Tom McMillen's Slam Dunk

The bursting of the bubble in shares of stun-gun maker Taser International(TASR Quote) has stilled some of the mania in homeland defense stocks.

But the 64% plunge in Taser this year hasn't deterred everyone looking for a way to pocket some of the money federal and state governments are lavishing on domestic protection. A case in point is Fortress America Acquisition Corp., a Bethesda, Md., start-up whose only products are the resumes of its politically connected board and backers.

The six-month-old concern, which recently filed plans for an initial public offering, hopes to raise $42 million so it can purchase a company that "contracts directly with the government on homeland security projects."

The company is the brainchild of C. Thomas McMillen, a former Maryland congressman, NBA player and Rhodes Scholar who has morphed into a Wall Street entrepreneur during the past several years. Besides Fortress, McMillen is involved with a number of start-ups in the security sector and was once an officer with Sky Capital, a New York- and London-based investment firm.

Fortress America plans to sell 7 million shares at $6 apiece.

McMillen, who will own 6.6% of Fortress America's stock after the offering, appears to be banking on the company's political connections to generate investor interest, a strategy he's employed before at other ventures with mixed success.

One of Fortress America's directors is former Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), who was once chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Asa Hutchinson, former undersecretary for the federal Department of Homeland Security, is a special adviser to the company. Hutchinson also is a former Republican congressman from Arkansas. Both Nickles and Hutchinson are stockholders in the fledgling company.

For McMillen, a Democrat, Fortress America's quest for IPO gold clearly is a bipartisan effort.

But that's not all the political muscle Fortress America is bringing to bear.

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