Getting Past The Interpreter To Clinch an Aircraft Deal

U.S. Ambassadors are often asked to weigh in on a big sale to a host government, particularly when the companies feel they are facing unfair competition. In the case of the South Korean purchase of anti-submarine warfare planes in the early 1990s, it was an issue of language.

Donald P. Gregg, a former CIA officer, was serving as U.S. Ambassador to South Korea when he found himself at the center of negotiations between the Korea’s Minister of Defense, Lockheed Martin, and a French competitor over a multi-million dollar purchase of maritime patrol aircraft. While at the Defense Ministry to promote Lockheed’s P-3 Orion as the best choice, Ambassador Gregg could not understand why the Minister seemed so set on choosing the French option. He knew Lockheed’s plane was of higher quality, and, with the help of his defense attaché, he had learned the French price and had just stressed to the Minister that Lockheed had cut their price, making it cheaper than France’s offer.

“Christiansen passed a note to me saying the interpreter was not interpreting what I was saying…”

Ambassador Donald Gregg

Fortunately, the Ambassador was accompanied by Dick Christiansen, a Foreign Service Officer from Wisconsin serving as Gregg’s Counselor for Political-Military Affairs. Christiansen was fluent in Korean.

“Christiansen passed a note to me saying the interpreter was not interpreting what I was saying,” remembered Ambassador Gregg. “I looked at Dick, and he shook his head.” Christiansen would later explain to the Ambassador that the interpreter seemed to be trying to save the Minister from embarrassment by not revealing that he was unaware of the lower price. “I then thanked the minister for the meeting.” Gregg recalled, “and said ‘I would like to see you once more before you make your final decision.’

A P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft, Republic of Korea Navy, wikipedia commons, license 2.0

“So we met with him with my own interpreter and I said exactly the same thing. This time it got through. He went right through the ceiling, called a halt, called a review, and the bid went to Lockheed.”

Some months later, Gregg is welcomed as a hero at Lockheed’s P-3 production facility in Marietta, Georgia, where the sale to Korea kept the assembly line running for several more years. Gregg’s persistence saved hundreds of American jobs and helped keep the Marietta economy strong.

The French, however, were furious, according to Gregg. “They never spoke to me again.”