FL hires man connected to drug ring to build terrorist database...OOPS!

[madfloridian]

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2003308030415

SNIP...."TALLAHASSEE -- A man implicated two decades ago in a Bahamian drug smuggling ring has been hired by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to help create a 13-state anti-terrorism network being launched with $4 million in Justice Department funding.

Millionaire Hank Asher of Boca Raton, a friend of recently retired FDLE director James "Tim" Moore and a major political contributor, was never charged with drug smuggling. He served as an informant and witness in several trials, and was identified by other FDLE informants as someone who provided police protection for smuggling operations....."END SNIP

This is with Justice Department money, and they did not even know about the guy's past.

[DagmarK]

1. It's that BFEE problem of separating their oil biz and drug biz 'friends'

It gets confusing having businesses that on their face OPPOSE each other: big drug running, energy businesses, and political campaigns.

Ya gotta expect a little cross-over now and again.........

[madfloridian]

2. This "drug ring" guy is on this Siesent BoD, deals with privacy databases.

http://www.seisint.com/aboutus/director.html
In the About section he is listed as working with missing and exploited children.

Also here are some of their products:
http://www.seisint.com/products.html

Accurint, Seisent's Data Supercomputers,and Law Enforcement Solutions.

Even if his connections to the Bahamian drug ring were not prosecuted, how could he be hired to deal with sensitive data on terrorism????

I am kicking this because it is important. It is getting lost in all the candidate bashing threads.

[Sophree]

3. BIG Oops!

Incompetants in both B*sh administrations. Not surprising.

[thermodynamic]

8. Duhbya might be an innocent with his stupidity. But Jeb?

Definitely malicious, any incomptence he projects is more of a deliberate "I'm above decency and laws" type. Just my observation, nothing more.

[peacetalksforall]

4. Terrorits and other crime suspects. Yeah right!

Folks, it may be hopeless to regain our country.

[JCMach1]

5. Why bother to even hide it any more...

that seems to be the current trend among FL repugs...


:puke:

[starroute]

6. Tracking Asher's connections is kind of amazing

I just Googled his name, and I don't know quite what to make of what came up-- but it seems to point not only towards drug smuggling, but also towards the spam industry, and towards the whole Florida felon database mess as well. Plus which he appears on a Mother Jones list of top political contributors -- to the Democrats! http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/special_reports/mojo_400/browse16.html

Just who is this guy, anyway?


http://www.polkonline.com/stories/070499/sta_contracts.shtml

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI suspended their contracts with one of the nation's largest database companies partly because of the reputation of the company's founder and major stockholder, a newspaper reported Saturday.

DBT Online, based in Boca Raton, compiles public records worldwide and provides dossiers on investigative targets for about 1,500 police agencies.

The DEA and FBI halted their contracts with the company in May, partly over concern that Henry Edward Asher, founder of DBT, was once suspected of having ties to Bahamian drug smugglers.

<snip>

And Internal DEA memos first raised concerns about the use of DBT Online in 1994, when the company was known as Database Technologies.

Since then, two top Miami DEA supervisors retired and became vice presidents of the company.

Special agent in charge James Milford and former Assistant Special Agent in Charge Al Coward were instrumental in moving the DEA from a $1.50-per-minute use fee to a $10,000-per-month unlimited use contract with DBT. Both later retired and became vice presidents with DBT.


http://www.gregpalast.com/bestdemocracymoneycanbuychapter1.pdf

Thursday, December 7, 2 a.m. On the other end of the line, heavy breathing, then a torrent of words too fast for me to catch it all. “Vile . . . lying . . . inaccurate . . . pack of nonsense . . . riddled with errors . . .” click! This was not a ChoicePoint whistleblower telling me about the company’s notorious list. It was ChoicePoint’s own media communications representative, Marty Fagan, communicating with me about my “sleazy disgusting journalism” in reporting on it.

Truth is, Fagan was returning my calls. I was curious about this company that chose the president for America’s voters.

They have quite a pedigree for this solemn task. The company’s Florida subsidiary, Database Technologies (now DBT Online), was founded by one Hank Asher. When US law enforcement agencies alleged that he might have been associated with Bahamian drug dealers – although no charges were brought – the company lost its data management contract with the FBI. Hank and his friends left and so, in Florida’s eyes, the past is forgiven.


http://www.nukespam.org/OptInInc.html

This doesn't seem to be an isolated case. There was also a strong suspicion that BigMailBox (a freemail provider) had somehow given their subscriber list to someone associated with eDirect, which caused addresses registered in the BigMailBox forwarding system to receive spam from eDirect. BMB denied anything to do with eDirect. Do a DejaGoogle search for BigMailBox for details. Then there was the debacle with Juno, where Juno hired Hardigree to do marketing for them and they ended up having to pull the campaign because they discovered SH was spamming.

<snip>

Based on my investigation Hardigree sold eDirect.com as well as eData.com to a Hank Asher (former CEO of Database Technologies, - pulic company) in Dec. of 1999. As a matter of fact, and you are welcomed to investigate public records, Hardigree worked with Asher for three months and left because of disagreements with Asher about how eDirect should position itself in the Direct Marketing Community. Ultimately eDirect.com attempted to sue him and a settlement was reached.

[madfloridian]

7. Excellent! This guy was DBT, a subsidiary of Choice Point?

From your Palast article:

SNIP....."They have quite a pedigree for this solemn task. The company’s Florida subsidiary, Database Technologies (now DBT Online), was founded by one Hank Asher. When US law enforcement agencies alleged that he might have been associated with Bahamian drug dealers – although no charges were brought – the company lost its data management contract with the FBI. Hank and his friends left and so, in Florida’s eyes, the past is forgiven...."

His company lost the voting database contract in ......2000....and he is still being rehired by the state????

:wtf: