U.S. Opens Security Probe of IBM's Sale of PC Unit, People Say [View All]

...and the repubs are worried??? I really thought they liked exporting the US economy ....

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. opened a national-security probe of International Business Machines Corp.'s planned sale of its personal-computer business to China's Lenovo Group Ltd. after the companies failed to win clearance during an initial review, people familiar with the matter said.

The government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States decided yesterday to begin a 45-day investigation of potential risks posed by the $1.25 billion sale, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The committee, known as CFIUS, has been assessing the deal since late December, after the companies announced it.

Members of the committee, including the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, indicated they weren't willing to sign off before a Jan. 28 statutory deadline, the people said. They have questioned whether Chinese agents might use an IBM facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, to engage in industrial espionage, and voiced concern over Lenovo's access to details of U.S. government use of IBM technology, the people said.

The transaction has also drawn criticism on Capitol Hill. On Wednesday, Republican Representatives Henry Hyde of Illinois, Duncan Hunter of California and Don Manzullo of Illinois, all committee chairmen, wrote Treasury Secretary John Snow calling for an expanded CFIUS probe into the transaction on national- security grounds. Snow declined to comment today on the committee's investigation of the IBM sale.

more....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aw59wNFl_RpQ&refer=top_world_news