"Blackstone anticipates that the program will have $40 billion in total equity commitments in a permanent capital vehicle, including $20 billion to be raised from other investors," Blackstone said in a statement announcing the planned launch of the investment fund. "The MOU is non-binding and the parties will continue their negotiation to agree definitive documentation." Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Bruce Riedel was even less charitable. "There is no deal. It's fake news," he wrote in a scathing piece on the Brookings website. "I've spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing: there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts. Many are offers that the defense industry thinks the Saudis will be interested in someday."