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Well, every time Boeing tried to bribe a country, someone leaked emails and audio recordings from their secret meetings. Usually we blame the Chinese, but in t

Well, every time Boeing tried to bribe a country, someone leaked emails and audio recordings from their secret meetings. Usually we blame the Chinese, but in this case I think its a toss between CIA and NSA. (I think I'm on some kind of list now) Edit: I am an idiot. I was thinking of Airbus, see @perihelions comment below

perihelions 3y ago
Which incident are you referring to? The NSA took credit for hacking Airbus, but that's Boeing's foreign competitor—not Boeing. https://www.economist.com/special-report/2003/06/12/airbuss-secret-past https://www.economist.com/special-report/2003/06/12/airbuss-... - "According to a European Parliament report, published in 2001, America's National Security Agency (NSA) intercepted faxes and phone calls between Airbus, Saudi Arabian Airlines and the Saudi government in early 1994. The NSA found that Airbus agents were offering bribes to a Saudi official to secure a lion's share for Airbus in modernising Saudi Arabian Airlines' fleet. The planes were in a $6 billion deal that Edouard Balladur, France's then prime minister, had hoped to clinch on a visit to see King Fahd in January 1994. He went home empty-handed." - "James Woolsey, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, recounted in a newspaper article in 2000 how the American government typically reacted to intelligence of this sort. “When we have caught you [Europeans]...we go to the government you're bribing and tell its officials that we don't take kindly to such corruption,” he wrote. Apparently this (and a direct sales pitch from Bill Clinton to King Fahd) swung the aircraft part of the deal Boeing's and McDonnell Douglas's way."
- kramerger 3y ago
  You are correct. I think my brain was on a break while I was writing that :)
bee_rider 3y ago
I imagine at least some (probably many) of the engineers who work for Boeing have a basically lawful-good/lawful-neutral temperament and are just disgusted by things like bribery. Maybe one of the parties in the conversation leaked it, no intelligence agencies needed.
emodendroket 3y ago
Why exactly would the CIA or NSA want to do that? Boeing works so closely with the security apparatus they're practically an unofficial member so I don't understand what the motivation would be.
- hnthrowaway0315 3y ago
  It doesn't hurt to hack into any corporation. You never know what kind of intelligence you might get out. There are also considerations of different factions I guess.
  - emodendroket 3y ago
    But we're not talking about getting information and keeping it but actually making it public. One doesn't get much leverage that way so the only real aim would seem to be damaging the target.

perihelions 3y ago

Which incident are you referring to? The NSA took credit for hacking Airbus, but that's Boeing's foreign competitor—not Boeing. https://www.economist.com/special-report/2003/06/12/airbuss-secret-past https://www.economist.com/special-report/2003/06/12/airbuss-... - "According to a European Parliament report, published in 2001, America's National Security Agency (NSA) intercepted faxes and phone calls between Airbus, Saudi Arabian Airlines and the Saudi government in early 1994. The NSA found that Airbus agents were offering bribes to a Saudi official to secure a lion's share for Airbus in modernising Saudi Arabian Airlines' fleet. The planes were in a $6 billion deal that Edouard Balladur, France's then prime minister, had hoped to clinch on a visit to see King Fahd in January 1994. He went home empty-handed." - "James Woolsey, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, recounted in a newspaper article in 2000 how the American government typically reacted to intelligence of this sort. “When we have caught you [Europeans]...we go to the government you're bribing and tell its officials that we don't take kindly to such corruption,” he wrote. Apparently this (and a direct sales pitch from Bill Clinton to King Fahd) swung the aircraft part of the deal Boeing's and McDonnell Douglas's way."

kramerger 3y ago
You are correct. I think my brain was on a break while I was writing that :)

bee_rider 3y ago

I imagine at least some (probably many) of the engineers who work for Boeing have a basically lawful-good/lawful-neutral temperament and are just disgusted by things like bribery. Maybe one of the parties in the conversation leaked it, no intelligence agencies needed.

emodendroket 3y ago

Why exactly would the CIA or NSA want to do that? Boeing works so closely with the security apparatus they're practically an unofficial member so I don't understand what the motivation would be.

hnthrowaway0315 3y ago
It doesn't hurt to hack into any corporation. You never know what kind of intelligence you might get out. There are also considerations of different factions I guess.
- emodendroket 3y ago
  But we're not talking about getting information and keeping it but actually making it public. One doesn't get much leverage that way so the only real aim would seem to be damaging the target.