by Sally Denton
Dad Bechtel’s biography as a self-made man embraced in, 11–12, 24
employee and contractor market divisions in, 9
founding of, 8
government ties used by, 6, 11, 12, 47–48, 55, 57–58, 72, 74–75, 76, 105, 110, 113, 120, 148–49, 152, 157–59, 160, 166, 172
Hoover Dam as signature project for, 6, 29, 44
as leading engineering and construction firm, 6, 12, 44
links to US presidents by, 6, 8, 74–75, 87–88, 90, 95, 104, 113
lobbying used by, 27, 41–42, 76, 104, 113, 128, 130, 141, 146, 148, 149, 150, 162, 173, 189–90, 202, 207, 211, 218, 224, 257, 261, 282, 291, 307
move into international work by, 53, 57, 59
multiyear megaproject specialization of, 9
“mystique” as member of global power elite held by, 11
overview of Bechtel family at, 7–9
private ownership structure of, 45, 52, 227, 237, 219, 318
revolving door between US government and, 6, 7, 54, 72, 99, 105, 148–49, 158, 169, 223, 294, 307
sex and race discrimination charges against, 120, 126–27
size of, 7–8, 47, 53
turnkey contract used by, 49
US foreign policy at odds with, 7
venture capital used by, 95, 135
workers in. See Bechtel workforce
World War II contracts and, 50–52
Bechtel Cabinet, 153, 157
Bechtel Civil and Minerals, Inc., 134
Bechtel Corporation
alliance with Hammer in Libya, 94
change of name to Bechtel Group, 134
formation of, 54
government contracts for, 57
Helms and Kissinger as consultants for, 99
Ivanpah, California, solar facility and, 296
Iraq pipeline project with Saddam and, 170
Iraq reconstruction and, 238
Livermore management by, 290
Peabody purchase by, 336n122
Saudi Arabian contracts of, 59, 62, 63
Shultz as president of, 114, 170
Steve Jr. at, 92
Weinberger at, 134
Bechtel Enterprises (BEn), 218–19, 220, 221, 225, 227, 233
Bechtel Enterprises Holdings, Inc., 95, 218
Bechtel family
Bohemian Grove membership of, 87, 88, 89, 114, 184
domination in business through five successive generations of, 6–7
overview of Bechtel succession with, 7–9
political beliefs of, 11
preoccupation with being out of public eye in, 8, 11, 46
private ownership structure and, 45, 135, 227, 237, 318
secrecy about operations maintained by, 6, 46, 57, 76, 87, 213, 219, 223, 227, 237, 296, 318
transition between generations in, 8–9, 44, 45, 86, 91, 192, 197, 200, 295
western beginnings of, 7
Bechtel Financing Services Inc., 216, 218
Bechtel Group, 111
Bechtel Group of Companies, 138
Bechtel in Arab Lands (Finnie), 63
Bechtel Ltd., 197, 205
Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation, 294–94
Bechtel-McCone Corporation
allegations of wartime profiteering lodged against, 52
Pearson on revolving door between government and, 72, 79, 148
defense contracts of, 51, 52, 53
focus of, 50
formation of, 49–50
national laboratories and AEC contracts and, 68, 72
number of employees in, 50
Steve Jr.’s work at, 86
Bechtel National Inc., 5
Bechtel Nuclear, 294
Bechtel Petroleum Inc., 134
Bechtel Power Corporation, 114, 134
Bechtel workforce
CIA agents in, as cover, 76, 78
Colley’s murder in Iraq and, 77, 192
on Dad Bechtel’s railroad projects in California, 25
deaths on Libyan pipeline projects and, 94
as hostages in Iraq, after US invasion, 201–02
Hoover Dam construction and, 35, 42, 317
Jewish workers excluded from, 61, 124–25
on Jubail new city project, Saudi Arabia, 123
Philippines as source of, 123
in Saudi Arabia, 61–62
Steve Jr.’s antilabor stance on, 87
Belgian Relief, 55
Belgium, 121
Benedict, Kennette, 255, 258
ben Halim, Mustafa, 94
Berger, Jeff, 223
Berlin Wall, 257, 269
Berrigan, Frida, 257, 259–60
Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, 294–95
Biden, Joe, 139, 301
Bin Laden Construction, 58, 59
bin Laden family, 219–20
Bird, Kai, 70
Black Canyon, 28, 31, 35, 37, 39–40
Blackwater, 4
Blitzer, Wolf, 174, 178
Boeing Company, 122
Bohemian Grove, California, 88–89, 100, 117, 184, 224
Bechtel family’s Mandalay Lodge at, 88, 89, 97, 105, 114
Bolivia, 98, 222–23
Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project (“Big Dig”), 9, 206–08, 222, 233–24, 310
Boston Globe, 66, 207, 222, 310
Boston Phoenix (newspaper), 208
Boulder Canyon Project Act, 32–33
Boulder City, Nevada, 38, 40, 41, 318
Boulder Dam. See Hoover Dam
Boykin, John, 148
Boy Scouts, 54, 92, 309
Brady, Nicholas F., 225
Brazil, 80, 95, 121, 146, 158, 225
“Breaking the War Mentality” (Obama), 275
Brechin, Gray, 91
Bremer, L. Paul (“Jerry”) III, 238, 239–40, 242, 356n238
Brezhnev, Leonid, 101
bridge projects, 5, 9, 22, 208, 235
Broder, John, 246
Briody, Dan, 161
British Petroleum, 62, 65, 85
Brown, Jerry, 136
Brown, Ronald H., 215–16
Brown and Root, 82
Brunwasser, Matthew, 307
Bryan, Danielle, 234, 290
Bryza, Matthew, 210
Brzezinski, Zbigniew, 132
Buckley, William F., 88
Burns, Arthur, 110, 133
Bush, Barbara, 2
Bush, George H. W., 13, 88, 89
Aqaba pipeline proposal and, 171, 200
Bechtel’s relationship with, 199, 206, 211, 212
election of, 199
Iraqi policy of, 198, 200
Operation Desert Storm and, 202
Bush, George W., 89
Bechtel’s relationship with, 232
environmental of, 226
initial US invasion of Iraq and, 3
Iran-Contra affair and, 184–85
Iraq reconstruction plans of, 5
Iraq War and, 1, 2, 3
Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) created by, 244
nuclear warhead industry and, 10
Pollard affair and, 299
Qaddafi in Libya and, 305–06
reconstruction of Iraq by, 5, 232, 242
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and, 3, 228
Bush, Jenna, 2
Bush, Laura, 241, 243
Business Advisory Council, 74
Business Council, 57, 76, 112–13
Business Roundtable, 112–13, 130, 247
Business 2.0 (magazine), 218, 221
BusinessWeek (magazine), 188, 189
BWX Technologies (BWXT), 258
Byrne, Malcolm, 348n186
California
Bechtel’s first federal highway contract in, 25
Dad Bechtel’s move to, 21–24
Hoover Dam development and need for water in, 30–31
Reagan Revolution and, 136
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 70
Calvert Cliffs, Maryland, nucle
ar plant, 120
Cameron, James, 295
Canada, 9, 51, 87, 95
Canavan, Francis, 306
Cannon, Lou, 114, 132
CANOL project, 51
Carnegie, Andrew, 86
Carpenter, Tom, 293
Carroll, James, 278, 281
Carter, Jimmy
arms control efforts of, 163
administration of
election of, 116, 130
energy policy of, 150
foreign policy of, 160
Iran hostage crisis and, 133, 138–39
nuclear nonproliferation policy of, 153, 276
nuclear power plant and, 153
Pollard affair and, 132, 300
Reagan’s defeat of, 133, 136, 139
Shultz’s criticism of, 153
Carus, W. Seth, 176
Casey, Ralph E., 52
Casey, William
background of, 132
Bechtel’s relationship with, 147–48
as CIA director, 142, 147, 175, 189
Israel and, 175, 178
Reagan and, 132–33, 172
Shultz’s friendship with, 132
Castro, Fidel
Kennedy’s assassination and, 81, 82
plots against, 78, 80
possible rapprochement with, during Kennedy administration, 81–82
Center for Defense Information, 163
Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, 309
Central Artery/Tunnel Project (“Big Dig”), Boston, 9, 206–08, 222, 233–24, 310
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Allende coup in Chile and, 97, 98–99
Bechtel’s employment of agents from, to provide cover, 76, 78
Bechtel officers’ moving to, 7
Bechtel’s relationship with, 75–77, 94, 99, 128
Casey as director of, 142, 147
Church Committee investigation of abuses in, 128
Colley’s murder in Iraq and, 77
covert plots of, 79–80, 95, 96, 97–99, 128, 175
creation of, 64, 67
Cuban plots of, 78, 79
Helms as director of, 80, 97–99, 162
Indonesian coup and, 95–96
intelligence-gathering by, 63
Israel’s request for information from, 178
Kennedy’s assassination and, 78, 81–82
Libyan pipeline project and, 94
McCone’s tenure at, 74, 78–82, 95, 97
Middle East policy and, 4–5, 63, 65
Mossadegh’s overthrow in Iran and, 65
Nixon’s use of, 95, 96, 97
Pollard’s application for fellowship from, 183
Pollard spy case and, 174, 175, 177, 184
Soviet Union and, 79
Steve Sr.’s relationship with, 75–76
transfer to Iraq of US-manufactured weapons and, 175
Year of the Spy cases and, 184
Channel Tunnel, 9
Chao, Daniel, 229
Chappel, H. G., Jessie, and Elizabeth, 46
chemical plant construction projects, 50, 58, 87. See also PC2 petrochemicals complex, Iraq
chemical weapons
Bechtel’s contract to build Iraqi plant for, 198–99, 230
Bechtel’s contract to destroy, 305
Iraq’s production facilities for, 174, 176, 180–81
Pollard’s intelligence on, 180
proposed sanctions against Iraq for use of, 193
Saddam’s use of, 168, 169–70, 173, 193, 200, 230
Shultz ‘s policy on, 237
Weinberger’s policy on, 161
Cheney, Dick, 309
Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Ukraine, 10, 216
Childs, J. Rives, 61
Chile, 95, 97–99, 304, 305
China
Bechtel projects in, 122, 158, 208, 209, 211
Nixon and, 89, 100
nuclear technology sales to, 158, 274
spying for, 252, 253
US foreign policy and, 83
China Syndrome, The (film), 149
Chomsky, Noam, 96
Christiansen, Thor, 1–2
Churba, Joseph, 165
Church, Frank, 128
Church Committee, Senate, 128
Churchill, Winston, 118
CIA. See Central Intelligence Agency
Civiak, Robert, 258, 264
Civil War, 19
Clark, William P., 142–43, 162, 172, 189
Clinton, Bill, 207, 214–16, 246, 254, 300
Clinton, Hillary, 301
coal industry, 7, 30, 87, 103, 104, 121–22, 158
Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Iraq, 238, 239–40
coal-slurry pipelines, 103, 121–22
Cochabamba, Bolivia, water system privatization, 222–23
Cohen, Danny, 178
Cold War, 14, 64, 69–70, 110–11, 156
Coll, Steve, 62, 63, 209, 215
Colley, George Jr., 64–65, 77, 192
Colombia, 218
Colorado River
description of, 28
damming of. See Hoover Dam
state partnerships to divide water rights from, 30–31
Colorado River Compact, 31
Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, 268
Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, 229
Commission for Relief in Belgium, 55
Committee on the Present Danger, 130–31, 163
Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), 197
Commonwealth Edison, 121
Communism
domino theory on, 75
Eisenhower’s concerns about, 75, 83–84
JFK’s stance on, 78
Nixon’s stance on, 87
Condor II ballistic missiles, 197
conflict-of-interest questions, and Bechtel contracts, 72, 102, 103, 147–49, 173, 192, 199, 207, 237, 307
Congo, Democratic Republic of, 80
Congress
financing for Bechtel projects and, 110
Hoover Dam construction and, 31, 32, 33, 34, 41
Iran-Contra inquiry by, 185, 347n185
lobbying for Bechtel projects in, 128
nonproliferation legislation of, 153
Obama’s New START proposal in, 281–82
Shultz nomination as Reagan’s secretary of state in hearings before, 145–47
Weinberger’s defense budget and, 162
World War II contracts and, 51–52
Congressional Budget Office, 82
Connally, John, 130–31, 132
Connelly, Ross J., 229
Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, 295
Consolidated Steel Inc., 48
Consumers Power, 120, 335n120
Continental Gas, Inc., 26, 47, 48
Coolidge, Calvin, 89, 118, 214
Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, 215
cost-plus contracts, 49, 63, 233, 262
Cotler, Irwin, 299
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), 113
Cranston, Alan, 146–47
Croatia, 215, 216, 304
Crogan, Jim, 201, 234
Crowe, Frank T., 47
background of, 32
Hoover Dam construction and, 34–36, 38
idea for Hoover Dam from, 31–32
workers and, 39, 40
Crude Vision: How Oil Interests Obscured U.S. Government Focus on Chemical Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein (Vallette, Kretzmann, and Wysham), 169, 229
Cuba
Bay of Pigs invasion and, 78
CIA operations about, 78, 79, 81
Guantanamo Bay facility and, 231
Kennedy’s assassination and, 81–82
possible rapprochement with, 81, 82
US foreign policy and, 81–82
Cutler, Lloyd, 145
Dachs, Alan, 204
Dachs, Lauren Bechtel, 93, 204–05
Dædalus (journal), 104
D’Agostino, Tom, 255
/>
dams
in Soviet Union, 43
in United States, 22. See also Hoover Dam
Dart, Justin W., 88
Davis, John, 118
Davis, Lisa, 236, 308
Davis, W. Kenneth, 71, 153–55, 156, 157
Deaver, Michael, 137–38
DeConcini, Dennis, 300, 301
Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), 247–48
defense contracts
audits of, 247
Bechtel and, 47–48, 58, 83, 85, 160, 215, 232, 247, 294, 304
McCone and, 66, 82, 83
in Middle East, 58
Weinberger in Department of Defense and, 139, 160–62
defense industry
Bechtel in, 309
military-industrial complex and, 83, 88, 275
national security and, 294
SRI research for, 85
US foreign policy and influence of, 83
defense policy
McCone’s role in developing, 66
nuclear weapon use and, 163
Obama administration and, 280
Truman administration and, 66
Defense Policy Board, 229
Dell, Christopher, 306–08
Dershowitz, Alan M., 185, 299
desalination plant projects, 122, 304–05
De Voto, Bernard, 47
Didion, Joan, 12, 17, 88
DiGenova, Joseph, 182, 185
Dillon, C. Douglas, 57, 75, 112
Dillon, Read & Company, 57, 112, 134–35, 220, 225
disaster relief projects, 217
hurricane Katrina and, 244, 245–48, 262
Dole, Robert, 131
domino theory, 75, 84, 87, 98, 100
Donovan, William (“Wild Bill”), 56, 57, 64
Doomsday Machine, 164
Douglas, Helen Gahagan, 118
Dowd, Maureen, 238
Dowie, Mark, 8, 65, 94, 105, 121, 291
Draper, William III, 171
Dresden, Illinois, Nuclear Power Plant, 10
drones, 305
Dubai, 211, 304, 305
Dudley, William N., 295
Dugas, Dennis, 235
Dulles, Allen Welsh, 56–57, 58, 59, 63, 64, 66, 67, 77, 78, 89
Dulles, John Foster, 56, 57
Dulles Corridor Metrorail Extension, Washington, DC, 9
Durenberger, David, 300
Eban Report, 182
Eccles, David, 23
Eccles, Marriner, 23
Economist (magazine), 135, 136, 232, 277, 279
Edwards, James, 155
Egypt
Bechtel projects in, 9, 60, 95, 101, 125, 139, 306
Israel and, 141, 168
Eichmann, Adolf, 178
Einstein, Albert, 68, 70
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (“Ike”), 107, 119
“Atoms for Peace” speech (1953), 69
Bechtel’s relationship with, 6, 74, 75
domino theory on Communism of, 75
McCone’s influence on, 67, 68, 71, 74, 75
military-industrial complex and, 83, 88, 99, 104
nuclear weapons policy of, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73
presidency of, 57, 89, 130
Eitan, Rafael, 178–79, 182, 346n178
