Qinetiq is the result of a privatization scheme under which the UK Ministry of "Defense" sold off 75% of its research arm, the Defense Evaluation Research Agency, to the Carlyle Group, which is the largest private equity group in the world. Carlyle holdsd a large portfolio of military assets, including Vought Systems, manufacturers of military aircraft components, and United Defense Industries. UDI has been awarded a $665m (£460m) contract to develop the Crusader Advanced Field Artillery System.

In the wake of the Enron scandal, the Bush administration has come under fire for the close relationship between the Carlyle Group and the administration itself. Carlyle's executive roster is a who's who of major Western state-terrorists of the past twenty years, leavened with members of elite banking circles.

A selection of the Carlyle Group executive team:

Chairman: Frank Carlucci
former Secretary of Defense to Ronald Reagan
good friend of Secretary of State Colin Powell, with whom he arranged illegal sales of missiles to Iran throughout the 1980s in order to fund the Contra terrorists attacking Nicaragua

Managing Director: Afsaneh Masheyekhi Beschloss
former treasurer and chief investment officer of the World Bank

Asia Advisor: George Bush Sr.

Europe Chairman: John Major

Senior Advisor: James Baker
former Secretary of State to George Bush Sr,

For more info on the Carlyle group, see
 http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=1331