Bamford in his latest book on the NSA, "Virtually the entire American telecommunications system is bugged by [Israeli-formed] companies with possible ties to Israel's eavesdropping agency."

And the head of one of them is a crook, according to federal indictments.

And making the best of it, too, according to The Times piece by Michael Powell, who labeled the Israeli-American Alexander an "exemplar of the plutocrat on the run."

Alexander was CEO of Comverse, founded in 1984 by former Israeli intelligence officers, whose subsidiary Verint was contracted by Verizon for the NSA program, according to Bamford's "The Shadow Factory."

Alexander fled to Namibia shortly after a federal grand jury indicted him in 2006 on charges of wire and security fraud, namely, backdating options. The southwest African country does not have an extradition treaty with the United States.

In 2007 Interpol agents served the luxury-loving fugitive with a U.S. arrest warrant, but he's successfully fought off every attempt at extradition, no doubt helped by the millions he's showered on Namibian officials and charities.

Lest one jump to yet another conspiracy theory about Israeli intelligence, it needs to be noted that, according to former Pentagon, FBI and CIA officials I've talked to, U.S. companies can't compete for the NSA data-mining contracts because their technologies aren't as good as the Israelis'.

An attempt to reach Gen. Michael Hayden, the ex-CIA director who headed NSA when the contracts were awarded, was fruitless.

Meanwhile, Alexander is having as much of a ball as a fugitive could, in his "spectacular home in Windhoek," Powell reported.