Before joining the Defense Department, he was chief information officer and senior vice president at JDS Uniphase[2] and served on the economic development advisory council to the Fujian Provincial Government in the People's Republic of China.
I have yet to find that I can’t take an American businessman, ideally in his mid-forties, going through a raging midlife crisis, take this guy to a war zone, show him around with our troops, and then put him in front of a general.
The Washington Post described tensions between State and TFBSO as a “bureaucratic knife fight over the best way to revive Iraq's moribund economy" and that "under pressure from Congress to demonstrate progress on the ground, the military often favors immediate solutions aimed at quelling violence.
That has prompted objections from some at State who question the long-term consequences of that expeditious approach.”[14] Amidst these concerns, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) fought to have TFBSO defunded, arguing that “helping companies make money is not the role of the Department of Defense:” “The Pentagon's focus should not be on starting up businesses or facilitating business development tours for corporate CEOs […] Every House member needs to ask why the Department of Defense is helping Kate Spade, an exclusive New York based hand-bag designer, to source raw materials in Afghanistan?
Published and unpublished allegations ranged from unethical business deals, financial irregularities and inappropriate management practices to violations of administrative and other applicable law.
One letter raised safety concerns relating to a natural gas pipeline in northern Afghanistan, Sheberghan-Mazar, that has suffered years of corrosion and that TFBSO helped to repair.
The firm, founded by Brinkley and Hyatt Hotels executive chairman Thomas Pritzker, reportedly will initially seek to invest in Iraqi companies while advising clients looking to do business in the country and throughout North Africa and Central Asia.