tier 1 bremer

<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</h2><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/08/06/pentagon-jamal-khashoggi-louis-bremer-cerberus/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://theintercept.com/2020/08/06/pentagon-jamal-khashoggi-louis-bremer-cerberus/</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S nominee for a top special operations post at the Pentagon is facing questions about whether a company he helps oversee trained members of the Saudi team who killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi.</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div data-reactid="217" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">In May, President Donald Trump nominated Louis Bremer — a former Navy SEAL turned investment banker — to serve as assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. In that role, Bremer would be the top civilian in the Defense Department overseeing the special operations community.Bremer is currently a managing director at Cerberus Capital Management — a private equity company whose founder, Stephen Feinberg, has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/10/25/pension-trump-pence/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">close ties to the Trump administration</a> and was once considered for a high-up job in the intelligence community. Bremer also sits on the board of directors of Tier 1 Group, an Arkansas-based special operations training company that is owned by Cerberus.in March 2019, the Washington Post — where Khashoggi was also a columnist — published a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/how-the-mysteries-of-khashoggis-murder-have-rocked-the-us-saudi-partnership/2019/03/29/cf060472-50af-11e9-a3f7-78b7525a8d5f_story.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box;">column </a>by David Ignatius, which, citing “Saudi and American sources,” claimed that members of the Saudi rapid response team that killed Khashoggi in October  2018 had been trained in the United States. The column said that the CIA had warned other government agencies “that some of this special-operations training might have been conducted by Tier 1 Group” under a State Department license.</div><div data-reactid="228" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">A U.S. government source confirmed the account at the time to The Intercept, saying that the CIA warning was intended to stop members of the Saudi team from being granted U.S. visas again for further training as part of defense liaison programs with the U.S. (The official asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.) The CIA did not respond to an email requesting comment.At a nominations hearing on Thursday, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., asked Bremer about the allegations, and whether Tier 1 Group or Cerberus ever investigated them. In response, Bremer said that he was unfamiliar with the article, and said neither company had investigated the allegation “to my knowledge or recollection.”“I do know that we train Saudi nationals as part of our engagements with the Kingdom as an allied nation,” Bremer said. “We train other nations as well. But I have no knowledge of that.”“So until today,” Kaine asked, “you were not aware that an allegation had been made that a company on which you sit as a director, with a small board of directors, had potentially been involved in training Saudis who were participants in the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi?”</div><div data-reactid="232" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">Bremer said he would check his records and follow up with Kaine.Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, responded to Bremer’s account with skepticism.“Having served on a number of corporate boards myself, it’s hard for me to believe that a mention of your company by name in a column by David Ignatius — one of the leading foreign affairs commentators in the country — would not come to your attention nor to the attention of the board,” King said. “I find it incredibly hard to believe that a five-person board of this company would not have had a fire drill when this allegation arose.”“We have a culture of compliance at Cerberus,” Bremer said. “That culture is pushed down into our portfolio companies. So as I sit here and think about it in real time, I think it’s probably likely that we did do some sort of investigation, I just don’t recall the specifics of that.”Cerberus did not respond to a request for comment, and calls to Tier 1 Group’s office went unanswered.Bremer’s nomination was first reported by <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/08/navy-seal-lou-bremer-assistant-secretary-defense-1686744" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Politico</a>, which noted that in a now-deleted Instagram account, he described himself as a “Harley riding, tequila-drinking Navy SEAL and White House Fellow who buys companies on occasion.” His nomination was criticized by former officials who questioned his ability to reset the culture of the special operations community, which has come under fire after a number of high-profile scandals, including a <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/05/16/navy-seal-pleads-guilty-in-strangulation-death-of-green-beret-in-africa/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">Green Beret being strangled to death</a>, <a href="https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/08/04/army-sf-colonel-faces-sexual-assault-charges/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">sexual assault charges</a>, <a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/bulletpoints/navy-seals-drug-abuse" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">drug abuse</a>, and the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/12/05/donald-trump-eddie-gallagher-navy-seals/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box;">war crimes trial</a> of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher.“When the President’s nominee to be the chief civilian Pentagon leader over U.S. special forces operations is a director of a company that may have trained those who assassinated journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it is critical that the Senate understand all the facts about the claim and whether Mr. Bremer or his colleagues took any steps in response to such a shocking allegation,” Kaine said in a statement after the hearing.</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Business interests also moved to distance themselves from the gun industry, a <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">major funder</a> of the NRA. On December 18, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/cerberus-to-sell-gunmaker-freedom-group/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">announced plans</a> to sell the gun conglomerate Freedom Group after some investors expressed concern over the firm's relationship with the gun maker. Freedom Group owns Bushmaster, the company responsible for manufacturing the assault rifle used in the Newtown mass shooting, as well as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/business/how-freedom-group-became-the-gun-industrys-giant.html?pagewanted=all" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">assault weapons manufacturers</a> Remington Arms and DPMS Panther Arms.Many of the companies that make up the Freedom Group are NRA corporate sponsors, including Remington Arms, DPMS Panther Arms, H&R Firearms, Marlin and Para USA. Since 2005, Para USA has <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf#page=21" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">given</a> between $100,000 and $249,999 to the NRA. DPMS Panther <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf#page=23" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">gave</a> the NRA between $50,000 and $99,999 during the same period. Remington Arms, H&R Firearms, and Marlin have also <a href="http://www.vpc.org/studies/bloodmoney.pdf#page=24" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">all made contributions</a> of $25,000 to $49,999. In 2011, Remington <a href="http://www.nra.org/Article.aspx?id=16762" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">became the sponsor</a> of the Friends of NRA television show that airs on the Outdoor Channel.   On December 18, firearms retailer Dick's Sporting Goods announced plans to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/18/justice/connecticut-dicks-guns/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">suspend the sale of assault rifles</a>, for the time being, in its stores. The company also said that it was pulling all firearms from the shelves of its store closest to Newtown. The same day, the Discovery Channel announced that its America's Guns show, which had been <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaMlyxran9Y" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">celebrated</a> by NRA News, was cancelled with <a href="http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/discovery-series-american-guns-cancelled/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">no plans to air reruns</a>. A spokesperson for Discovery also <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/18/discovery-channel-kicks-ted-nugent-to-the-curb/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">confirmed</a> that NRA board member Ted Nugent's gun culture special <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/11/five-crazy-moments-from-ted-nugents-discovery-c/190553" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">Ted Nugent's Gun Country</a> "would definitely not be returning to the Discovery Channel." Nugent had <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/10/12/will-discovery-channel-air-more-episodes-of-ted/190591" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">previously claimed</a> that the Discovery Channel "want[s] to do [the special] as a regular feature."</h2><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">==</h2><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cerberus Capital Management</h2>