The US government gave Egypt $1.2 million in 2009 for tear gas purchases with the congressionally imposed provision that purchase must be made from the USA; in 2010 the tear gas grant came to $1.7 million.
The company that provides the Egyptian military with tear gas is a US incorporated Israeli company called Combined Systems Inc. It was founded in 1981 by two Israelis, Jacob Kravel and Michael Brunn, and it has a fully owned subsidiary in Israel. The company also provides Israel with tear gas and other “non-lethal” weaponry.
Combined Systems delivered approximately 46 tons of ammunition to the Egyptian military in 2011 over three shipments.
Combined Systems Inc is owned by CTS-CSI Holdings Inc. CTS-CSI Holdings is owned by Carlyle Mezzaine Partners and Point Lookout Capital Partners
Managing Partners of Point Lookout, Michael Monteleone and James Cesare, are both members of an advisory board for F.N.B. Capital Corp. of Pittsburgh.
Through Point Lookout Capital, its portfolio, and individual executives, the group has given tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to the Republicans, and for lobbying congress.
Aside from tear gas, the company supplies flash grenades, smoke grenades, electric batons, handcuffs, and a multitude of other crowd control and security technologies