... the Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C., investment partnership formed in 1987 by David Rubenstein , a former aide to President Jimmy Carter; Daniel A. D'Aniello, former vice president of Finance for Marriott Inc.; and William Conway, former CFO for MCI Communications. The Group now manages more than $16 billion in investments through some 300 employees in 12 offices around the world. Investors include the government of Singapore, Kuwait Investment Authority and state pension funds of California and Florida.

Frank Carlucci, who became a United Defense director in December 1997, is currently chairman emeritus of the Carlyle Group. Prior to joining Carlyle in 1989, Carlucci served as Defense Secretary under former President Ronald Reagan from November 1987 to January 1989. J.H. Binford Peay III became a director in December 1997. A retired general in the U.S. Army, Peay served as the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command from 1994 to 1997 and is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Allied Defense Group, a holding company of defense and security businesses. John M. Shalikashvili, a two-term chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Clinton administration, joined the board in 1998 after he retired from the military. Other Carlyle directors on the United Defense Board include Peter J. Clare, formerly of private investment group First City Capital, and Allan M. Holt, previously with private investors Avenir Group and MCI Communications.

Military expertise can be found in United Defense's management as well: Jay Hendrix, the vice president for business development and marketing is a retired U.S. Army general, and United States Marine Repair president Al Krekich is a former vice admiral in the U.S. Navy.

Who’s on the payroll at Carlyle? President Bush’s father, for starters. Secretary of State James Baker, who represented Bush during the Florida recount, is a managing director. William Kennard, who recently headed the Federal Communications Commission, recently joined Carlyle, as did Arthur Levitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. And that’s just a few of the dozens of former Cabinet secretaries and other administration officials that are listed as employees of the firm. Their boss is Frank Carlucci, the former Secretary of Defense whose best friend and former college roommate Donald Rumsfeld now runs the Pentagon.

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