The combined company will form a separate, independent US subsidiary under Bell Labs for certain contracts with US government agencies to ensure that work of a sensitive nature continues to be performed in the US with the proper safeguards in place.
While most of the R&D work done by Bell Labs today is commercial, it does some classified work for the US government. To ensure the appropriate level of protection for that type of work, certain sensitive contracts Bell Labs and Lucent have with US government agencies will be transferred to a separate, independent subsidiary. This subsidiary will be separately managed by a board that will be composed of three independent US citizens acceptable to the US government.
The combined company will also adhere to other appropriate safeguards to protect sensitive work product. This type of structure is routinely used to protect sensitive government programs in the course of merger transactions involving a non-US party.
