JEB! Is Taking Foreign Policy Advice From These Influence Peddlers

(Huffington Post) - After the attempted Christmas Day underwear bombing of a jetliner in 2009, former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff blanketed cable news to reiterate his long-standing support for the adoption of full body scanners at airports. His revelation on CNN that Rapiscan Systems, the manufacturer of those machines, had been a client of his consulting firm sparked criticism that his advocacy was self-serving. Airport security is not the only area in which Chertoff might offer advice that aids his bottom line -- and, more importantly, CNN is not his only listener.

The Chertoff Group boasts a rich and mostly secret client list of intelligence and security companies, as previously detailed by The Huffington Post, that benefit financially from the global war on terror through government contracts and policies. The founder of that firm now has the ear of potential White House candidate Jeb Bush.

The former two-term Florida governor has assembled a foreign policy advisory team laden with officials who served in his father’s and brother’s presidential administrations and have since spun through the revolving door into the world of influence peddling. They are consultants, lobbyists, lawyers and corporate board members for business interests eager to be heard by the man who might become the 45th president of the United States. 

Besides Chertoff himself, they include former CIA Director Michael Hayden, who works for the Chertoff Group, and former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, retired Adm. Robert Natter and Tom Ridge, the first Homeland Security secretary -- the latter three all run their own consulting firms. All of these men also sit on the boards of companies ready to reap huge rewards from defense, intelligence and security contracts. Read more.