Fax

To: / RONALD D. SUGAR
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Northrop Grumman Corporation / From: / Gerald Eastman
Fax: / (310) 201-3023 / Date: / March 1, 2016
Phone: / Pages: / 3, including cover sheet
Re: / Information for you, the Board, and your Legal Department’s consideration. / CC:

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•Comments: See attached letter.

Gerald Eastman

XXXXX SE XXXnd ST

Kent, WA 98031-1327

(XXX) XXX-XXXX (H)

(XXX) XXX-XXXX (C)

(email address)

December 14th, 2006

RONALD D. SUGAR
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Northrop Grumman Corporation

1840 Century Park East

Los Angeles, California 90067

Tel: (310)553-6262

Fax: (310) 201-3023

Dear Mr. Sugar,

My name is Gerald Eastman, a former employee of the Boeing Company. While I was an employee of Boeing, I came across information that composite design data Boeing had from their work as a subcontractor of your corporation on the B-2 program had been misappropriated for Boeing commercial airplane programs (and perhaps other Boeing military programs) without the permissions required from your corporation and the DOD to do so, to say nothing about the required declassifications that would be required if they had the noted permissions and wanted to release this data into their “white world” commercial airplane programs.

I have notified the Senate Armed Services Committee of these violations by Boeing. My letters to that committee are posted on my website at www.thelastboeinginspector.com. The information on my website goes into much, much more detail on the subject than I will go into in this brief letter.

While I realize that you may ultimately find it is in your corporation’s best interests to side with Boeing on this issue due to ongoing commercial interests, I just wanted to ensure your corporation was made aware of this misappropriation of your data for commercial use by Boeing so that you can look into it yourselves and take the best action for your corporation in response to it.

Because of a similar but likely less serious theft of data by Boeing from Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed ultimately secured advantages in the market it otherwise would not have had had that theft not been exposed. Because the theft was ultimately exposed, Boeing had to make amends to Lockheed because of it.

Even if your Corporation does not want to hold Boeing publicly accountable for the noted theft of and additional disclosure of your data to Boeing’s subcontractors for commercial use, I think you can still reap commercial recompense from Boeing “behind the scenes” through negotiations with their CEO and/or legal department that may partially or more than fully make your corporation whole in this matter.

I strongly believe that you will find that Boeing has been using your and the DOD’s composite design methods and processes from the B-2 program from the beginning of the 777 program, which, I’m sure you are aware, makes heavy use of composite structures, if not before that program.

I just wanted to make sure you and your corporation are made fully aware of these violations by Boeing. I did not want to just guess that you have read the articles in the news on the issue.

Sincerely,

Gerald Eastman

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