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[FYI] U.S. Pushes to Resolve Debate on NTT-Verio



http://cryptome.org/verio-ntt-sec.htm

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10 August 2000  

Source: US national newspaper, August 9, 2000, pp. A2-A14.  

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U.S. Pushes to Resolve Debate on NTT-Verio  

By NEIL KING JR. And DAVID S. CLOUD Staff Reporters  

WASHINGTON -- Facing a Monday deadline, U.S. officials are scrambling 
to resolve national-security concerns that are holding up a $5.5 
billion bid by the Japanese phone company, Nippon Telegraph & 
Telephone Corp., to acquire the U.S. Internet company Verio Inc.  

Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers has called a meeting for tomorrow 
of top administration officials to try to bridge deep differences 
among government agencies over the deal, which has been caught up in 
a national-security review process for nearly 75 days.  

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the Justice 
Department and the Pentagon, worries the deal could give the Japanese 
government-controlled company access to U.S. government wiretapping 
activity and could present an espionage risk. But other agencies 
charged with promoting trade contend the FBI has overblown the 
concerns, and they are pushing for less-stringent requirements.  

The dispute has enormous ramifications, not just for trade relations 
between the U.S. and Japan, but also for law enforcement as it 
grapples with the complications of foreign investment in the rapidly 
growing U.S. Internet sector. This is the first time national- 
security reviews similar to those surrounding past aerospace and 
defense deals have been applied to an international Internet 
acquisition.  

[...]

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