How a top-secret clearance trumped a background check
Thursday, June 22, 2006 | NJ Star-Ledger
If Microsoft is good enough for the Department of Defense, then it's good enough for Atlantic City.
That's the word from the state Casino Control Commission, or CCC, the agency charged with vetting the top executives of every company that does any significant business with A.C.'s gambling industry.
While it may be hard to imagine Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and the company's Chief Executive, Steve Ballmer, playing blackjack with casino titans like Steve Wynn and Donald Trump, Microsoft has been handling some computer network services for the Borgata, the newest and most successful of Atlantic City's 12 casinos.
The work was substantial enough that Microsoft had to apply for a license from the CCC, a process that triggered an investigation of Gates and Ballmer to make sure they have no connections with organized crime.
Rather than trying to prove Microsoft's honchos were clean, attorney Patrick McAuley pointed out to the CCC that Gates and Ballmer already have top-secret clearances from the Pentagon.
"I would say the DoD investigations for the type of clearance they received are generally more stringent than what the CCC conducts for a license," McAuley said. "Gates and Ballmer probably didn't even know there was money coming into Microsoft from Atlantic City until they were told they had to apply for a license."
-- Matthew Futterman
Thursday, June 22, 2006 | NJ Star-Ledger
If Microsoft is good enough for the Department of Defense, then it's good enough for Atlantic City.
That's the word from the state Casino Control Commission, or CCC, the agency charged with vetting the top executives of every company that does any significant business with A.C.'s gambling industry.
While it may be hard to imagine Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and the company's Chief Executive, Steve Ballmer, playing blackjack with casino titans like Steve Wynn and Donald Trump, Microsoft has been handling some computer network services for the Borgata, the newest and most successful of Atlantic City's 12 casinos.
The work was substantial enough that Microsoft had to apply for a license from the CCC, a process that triggered an investigation of Gates and Ballmer to make sure they have no connections with organized crime.
Rather than trying to prove Microsoft's honchos were clean, attorney Patrick McAuley pointed out to the CCC that Gates and Ballmer already have top-secret clearances from the Pentagon.
"I would say the DoD investigations for the type of clearance they received are generally more stringent than what the CCC conducts for a license," McAuley said. "Gates and Ballmer probably didn't even know there was money coming into Microsoft from Atlantic City until they were told they had to apply for a license."
-- Matthew Futterman