US: The Hazy Story of the Lincoln
Group
It's tough to follow the history of
Lincoln
Group, a contractor that won a $100 million contract with the Special
Operations Command to assist with psychological operations.
by Jason Vest, Government
Executive
November 30th, 2005
It's tough to follow
the history of Lincoln Group, a contractor that won a $100
million
contract with the Special Operations Command to assist with
psychological operations. The common denominator to the firm's history
is Christian Bailey, listed on its Web site as executive vice
president, capital markets. After graduating from Oxford University in
England in the 1990s, Bailey moved to the San Francisco area around
1998, and in 1999, founded Express Action, an e-commerce
company he
apparently later sold. In the Nov. 15, 2002, issue of HedgeWorld
Daily News,
Bailey was identified as the founder and chairman of a New York-based
hedge fund called Lincoln Asset Management. On March 1, 2003, the Alternative
Investment News
reported that Lincoln Asset Management had an initial $100
million in
commitments to underwrite a leveraged buyout fund to acquire defense
and intelligence companies.
In 2003, the Lincoln Alliance
Corp. (a subsidiary of Lincoln Asset Management) made its debut,
presenting itself primarily as a purveyor of what it called "tailored
intelligence services" for "government clients faced with critical
intelligence challenges," and as an Iraq business development
catalyst.
Its Web site listed no officers, principals or partners, but described
operations as focused on an ambitious mix of political campaign
intelligence and commercial real estate. With one office in Baghdad
and
more projected, Lincoln would act as a clearinghouse for U.S.
and
foreign companies doing business in Iraq, providing "the information,
research and contacts necessary to develop and grow businesses" in the
post-Saddam era.
During this time, Lincoln appears to have
maintained a business address at 1130 17th St. NW in Washington,
and
shared phone and fax numbers with Omnicept, a firm located at
the time
at 1432 T St. NW. Omnicept described itself as an "advanced
information
technology and systems design firm" and "analytic and intelligence
firm" comprising "experts whose experience encompasses military
intelligence, education and academia, big business, money managers,
political activists, law enforcement, entrepreneurs, artists, and
more."
Paige Craig was listed at the same phone numbers as
Omnicept's September 2003 point of contact for Internet solicitations
for interns. He also represented Lincoln as vice president at the Iraq
Coalition Provisional Authority's Nov. 19, 2003, Industry Day in
Crystal City, Va. According to phone records, the T Street
address was
a residence with listings for Bailey and Craig.
In late 2003
or early 2004, however, the Lincoln Alliance Corp. became Iraqex,
and
in a Sept. 27, 2004, Agence France Press news story, was referred to as
"a U.S. firm involved in a range of activities from manufacturing
construction materials to providing logistics for U.S. forces." In
October 2004, it apparently added communications to its repertoire,
scoring a $6 million contract from the Multi-National Corps-Iraq
(formerly known as Combined Joint Task Force-7, which had
operational
control of all troops in Iraq) to design and execute an "aggressive
advertising and public relations campaign that will accurately inform
the Iraqi people of the coalition's goals and gain their support," as
the contract's August 2004 request for proposal put it.
O'Dwyer's PR Services Report,
an influential public relations trade publication, struck a somewhat
skeptical tone in its coverage of the tender. MNC-I's contract officer
refused to disclose the five other bidders. Bailey said "more
information would be forthcoming" about Iraqex and its efforts. Little
came, save a November 2004 brief in the trade publication, PR Week,
that reported, "Iraqex has a policy of not speaking to the press
regarding its work, but has hired 5W PR as its mouthpiece," and quoted
5W PR's chief as saying of Iraqex, "We have more experience working in
Iraq than any other firm or organization anywhere in the world."
Oddly,
at the December 2004 Destination Baghdad Expo in Iraq, Iraqex listed
itself as Iraq-based, but provided only its Washington telephone and
address. Then, in March 2005, it changed its name yet again, to
Lincoln
Group, a communications and PR firm "providing insight and
influence in
challenging and hostile environments." And on June 11, along with
SYColeman and Science Applications International Corp., Lincoln
Group
got its JPSE contract.
While the group's current Web site
does list noteworthy examples of successful endeavors apparently part
of its MNC-I work, some find it curious that a firm set up by two
thirty-something guys has come so far so fast. Also giving pause has
been the company's apparent tendency to solicit staff by way of
internships. And it is curious that records of Bailey's Republican
affiliations have disappeared from certain Web sites since the JPSE
contract was announced.
Bailey was a founder and active
participant in Lead21, a fund-raising and networking operation
for
affluent young Republicans, some of whom have gone on to
serve in the
Bush administration. Click on the links to Lead21's site today and no
mention of Bailey is to be found. But on a
subscriber business and
social networking site, there's an archived e-mail of Bailey
discussing
setting up a New York branch of Lead21, and his "personal network,"
which lists a half-dozen members of the organization's current board,
including the chairman of the California Republican Party and the
senior policy adviser to the Justice Department's chief information
officer. "These are going to be the big supporters, the big
donors to
the Republican Party in five years' time," Bailey told The New
York Times in an Aug. 31, 2004, video interview during a Lead21
party at the Republican convention in New York.
Neither
JPSE nor Lincoln Group responded to verbal or written requests for
interviews, but the Project on Government Oversight has reservations.
"Any time we see leaders who cultivate political influence for a
particular party suddenly receive major government contracts, it sends
up red flags," says POGO spokeswoman Beth Daley.
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