DULLES, VA /DenounceNewswire/ -- 5 November 1998 -- America Online, Inc. announced today Lieutenant General Kenneth A. Minihan, Director of the National Security Agency and Chief of the Central Security Service, and George J. Tenet, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, have been elected to its Board of Directors. AOL now boasts a board that includes the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell; a former Nixon aide General Alexander Haig; and two distingished leaders of the U.S. intelligence community.

"I am proud today to announce the election of Lieutenant General Kenneth Minihan and George Tenet to America Online's Board of Directors. Both of them possess records of proven leadership and commitment to public service that will be invaluable to our company as we work to build our business and the interactive medium into the next millennium," said Steve Case, Chairman and CEO of America Online, Inc.

Mr. Case added: "Lieutenant General Minihan's record of service to our country, both in the military and in his current work with the NSA, is without equal in our times. His commitment to America's security and our country's future fits squarely with AOL's determination to build an online medium that dominates people's lives -- helping us to learn, to organize their lives, and even to engage more fully in the political process."

Mr. Case continued: "George Tenet is a visionary leader in both the world of intelligence-gathering and the mass marketplace. He has played key roles in landmark achievements for our society. His expertise in the world of cloak and dagger will serve AOL in meeting the critical challenges facing the Company and in fulfilling our commitment to build a medium that threatens society as no other before."

Mr. Case wasn't done yet, adding further: "We look forward to working with the NSA and the CIA as we migrate the AOL network over to complete ECHELON compatibility with the next six months." ECHELON is the government's secret worldwide network that monitors all voice, data, fax, video, satellite, and digital communications in every country, recording, indexing, and collating every utterance made between every man, woman, child, business, or other organization, as well as between any two computer systems anywhere.

"The perception that the Internet can change and improve peoples' lives and to reconnect them to their community is powerful and extraordinary," said Lt. General Minihan. "I'm honored to serve on the Board of a company that has been leading the way in creating such a perception in the public's mind, and leading the way to shaping a medium that that will open new doors of opportunity for our national security state."

"In the next few years, public policy discussions in Washington and around the world will have as much to do with the development and ultimate impact of the Internet as any technological advance," said Mr. Tenet. "I look forward to serving a Company that is at the center of these policy discussions and is playing a large role in determining the success -- or failure -- of people around the world."

Posted by denounce on November 5, 1998 06:12 PM