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By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - A key U.S. lawmaker expressed "grave concerns" on Friday about plans by France's Alcatel (CGEP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) to acquire Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU.N: Quote, Profile, Research), saying sensitive U.S. information or technology could be passed to countries like Iran and North Korea as a result.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter wrote to U.S. President George W. Bush saying he doubted the U.S. government panel charged with vetting foreign takeovers for national security concerns could provide needed assurances on the proposed deal.

The Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) must review and clear the $14.1 billion proposed merger between the telecommunications equipment companies.

Although no lawmakers sit on the CFIUS panel, their clout was demonstrated last month when a backlash in Congress forced a Dubai company to drop its plans to acquire operations at six U.S. ports -- even though CFIUS had approved the deal.

"I have several grave concerns about the potential merger of French-owned Alcatel and American-owned Lucent Technologies," Hunter, a California Republican, said in the letter to Bush that was released to the media.

His concerns arose largely because Lucent and its Bell Labs research facility "conduct a significant amount of highly classified work for the United States government, including the Department of Defense," Hunter said.

"Specifically, I am concerned about potential transfers of technology or sensitive information to other countries with which Alcatel has business dealings," Hunter said.

These countries have included Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, many of which were subject to U.S. sanctions, he said.

Hunter's letter was a blow to the proponents of the merger, who recently won the blessing of another key lawmaker who together with Hunter had crusaded against the ports deal.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer said this month that he had no objections to France's Alcatel acquiring New Jersey-based Lucent. Schumer noted Alcatel was not state-owned, unlike the Dubai company that wanted to buy U.S. port operations.    Continued ...

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