The Ethics of a Drone Contractor - Green Hills Software, Inc.

A continuing series of articles written for publication on Drone Free Zone in cooperation with PsychoBusters, a coordinated project carried out to awaken the public to the reality of those presently providing contracting services and products to the military and governmental agencies. 

 

by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster



Around January 21^st 1998 a meeting, or series of meetings, took place at Green Hills Software, Inc., between Dan O'Dowd and Glenn Hightower. The meeting included on their agenda approval of a false stock option agreement to replace the award of shares made to Craig Franklin in 1996.

This was the final step Dan needed to take before exercising the sudden death partnership agreement between himself and Hightower, who had provided the original funding which allowed Green Hills to open its doors in 1982. More on Hightower

Dan had cut a deal with Franklin, agreeing to help him evade characterization of the stock award as marital property in exchange for Franklin's assistance to prevent Hightower from exercising his right to buy out the company for 47 million, far less than the approximately 350 million it was actually worth.

Franklin's wife, Melinda, had no idea her husband was divorcing her, though later she would find out he had filed the day he returned from their Hawaiian vacation with the entire family of six children on January 1^st. It was planned not as a divorce but as take-no-prisoners war.

Melinda had every reason to believe their marriage was stable. The previous year she had saved Craig from the tax disaster his non-filing of returns had caused. He had, in fact, never filed until Melinda forced the issue the previous year when she discovered the reason they were bankrupt was Franklin's non-filing.

Other things she did not know came very close to killing her and the couple's son, Arthur. More

Hightower found out about the plan just after the meeting during which he was persuaded to sign off on Franklin's new share agreement. Dan informed him the sudden death partnership agreement had been exercised.

Shocked, Hightower returned to Pasadena and began to make arrangements to raise the capital. This, he believed, would not be difficult for him. He had started and still owned other companies. He was wrong only because he did not know Craig was to persuade the other vice presidents and critical employees to agree to walk out if he owned Green Hills. Craig did just this the next summer. When the due diligence team came to Green Hills a walk-out occurred. Lavish promises of additional stock and other benefits had been made to the senior personnel. Not all promises were kept, but after the fact there was little they could do about it.

Dan and Craig are both psychopaths. More about them here, “When psychopaths cooperate”

Over the next nearly two years the outcome of the Hightower buyout remained in question because Glenn, outraged by Dan's manipulations, which had begun with an restraining order keeping him from making contact with employees, filed a law suit after the orchestrated walk out. Law suit, Exhibit 7 “Morgan Pillsbury – Franklin Transcript”

Dan, who has all of the human skills of a piranha, evidently finally realized he needed someone to create a more human face for the corporation. Since Dan hoped to take Green Hills public this should also be someone with an impressive corporate resume able to make affirmative introductions to potentially useful board members, essential to acquiring credibility.

And thus entered a new member for the GHS Team.

John B. Douglas III, Unlikely Addition to the Green Hills Team

Douglas Bio from Green Hills Site

“Jack Douglas, Vice Chairman, joined Green Hills Software in 2003, after having worked with the company in a consulting capacity since 1998. Mr. Douglas was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 1999 to 2003. Previously, he was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Apple Computer where he played a key role in restoring Apple to financial health. From 1986 to 1997 Mr. Douglas held senior executive positions at Reebok International Ltd, helping Reebok grow to over $3 billion in revenue, and ending as Executive Vice President responsible for Legal, Human Resources, and Public Affairs. Mr. Douglas received his law degree, from Harvard Law School in 1978, and an BA in Economics, from Colgate University in 1975.”

Douglas' association with Green Hills Software actually began simultaneous with the time Dan was feverishly working to ensure he had the 47 million locked down to buy Green Hills himself. Reading the various and carefully worded resumes which abound on the Internet for Jack you find this phrasing at Bloomberg Business Week. “Mr. Jack Douglas has been Vice Chairman at Green Hills Software since April 2003. Mr. Douglas served as Chief Executive Officer to obtain multiple forms of debt and equity financing and on other strategic initiatives. Mr. Douglas also acts as a key advisor to other growing companies. ”

Chief Executive Officer of what, Green Hills Software, during the time they were attempting to go public? Of course, it could be a mis-statement by an online site which was perpetuated through reposting. But there are other indications money was tight during the period of 1998 – 2003 when Green Hills became a government contractor.

Dan borrowed a million dollars from Dr. Carl Franklin, Craig's father, supposedly to pay for Craig's stock options. It would have seemed reasonable for Craig to then use the generous dividends being paid from 1998 on to repay this, but evidently this did not happen. The money was extracted from Dan. Craig never repays loans since he has better uses for the money. This has been true his entire life, with only a few exceptions.

This 'loan,' for what ever reason it was made, was not repaid when expected and only firm action on the part of Dr. Franklin's other two sons, Sterling and Larry, both attorneys, resulted in extracting the money from Dan.

Someone with Jack's qualifications must have seemed like a dream come true for Dan at the time because along with Jack's connections he also brought a far more normal personal manner than either Dan or Craig had to offer as officers of the company.

Also, there was Dan, strapped for money, with Hightower suing and only Craig to provide him with comfort and ideas.

Craig at this time, late 1998 through 1999, had became obsessed with having a hit man kill his wife, according to affidavits given later by those talking to him every day. (Affidavit, Middle of Page 2) This came about because Melinda was, like Hightower, not following the carefully scripted plan he and Dan had laid out. She was supposed to die during the divorce from her heart condition, as Hightower was supposed to just go away. Therefore, it is doubtful Dan found their daily lunches together very comforting. Craig's public rantings probably made Dan, who is far more cautious, uneasy.

Craig Franklin    

Jack Douglas 

Craig looks far more normal here than he actually is. Despite appearances, he is highly intelligent with an I. Q. of 180, making him smarter than Einstein.

Jack not only looks normal, he looks charming, sophisticated, and intelligent. His resume, which includes his graduation, summa cum laude from Harvard Law, speaks for itself. Jack could be depended on not to shock potential investors with his table manners, too, an iffy proposition with Craig.

Additionally, Jack's masterful analysis for running an in-house division for corporate counsel, “The Reebok Rules,” is filled with sage advice, some of which Jack might have found useful himself. 

 

Now, what motivated John B. (Jack) Douglas III, to go to work at Green Hills, besides money? Jack had received stock when he was working for Apple and, presumably, his income from the stellar corporations, including Reebok, where he held senior executive positions , “helping Reebok grow to over $3 billion in revenue,” also provided substantial remuneration, as did Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

 

Each of these jobs seems to have grown shorter in duration. Jack was at Reebok for ten years, the others for far shorter periods, compressed into the time he had also assumed a consulting role with Green Hills. 

 

By all reports, if they are to be believed, it was not any problem with his professional performance which caused him to move on. That leaves personal considerations and, of late, we have had indications all was not normal with Jack's personal life. 

 

On April 17^th Jack was arrested for committing an act of, “Lewdness, open and gross, c 272 s16 (272/16)” in plain sight of a family seated for a meal at the Olive Garden Restaurant in Taunton, Massachusetts. The father of the children, an off duty police officer immediately confronted Jack, this leading to his arrest and arraignment. The event took place at 3:49pm. The facts are recounted in the POLICE REPORT.

 

Evidently, Jack is an exhibitionist, a form of sexual perversion, “known by several names including: flashing, apodysophilia, and Lady Godiva syndrome, according to Thrive Boston. 

 

According to the same site ”Some exhibitionists have a conscious desire to shock or upset the person or persons they are exposing themselves to. In contrast, a high percentage of exhibitionists hope or fantasize that the target of their exposure will become sexually aroused and want to engage in sexual activity with them.

In some cases an exhibitionist will masturbate while exposing him or herself.” 
 

The first part of this accords with Jack's reported activity. 

 

The Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA) site provides the outcome of studies which state male exhibitionists may be sexually inhibited, or even impotent, this starting before age 18 in most cases. Most common in men in their twenties the impulse supposedly diminishes during the 30s and 40s, becoming less common. Another study found, “that the typical exhibitionist is married, has above average intelligence, is satisfactorily employed, and shows no other evidence of serious emotional problems.132  and that,” The absence of other emotional problems has been a consistent finding in a number of studies. 130 “

The condition is reported to be treatable and treatment programs are available which lower the rate of recidivism to 'rare.' Today Jack is entering his sixties, however, making him somewhat unusual for an exhibitionist.

It is therefore unlikely the incident in Taunton was the first time Jack exhibited himself, raising the possibility his changes in employment and frequent changes of address are not unrelated to this condition. 

 

It is conceivable Green Hills provided a safe harbor for Jack because events in his personal life had overcome him. By leaving Millennium and 'hiring on' at Green Hills he could continue to live in Massachusetts and still have an active professional profile, even if it was one which radically changed his previous, far more prestigious, trajectory. 

 

Also, he did not actually have to live in Santa Barbara and see very much of Dan and Craig but he knew, through his interactions with them, beginning in 1998, the company would cover for him if questions about his personal life were raised. Dan had certainly provided this service to Craig, who was guilty of raping women in his office during working hours, to say nothing of his after hours activities. 

 

And, given the arrest cited above, it is very likely he knew it would be well to have an understanding and helpful employer. 

 

Despite not inconsiderable research on the web there is actually very little to be found about Jack's personal life. Those with which he is associated are better understood as extensions of his professional life. 

 

Unlike his fellow Team members Jeff Hazarian and Jason Issacs, he appears to be uninvolved in his local community in any not-for-profit organization. Hazarian and Issacs both joined Green Hills after the events of 1998 and are in stable marriages. Hazarian is very active in his church. Issacs and his wife contribute and participate in local charities, which other members of the GHS management team, do not appear to do. 

 

In effect, Dan provided a sanctuary for those employees inclined to engage in personally unethical behavior. This became a perk of employment, where it obtained the services of individuals who otherwise would not have tolerated his unwillingness to share profits and a business strategy which included providing weapons used to commit human rights violations around the world.

The score card for the management team can be read like this.

Dan and Craig – Psychopathic.

Dave Kleidermacher and Dave Chandler – Caught by greed and their complicity in Dan's 1998 fraud.

Jack – Sexually Deviant, needs assistance in finding an effective treatment program.

Chris Smith – Unknown.

Tim Reed – Cal Tech graduate, still researching.

Jeff and Jason – Tolerant of the corporate culture which financially benefits them.

Next:

The genocides of the 20^th Century and how they link to America's present wars.

Psychopaths’ Brain Patterns Lack Means for Empathy, Reveals Neuroimaging Study

From:  Medical Daily 

Author: Ashik Siddique

 COMMENT - Situational psychopaths are those who are influenced by the disordered around them, especially those in positions of authority, who manipulate and so change their behavior in relation to acting on human compassion and empathy.  

Which are you, if you are on Green Hills Software's Management Team?

New functional brain scan research on psychopathy reveals strikingly distinct patterns of activation among psychopathic prisoners in response to seeing other people in painful situations, suggesting a neural basis for their lack of empathy.

A lack of empathy is a signature trait of psychopaths— fascinating in fiction, inexplicable in reality. Now, a new study on psychopathic prisoners reveals strikingly different brain patterns that may limit their ability to emotionally respond to other people’s pain.

“This is the first time that neural processes associated with empathic processing have been directly examined in individuals with psychopathy, especially in response to the perception of other people in pain or distress,” said lead researcher Jean Decety, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, in a news release.

While previous studies have found differences between the brain structure of psychopathic convicts and controls, this is the first to observe neural differences in how they respond to distressing situations.

Empathy is a basic and evolutionarily ancient instinct, wrote Decety’s team in the study, and sensitivity to the pain of others is one of the earliest forms of it to develop in young children. The neural circuit of empathy is believed to involve connections among outer regions of the brain like the insula, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), as well as inner regions like the brainstem, amygdala, and hypothalamus.

Psychopathy is a personality disorder in which people have a “callous disregard for others,” according to researchers, as well as high impulsivity and aggression. It is estimated to be present in about 1 percent of Americans, and up to 30 percent of the United States prison population.

While not all people with such qualities are menaces to society, psychopaths are more likely to have committed serious crimes like rape, assault, and murder, and to commit repeat offenses. Perhaps not incidentally, some of them may also make excellent business executives.

Previous neuroimaging research on psychopaths has indicated reduced volumein some of these brain regions, as well as weakened connections among them, though it is unclear how such deficits develop. Psychopathic behavior is unlikely to be modified with existing cognitive-behavioral therapies, and the possibility that the disorder stems from intractable differences in brain structure is discouraging for researchers who hope to treat it.

In the hopes of eventually learning enough to develop effective psychological interventions, Decety’s team decided to investigate the patterns of brain activity involved in psychopaths’ responses to the distress of others.

Their findings, published online today in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, bring researchers slightly closer to accomplishing that goal.

80 incarcerated men aged 18 to 50 volunteered for the study, all prisoners in a medium-security correctional facility who were assessed for psychopathy levels with clinical diagnostic measures.

Read More: Here

Yemeni man brings the horror of drone strikes home to US Senate

From: The Independent

COMMENT - While it is very amusing to consider the slightly comic side of their personalities displayed by the officers of Green Hills Software, Inc., as they cover up for the nasty habits and felonious acts of their 'team mates,' when these are taken in context with the ugliness of death and dismemberment which funds their posh life-styles. 

Below is the story of a man who has lived through the reality of drone strikes in his own life.  He does not ask, or demand, what is actually right, that these strikes end and reparations be paid for the harm already done.  But anyone with a conscience could not fail to be moved by his words. 

Instead of first experiencing America through a school or a hospital, most people in Wessab first experienced America through the terror of a drone strike. What radicals had previously failed to achieve in my village, one drone strike accomplished in an instant: there is now an intense anger and growing hatred of America

Just six days after a US drone bombed his village, killing five militants in the process, a 23-year-old Yemeni writer named Farea Al-Muslimi travelled to Washington D.C. to tell the US Senate about the impact the strikes are having in his country.

In a powerful testimony to the assembled senators on Tuesday, excerpts of which are printed below, Mr Al-Muslimi said that rather than fighting terrorism, US drone strikes in his country were fuelling it. He told the committee that he owed much to America, having first visited as an exchange student during his school years, and later won a scholarship to study for a semester at a US college. But he came with a simple request: that the US stop bombing his country.

“My name is Farea Al-Muslimi. I am from Wessab, a remote mountain village in Yemen, about nine hours’ drive from my country’s capital, Sana’a. Most of the world has never heard of Wessab. But just six days ago, my village was struck by a drone, in an attack that terrified thousands of simple, poor farmers. The drone strike and its impact tore my heart, much as the tragic bombings in Boston last week tore your hearts and also mine.

I am here today to talk about the human costs and consequences of targeted killing by the United States in Yemen.

Background

My family lives off the fruit, vegetables, and livestock we raise on our farms. We raise cows, goats, sheep, and hens. My father has been a farmer all his life. His income rarely exceeds $200 per month. He learned to read late in life, but my mother never did.

I have 12 living siblings. I should actually have 19, but we lost seven of my brothers and sisters. Some passed away in delivery due to a lack of quality medical services in our village. Others passed away when they were still young for the same reasons.

My life changed forever in the 9th grade when I was awarded a scholarship from the US State Department. The scholarship gave me an opportunity to study English for one year at Amideast, the American English Center in Yemen. This scholarship gave me new opportunities and allowed me to see the world beyond my village for the first time. I was later awarded a State Department scholarship to the Youth and Exchange Study program, which aims to build peace and understanding between the American people and people in Muslim countries.

That scholarship allowed me to spend a year living with an American family and attending an American high school. The year I spent at Rosamond High School in Rosamond, California was one of the richest and best years of my life.

The most exceptional experience was coming to know someone who ended up being like a father and is my best friend in the United States. He was a member of the US Air Force. Most of my year was spent with him and his family. He came to the mosque with me and I went to church with him. He taught me about his experiences in America and I taught him about my life in Yemen. We developed an amazing friendship that overcame our very different backgrounds.

A drone strike in my village

Today, I am a writer, speaker, and freelance journalist. One of the most rewarding experiences I have had has been working as a “fixer” for international journalists in Yemen and Beirut. Most of my work with international journalists has been in the southern provinces of Abyan, Aden, Al-dhalea and Lahj – three of the areas where the United States has focused its so-called “war on terror.”

Just six days ago, this so-called war came straight to my village. As I was thinking about my testimony and preparing to travel to the United States to participate in this hearing, I learned that a missile from a US drone had struck the village where I was raised.

For almost all of the people in Wessab, I’m the only person with any connection to the United States. They called and texted me that night with questions that I could not answer: Why was the United States terrifying them with these drones? Why was the United States trying to kill a person with a missile when everyone knows where he is and he could have been easily arrested?

My village is beautiful, but it is very poor and in a remote part of Yemen. In the past, most of Wessab’s villagers knew little about the United States. My stories about my experiences in America, my American friends, and the American values that I saw for myself helped the villagers I talked to understand the America that I know and love. Now, however, when they think of America they think of the terror they feel from the drones that hover over their heads ready to fire missiles at any time.

Instead of first experiencing America through a school or a hospital, most people in Wessab first experienced America through the terror of a drone strike. What radicals had previously failed to achieve in my village, one drone strike accomplished in an instant: there is now an intense anger and growing hatred of America.

Visiting the victims

In my work with foreign journalists, I have visited many areas struck by drones or warplanes that residents believe were dispatched as part of the targeted killing program conducted by the United States. I have traveled most frequently to Abyan, an area in southern Yemen, which had been seized in early 2011 by Ansar Al-Sharia, a group aligned with AQAP.

In Abyan and other places in Yemen, I visited many locations where local residents were suffering from the consequences of targeted killing operations. I have met with relatives of people who were killed by drone strikes as well as numerous eyewitnesses. They have told me how these air strikes have changed their lives for the worse.

In early March 2013, I was working with Newsweek in Abyan when I met the mother of a boy named Muneer Muhammed. Muneer, an 18 year old boy, transported goods for shops via his donkey in the local souk of Ja’ar town. He had recently been engaged and was preparing for his wedding. Muneer was at work when a missile hit and killed him in May 2012. She told me, in tears, that if she ever meets the individual who shot the missile, she will “crunch him into pieces” in her mouth.

The people with whom we spoke in Abyan told us that Muneer was not a member of AQAP. But that has not stopped AQAP from trying to use his death to recruit supporters to their cause.

Days after Abyan was freed from AQAP control in June 2012, I met a fisherman named Ali Al-Amodi in a hospital in Aden. The day before, his house in Shaqra, on the sea side of Abyan, was targeted by a US air strike. Al-Amodi told me that he stood helplessly as his 4 year old son and 6 year old daughter died in his arms on the way to the hospital.  Al-Amodi had no links with AQAP. He and other locals said that his house was targeted by mistake. In that same strike, four other children and one woman were killed. Witnesses said none were militants.

Later in June 2012, I visited Al-Makhzan, a town outside of Ja’ar, where a drone strike targeting Nader Al-Shadadi took place. Al-Shadadi is identified by the Yemeni government as a terrorist and a leader of Ansar Al-Shariah. He has been targeted at least three times in different places, but the strikes have missed him every time. This time, it targeted his aunt’s house. Neighbors say he was not there, and his aunt’s only son was killed. There is no evidence that the son was affiliated with AQAP.

I know that some policy makers in the United States and Yemen claim that AQAP does not use drone strikes as a tool to recruit more people to their cause. This is incorrect. The case of the Toaiman family in Mareb, as reported by NPR based on a trip in which I participated, is one specific example. The Toaiman’s oldest son joined AQAP hoping to avenge the death of his father, an innocent civilian killed by a drone strike in October 2011. The son has 28 brothers waiting to do so as well. One of his youngest brothers, a 9 year old, carries a picture of a plane in his pocket. The boy openly states that he wants revenge and identifies his father’s killer as “America.”

Stop targeted killings 

I don’t know if there is anyone on Earth who feels more thankful to America than me. In my heart I know that I can only repay the opportunities, friendship, warmth, and exposure your country provided me by being their ambassador to Yemenis for the rest of my life, just as I was an ambassador for Yemenis in America. I strongly believe that I have helped improved America’s image, perhaps in ways that an official ambassador or other diplomat cannot. 

I have to say that the drone strikes and the targeted killing program have made my passion and mission in support of America almost impossible in Yemen. In some areas of Yemen, the anger against America that results from the strikes makes it dangerous for me to even acknowledge having visited America, much less testify how much my life changed thanks to the State Department scholarships. It’s sometimes too dangerous to even admit that I have American friends.

Late last year, I was with an American colleague from an international media outlet on a tour of Abyan. Suddenly, locals started to become paranoid. They were moving erratically and frantically pointing toward the sky. Based on their past experiences with drone strikes, they told us that the thing hovering above us – out of sight and making a strange humming noise – was an American drone. My heart sank. I was helpless. It was the first time that I had earnestly feared for my life, or for an American friend’s life in Yemen. I was standing there at the mercy of a drone.

I also couldn’t help but think that the operator of this drone just might be my American friend with whom I had the warmest and deepest friendship in America. My mind was racing and my heart was torn. I was torn between the great country that I know and love and the drone above my head that could not differentiate between me and some AQAP militant. It was one of the most divisive and difficult feelings I have ever encountered.

As someone who has lived and worked on this issue very closely, I cannot help but feel that the American and Yemen governments are losing the war against AQAP. Even when drone strikes target and kill the right people, it is at the expense of creating the many strategic problems I have discussed today. Every tactical success is at the expense of creating more strategic problems. I do, however, believe that things can still be fixed. If the United States wants to win the battle against AQAP in Yemen, I strongly suggest that it consider taking the following steps:

* Stop all the targeted killing strikes.

* Announce the names of those already on the “kill list,” so that innocent civilians can stay out of harm’s way.

* Issue an official apology to the families of all civilians killed or injured by targeted killing strikes.

* Compensate the families of innocent civilians killed or injured by strikes conducted or authorized by the United States.

* In every village where there has been a targeted killing, build a school or hospital so that the villagers’ only experience with America will not be the death and destruction caused by an American missile.

Thank you very much.

Green Hills Software, Bombing Babies for the Money, and Proud of it.

Craig Franklin, no longer officially on the GHS site, is still using his GHS email address as of a few days ago.  Since generally when someone is actually 'let go,' the address also goes we can assume Craig was just told to finally find other quarters.  Doubtless, this unrepentant sexual predator is continuing to stalk women and girls with the good will and support of Dan and Company.

One wonders if any of these man actually served their country.  Craig, like all of his brothers, finessed his way through the Vietnam Conflict without serving a moment.  His father's 'service' during WWII was done by persuading women to join the Navy Women's Officer Corp.  Really.  He spent the war traveling around meeting young attractive women.  Tough duty.