L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc.
L-3 Communications is an aerospace systems and national security contractor. In 2014, L-3 generated 71 percent of its total revenue from the federal government, amounting to $8.58 billion.[1]
According to the company's web site, L-3 says that it is a "leading merchant supplier of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) products, secure communications systems and products, avionics and ocean products, training products, microwave components and telemetry, instrumentation, space and wireless products." The company claims a workforce of more than 25,000 employees and "over $4.0 billion in sales in 2002." Among its customers, L-3 Communications Holdings includes the "Department of Defense, selected US government intelligence agencies, aerospace prime contractors and commercial telecommunications and wireless customers."[2]
Contents
Federal Contracting, OSHA Violations, and Opposition to Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order
An L-3 executive sits on the board of the Professional Services Council (PSC), a trade association. PSC is a major opponent of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order, an order issued by President Obama in 2014 that aims to ensure that federal contractors comply with federal wage laws, health and safety standards, and civil rights laws.[3]
An investigation by the Center for Media and Democracy of OSHA inspection records found that numerous corporations (and/or their subsidiaries)--including L-3--whose executives sit on the board of PSC had been cited for serious and repeat violations of OSHA standards from 2013-2015 that would be reportable under the EO. A "serious" violation indicates "a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result" from a hazard, a "willful" violation is cited when "evidence shows either an intentional violation of the Act or plain indifference to its requirements," and a "repeat" violation indicates the business "has been cited previously for a substantially similar condition."[4]
In 2014, L-3 generated 71 percent of its total revenue from the federal government, amounting to $8.58 billion.[1]
As described in more detail below, between 2013-2015, L-3 or its subsidiary or related entity, L-3 Display Systems, received citations for 5 OSHA violations and $17,550 in fines.
- 3/10/14:[5] In response to a complaint at Fort Drum, NY, L-3 Communications was cited for 1 "Serious" violation and 2 "Other-than-Serious" violations, and fined $7,000. The serious violation concerned the failure to protect workers from exposure to hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing substance.[6] The case remains open, pending abatement of violations and penalty payment.
- 4/17/14:[7] Following an unprogrammed inspection at an L-3 Communications site in Greenville, TX, OSHA inspectors cited the company for 1 "Serious" violation for failing to protect workers against exposure to electric shock. In an informal settlement the serious violation was reduced to "Other- than-Serious" and the penalty to $3,500.
- 6/02/14:[8] Following a referral inspection, OSHA cited an L-3 Communications site in Salt Lake City, UT for 1 "Serious" violation, and issued a fine of $4,500.
- 11/20/14:[9] Following a complaint inspection, OSHA cited an L-3 subsidiary or related entity, L-3 Display Systems, in Alpharetta, GA for 2 "Serious" violations of the standard for personal protective equipment, and issued an initial penalty of $5,100. In an informal settlement, the violation was reduced to 1 "Other-than-Serious" and the penalty to $2,550.
Related Articles: Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces
Key Articles
- "Reporters' Guide: Federal Contractors with History of OSHA Violations Battle New Safety Rules," PR Watch, February 16, 2016.
- Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order
- Professional Services Council
- HR Policy Association
PR Watch Series on OSHA Violators
- "From Receptionists to Rocket Scientists, MANPOWER Undermines Higher Wages," PR Watch, September 3, 2015.
- "DuPont Rakes in Federal Dollars Despite History of Hazards," PR Watch, February 29, 2016.
- "Honeywell's String of Dangerous Close Calls Doesn't Stop Flow of Taxpayer Dollars," PR Watch, March 9, 2016.
- "The Safety Violations Billion-Dollar Contractor BAE Systems Should Have to Disclose," PR Watch, March 16, 2016.
- "Shaky Safety Record for Billion-Dollar Contractor AECOM Overseeing Nuclear Facilities," PR Watch, March 31, 2016.
Reports
- "Acting Responsibly? Federal Contractors Frequently Put Workers' Lives and Livelihoods at Risk," U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Tom Harkin, Chair. December 11, 2013.
- "At Our Expense: Federal Contractors that Harm Workers Also Shortchange Taxpayers," Karla Walter and David Madland, Center for American Progress, December 2013.
Other Resources
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA homepage.
- Federal Contractor Misconduct Database, Project on Government Oversight.
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History
In 1997, Frank C. Lanza and Robert V. LaPenta formed a business that could serve as a "leading mezzanine company for the defense electronics and communications industry." Both had decades of experience in the defense industry, including Lockheed Martin and the Loral Corporation.
In conjunction with Lehman Brothers and Lockheed Martin, Lanza and LaPenta formed L-3 Communications to be a "supplier of choice for prime contractors. In establishing the company, several advanced electronics businesses were purchased that were part of the Lockheed Martin, Loral Corporation merger that occurred in 1996. Also purchased from Lockheed Martin was a division located in Camden, NJ that had been part of GE."
Milestones included the purchase and merger of a number of companies:
1998: ILEX Systems, a leading supplier of information technology, software and related military products; Ocean Systems, a leading supplier of surface and undersea products; SPD Technologies, Inc., one of the world's leading providers of state-of-the-art, mission-critical electronics and electrical power products and subsystems; and Microdyne Corporation, a premier global developer and manufacturer of aerospace telemetry receivers, secure communications and technical service solutions for high technology providers.
1999: Aydin Corporation, a leader in technologically advanced telemetry, communications and other electronic products and systems for military, space, government and commercial customers; Interstate Electronics Corporation (IEC), a long-term supplier of critical test instrumentation and missile tracking systems for the U.S. Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile weapons systems, used aboard the Trident submarine and a leader in Global Positioning System (GPS) technology currently in use on multiple aircraft, cruise missile and precision guided bombs and projectiles; LNR and EMP, leading providers of antennas and complete tracking for Telemetry, Tracking & Control (TT&C) for receiving high rate imagery data, flight termination systems, up and down converters for C, X, Ku, and Ka-band satellites, military fixed and portable command and control ground stations, portable commercial satellite news gathering uplinks and satellite components; and Space and Navigation Systems, a leader in navigation products for major weapons systems and satellites.
2000: Training Devices and Training Services (TDTS) business of the Raytheon Company; the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) product line from Honeywell and created the L-3 Aviation Communications and Surveillance Systems division; acquired all outstanding stock of MPRI (teaching and training programs to domestic and international governments as well as commercial customers; and acquired a 53.5% stake in LogiMetrics, Inc and control of its operations [leadership technology for the emerging broadband wireless communications infrastructure market for Ka-band Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) distribution services, including high-speed Internet access, real-time multimedia file transfer, interactive video and other applications].
2001: KDI, a leading provider of premium fuzing products (proximity fuzes, Electronic Safe and Arm Devices (ESADs) and self-destruct/submunition grenade fuzes); EER Systems, specializing in communication systems, training and simulation equipment and a broad range of hardware and software for the U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy, the FAA and BMDO; and Spar Aerospace Limited, a leading global provider of turnkey aviation life cycle management services, providing value-added engineering and upgrades for selected military and commercial aviation programs.
2002: Aircraft Integration Systems (AIS), a division of Raytheon that is a leader in the global Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) market [largest acquisition to date].
Divisions
See alphabetized listing of links to divisions here.
Board of Directors
As of 2007, the following are members of the Board of Directors of L-3 Communications: [1]
- Robert B. Millard, Non-Executive Chairman, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Member of the Compensation Committee
- Michael T. Strianese, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
- Claude R. Canizares, Member of the Audit Committee
- Peter A. Cohen, Chairman of the Compensation Committee, Member of the Executive Committee
- Thomas A. Corcoran, Chairman of the Audit Committee, Member of the Executive Committee
- John M. Shalikashvili, Member of the Compensation Committee, Member of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee
- Arthur L. Simon, Member of the Audit Committee, Member of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee
- Alan H. Washkowitz, Chairman of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee, Member of the Compensation Committee
- John P. White, Member of the Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee
Personnel
See Corporate web pages for full biographies.[2]
- Frank C. Lanza, Chairman, CEO, and Board Member
- Robert V. La Penta, President, CFO, and Board Member
- Christopher C. Cambria, Senior Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel
- Michael T. Strianese, Senior Vice President, Finance
- Jimmie V. Adams, Vice President, Washington, D.C. Operations; (General, U.S. Air Force, Ret.)
- David T. Butler, Vice President, Planning
- Ralph G. D'Ambrosio, Vice President and Controller
- Ralph DeNino, Vice President, Procurement
- Kenneth W. Manne, Vice President, Human Resources
- Joseph S. Paresi, Vice President, Product Development; President, Security Services
- David M. Reilly, Assistant Secretary and Assistant General Counsel
- Robert W. Riscassi, Vice President, Washington, D.C. Operations
- Charles J. Schafer, Vice President, Business Operations; President, Products Group
- Stephen M. Souza, Vice President and Treasurer
- Cynthia Swain, Vice President, Corporate Communications
- Vincent T. Taylor, Vice President and Chief Information Officer
- Jill Wittels, Vice President, Business Development
- Curtis Brunson, Corporate Vice President
- Allan R. Dietrich, Corporate Vice President; President, Telemetry Group
- Stuart MacKiernan, Corporate Vice President; President, Satellite Networks
- John S. Mega, Corporate Vice President; President, NARDA Microwave-East
- Gregory B. Roberts, Corporate Vice President; President, Communications Systems-East
- Anthony Acri, III, President, IMC Corporation
- Chris Bourassa, President, Storm Control Systems, Inc.
- Dick Braatz, President, Telemetry-East
- Apostle G. Cardiasmenos, President, EMP and ESSCO
- Anthony Caputo, President, Spar Aerospace, Ltd.
- Frank Cobis, President, Seabeam
- Bruce Coffey, President, Aviation Recorders
- A.E. (Gene) Dotson, President, SPD Technologies
- Robert W. Drewes, President, Integrated Systems
- James W. Dunn, President, Link Simulation & Training
- Robert N. Freedman, President, RANDTRON
- Peter Floyd, President, APCOM, Inc.
- Jay M. Garner, President, SY Technology
- Eric L. Guerrazzi, President, KDI Precision Products
- Jai N. Gupta, Group President, EER Systems, L-3 Analytics, TMA, and IMC
- Douglas Hawks, President, PACORD, Inc.
- Joseph Homko, President BT Fuze Products
- Robert A. Huffman, President, Interstate Electronics Corporation
- Joseph S. Lopez, President, ILEX Systems, Inc.
- Robert McGill, President, Display Systems
- John Medea, President, ILEX Systems Engineering
- Bruce Moore, President, Celerity
- Mike Moore, President, Electro Fab
- John M. Oakes, President, Microdyne Outsourcing
- James Blenn Perkins III (Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy, Ret.), President, TMA Corporation
- Raymond R. Ross II, President, L-3 Analytics
- Don Roussinos, President, Henschel
- Steven T. Schorer, President, Ocean Systems
- Thomas Sheffler, President CONIC
- Burt Smith, President, Telemetry-West
- Donald A. Spetter, President, Electrodynamics
- Leo Sullivan, President, Power Paragon
- Robert Urso, President, EER
- Carl Vuono, President, MPRI
- Paul Wengen, President, Space & Navigation
Lobbying Expenditures
| Year | Subsidiary (lobbied for) | Amount | Firm |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | SPD Technologies; L-3 Analytics; Bt Fuze Products Division | $520,000 | Thelen Reid & Priest - SPDT ($240K); Baker Donelson ($120K); PMA Group ($100K); Robison International ($40K); Madison Government Affairs - L-3 Analytics ($20K); ACG Intercontinental - BFP Division ($0) |
| 1999 | SPD Technologies; L-3 Analytics; Bt Fuze Products Division | Defense Electronics - $500,000; Misc. - $40,000 | Thelen Reid & Priest - SPDT ($220K); Baker Donelson ($80K); PMA Group ($120K); Robison International ($80K); Madison Government Affairs - L-3 Analytics ($40K); ACG Intercontinental - BFP Division ($0) |
| 2000 | SPD Technologies; L-3 Analytics; Bt Fuze Products Division | Defense Electronics - $430,000; Misc. - $60,000 | Thelen Reid & Priest - SPDT ($90K); Baker Donelson ($100K); PMA Group ($200K); Robison International ($40K); Madison Government Affairs - L-3 Analytics ($60K); ACG Intercontinental - BFP Division ($0) |
| 2001 | SPD Technologies; L-3 Analytics; Bt Fuze Products Division | Defense Electronics - $618,000; Misc. - $60,000 | Thelen Reid & Priest - SPDT ($138K); Baker Donelson ($100K); PMA Group ($300K); Robison International ($40K); Madison Government Affairs - L-3 Analytics ($60K); ACG Intercontinental - BFP Division ($0) |
| 2002 | SPD Technologies; L-3 Analytics; Security & Detection Systems; Bt Fuze Products Division | Defense Electronics - $700,000; Misc. - $40,000 | Thelen Reid & Priest - SPDT ($120K); Baker Donelson ($160K); PMA Group ($340K); Robison International ($40K); Madison Government Affairs - L-3 Analytics ($40K); Alpha Stategies - Security & Detection ($40K) ACG Intercontinental - BFP Division ($0) |
| 2003 | BEAMHIT LLC; SPDT; L-3 Analytics; BFP Division | Defense Electronics - $536,000; Misc. - $40,000 | Perkins Smith & Cohen ($40K); PMA Group ($380K); Robison International ($40K); BEAMHIT LLC ($366K); Thelen Reid & Priest - SPDT ($170K); Copeland Lowery & Jacquez - BEAMHIT ($100K); Conaway Group - BEAMHIT ($40K); Madison Government Affairs - L-3 Analyics ($40K); [ACG Intercontinental - BFP Division ($0) |
| 2004 | L-3 Avisys; BEAMHIT; L-3 SPDT | $1,180,000 | PMA Group ($400K); Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal - L-3 Avisys ($180K); Baker Donelson ($160K); Potomac Advocates ($120K); Copeland Lowery & Jacquez - BEAMHIT ($80K); Ghazal & Associates - BEAMHIT ($60K); Teicher Howard ($60K); Brown & Company -SPDT - ($40K); Conaway Group - BEAMHIT ($40K); Perkins Smith & Cohen ($20K); Robison International ($20K) |
| 2005 | L-3 Avisys; BEAMHIT | $175,000 | Potomac Advocates ($60K); Sonnenschein - L-3 Avisys ($60K); Conaway Group - BEAMHIT ($20K); Robison International ($20K); Teicher Howard ($15.3K) |
Contact
600 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Phone: 212-697-1111
Fax: 212-867-5249
Web: http://www.l-3com.com
Related SourceWatch Resources
- Defense contractors
- L-3 Crestview Aerospace
- Military-industrial complex
- Military Professional Resources Inc.
- Private Military Corporations
- SYColeman, Inc.
External links
- Annetta Miller, Best Defense. Here's how L-3 Communications is morphing its esoteric military hardware -- and selling it to civilians, Time.com, February 10, 2003
- Griff Witte, "Lincoln Group Out of Military PR Contract: TV, Radio Deal Unrelated to Controversy Over Reports in Iraqi Papers, Pentagon Says", Washington Post , July 19, 2006; Page D03..
