Is Khashoggi's Triad the Triad we know and "love"? A further look...

Yesterday, we directed your attention to the work of Daniel Hopsicker, who notes (as did we all) that one of the election companies in Ohio which behaved -- er, let us say, unusually -- was Triad Governmental Services (a.k.a. Triad GSI). He further noted that none other than Adnan Khashoggi, the Saudi/Egyptian financier and arms merchant involved with Iran-contra, has a penchant for naming many of his companies Triad. Moreover, Khashoggi used Palm Beach, Florida -- the original home of Triad GSI -- as one of his home bases.

Incidentally, this DOD document identifies Khashoggi as the supplier of arms to the Medellin drug cartel. (It's a pdf file; scroll down to paragraph 69.)

So the question of the day is: Did the fellow who sold bullets to the guys shooting at our DEA agents also help tabulate the vote?

In this light, I should note -- as I did not have time to note yesterday -- that the owner of record for Triad GSI is a fellow named Tod Rapp. He's a donor to (but of course!) Dubya and the G.O.P. -- although, truth be told, he didn't give much. Triad software was used to tabulate punch-card votes in Ohio. Needless to say, the code is very hush-hush.

A number of members of the Rapp family are involved with the day-to-day running of the business. The firm seems to be very much a family affair.

Now, I've had some semi-harsh words in the past for Bev Harris of www.blackboxvoting.org (and I still want to know what happened to those poll tapes in Florida -- are we now to consider them her personal property?). But she offered an interesting response to Hopsicker's report:

Well, I went down that path. The name "Triad" as well as the names "Global" and "World" do crop up often in connection with just about everything, including voting machines. But, I do find one of the assertions in the article to be lacking in factual underpinnings.

The author writes that:

"While there has been no suggestion of it anywhere in the media, the name "Triad" was used extensively by Khashoggi at exactly the same time (the early 80's) and in exactly the same place (Palm Beach, Florida) as the "Triad Governmental Systems" involved in Ohio's current election "difficulties." "

Well, actually, at that time the company was actually called Rapp Systems Inc., after the owners, who are mostly named Rapp.

I found literally thousands of companies named Triad, with little to no correlation among owners. In fact, my husband is an occasional producer, and our preferred recording studio in the Seattle area just happens to be called Triad Studios. I can assure you I would be astonished if there were any world domination types there.

Fair enough.

Even so, I'd like to learn more about the company history of Triad GSI. Was there in fact a name change? Why and when did it take place? Hopsicker offers this from the company literature:

Incorporated in 1982, TRIAD GSI was founded to provided quality support and services for Rapp Systems' Election products, with election experience that spans a quarter of a century.

Privately-owned companies experiencing an uncertain year have been known to take financing from outside investors, and sometimes those investors do not want their names bandied about in public.

In that light, you may want to sift through this article -- an oldie-but-goodie from Jim Hougan, a terrific investigator who now writes spy thrillers under the name John Case. The article represents his contribution to a 1978 compendium titled "Crime At The Top: Deviance In Business and the Professionals." In it, we learn more about Khashoggi's Triads, and his strange relationship with Lockheed, which had to make certain payoffs (it is alleged) to get Saudi contracts:

For instance, rather than paying Khashoggi directly, a "second-tier" subsidiary based in Geneva would employ the "marketing services" of a subsidiary on the "first tier," based in California. In its turn, the California firm would "subcontract" all or most of those services to Khashoggi's Triad Corporation.

Hougan then goes on to relay the mind-boggling details of the mechanisms Khashoggi used to hide his direct involvement in such affairs. (Worth noting: Khashoggi seems to have pissed off both the Americans and the Saudis in his dealings. So why did they keep using him as a middleman?)

The story of the Lockheed/Triad scandal is long and incredibly involved, and Hougan provides as good an overview as you are ever likely to find. His recounting of that bit of history may shed light on Hopsicker's allegation of a possible hidden link between Khashoggi and the Rapp family's company.

That said, I have yet to find find any concrete link between the Triad GSI and Khashoggi.

But let's not stop looking. Shady characters tend to pop up every time we look into the election services industry...

Side note: A reader who kindly sent me a load of research material on Triad (most of which I haven't had time to examine) directs our attention to another firm called Triad -- Triad Strategies. It's a lobbying firm. You'll love their company motto: "We've found there are almost as many ways to influence behavior as their are behaviors to influence." Ah yes. How about passing the time by playing a little solitaire, Mr. Shaw?

Close to the top of this Triad's client list is -- Accenture. You remember them. Accenture counts the military vote.

Now, I'm pretty sure that this really is just a coincidence. Still, it's a cute coincidence, n'est-ce pas?