[Peace-discuss] Blackwater-Spying

Mon Nov 5 18:21:54 CST 2007

Thanks, Roger.
Naomi Klein would cite this "business" as a manifestation of  
"Disaster Capitalism".  --mkb

On Nov 3, 2007, at 9:26 AM, Roger Epperson wrote:

>
>
> (Washington Post) Blackwater Delves Into Spying
> http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110307Z.shtml
>
>     Blackwater's Owner Has Spies for Hire
>     By Dana Hedgpeth
>     The Washington Post
>
>     Saturday 03 November 2007
>
> Ex-US operatives dot firm's roster.
>     First it became a brand name in security for its
> work in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now it's taking on
> intelligence.
>
>     The Prince Group, the holding company that owns
> Blackwater Worldwide, has been building an operation
> that will sniff out intelligence about natural
> disasters, business-friendly governments, overseas
> regulations and global political developments for
> clients in industry and government.
>
>     The operation, Total Intelligence Solutions, has
> assembled a roster of former spooks - high-ranking
> figures from agencies such as the CIA and defense
> intelligence - that mirrors the slate of former
> military officials who run Blackwater. Its chairman is
> Cofer Black, the former head of counterterrorism at
> CIA known for his leading role in many of the agency's
> more controversial programs, including the rendition
> and interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects and the
> detention of some of them in secret prisons overseas.
>
>     Its chief executive is Robert Richer, a former CIA
> associate deputy director of operations who was
> heavily involved in running the agency's role in the
> Iraq war.
>
>     Total Intelligence Solutions is one of a growing
> number of companies that offer intelligence services
> such as risk analysis to companies and governments.
> Because of its roster and its ties to owner Erik
> Prince, the multimillionaire former Navy SEAL, the
> company's thrust into this world highlights the
> blurring of lines between government, industry and
> activities formerly reserved for agents operating in
> the shadows.
>
>     Richer, for instance, once served as the chief of
> the CIA's Near East division and is said to have ties
> to King Abdullah of Jordan. The CIA had spent millions
> helping train Jordan's intelligence service in
> exchange for information. Now Jordan has hired
> Blackwater to train its special forces.
>
>     "Cofer can open doors," said Richer, who served 22
> years at the CIA. "I can open doors. We can generally
> get in to see who we need to see. We don't help pay
> bribes. We do everything within the law, but we can
> deal with the right minister or person."
>
>     Total Intel, as the company is known, is bringing
> "the skills traditionally honed by CIA operatives
> directly to the board room," Black said. Black had a
> 28-year career with the CIA.
>
>     "They have the skills and background to do
> anything anyone wants," said RJ Hillhouse, who writes
> a national security blog called The Spy Who Billed Me.
> "There's no oversight. They're an independent company
> offering freelance espionage services. They're
> rent-a-spies."
>
>     The heart of Total Intel operations is a suite on
> the ninth floor of an office tower in Ballston,
> patterned after the CIA counterterrorist center Black
> once ran, with analysts sitting at cubicles in the
> center of the room and glass offices of senior
> executives on the perimeter.
>
>     A handful of analysts in their 20s and 30s sit
> hunched over Macintosh computers, scanning Web sites,
> databases, newspapers and chat rooms. The lights are
> dimmed. Three large-screen TVs play in the background,
> one tuned to al-Jazeera.
>
>     The room, called the Global Fusion Center, is
> staffed around the clock, as analysts search for
> warnings on everything from terrorist plots on radical
> Islamic Web sites to possible political upheavals in
> Asia, labor strikes in South America and Europe, and
> economic upheavals that could affect a company's
> business.
>
>     "We're not a private detective," Black said. "We
> provide intelligence to our clients. It's not about
> taking pictures. It's business intelligence. We
> collect all information that's publicly available.
> This is a completely legal enterprise. We break no
> laws. We don't go anywhere near breaking laws. We
> don't have to."
>
>     Total Intel was launched in February by Prince,
> who a decade ago opened a law enforcement training
> center in Moyock, N.C., that has since grown into a
> half-billion-dollar business called Blackwater
> Worldwide. Prince has nine other companies and
> subsidiaries in his Prince Group empire, offering a
> broad range of security and training services. (One,
> Blackwater Security Consulting, is under scrutiny
> because of a Sept. 16 shooting incident in Iraq that
> involved some of its armed guards and in which 17
> Iraqi civilians were killed.) Prince built Total Intel
> by buying two companies owned by Matt Devost, the
> Terrorism Research Center and Technical Defense, and
> merging them with Black's consulting group, the Black
> Group. Devost, a cyber security and risk management
> expert, is now president of Total Intel.
>
>     Devost runs day-to-day operations, overseeing 65
> full-time employees. At the Global Fusion Center,
> young analysts monitor activities in more than 60
> countries. They include a 25-year-old Fulbright
> scholar fluent in Arabic and another person with a
> master's degree in international affairs, focused on
> the Middle East, who tracks the oil industry and
> security in Saudi Arabia.
>
>     Black and Richer spend much of their time
> traveling. They won't say where. It's a CIA thing.
> Black called at midnight recently to talk about Total
> Intel from "somewhere in the Middle East."
>
>     "I don't spend a lot of time telling people where
> I am as part of my business," he said. "I am discreet
> in where I go and who I see. I spend most of my time
> dealing with senior people in governments, making
> connections."
>
>     Black, who also serves as vice chairman of
> Blackwater Worldwide, said he also does "a lot more
> mundane things like go to conferences and trade
> shows," looking for business opportunities. "I'm going
> to have to go," he said. "My guy is motioning for me.
> I have to go meet people."
>
>     Who?
>
>     People.
>
>     Government people? Business people?
>
>     All kinds.
>
>     The company won't reveal its financial
> information, the names of its customers or other
> details of its business. Even looking at an analyst's
> screen at its Global Fusion Center wasn't allowed.
>
>     "No, no," Richer said, putting his hands up.
> "There may be customers' names on there. We don't want
> you to see."
>
>     In their conference room overlooking the Global
> Fusion Center, Total Intel executives fired off a list
> of some of their work. Are some recent bombings at
> major cities in India isolated incidents or should you
> pull your personnel out? What are the political
> developments in Pakistan going to mean for your
> business? Is your company popping up on jihadist Web
> sites? There's been crime recently in the ports of
> Mexico, possibly by rogue police officers. Is the
> government going to be able to ensure safety?
>
>     Since 2000, the Terrorism Research Center portion
> of the company has done $1.5 million worth of
> contracts with the government, mainly from agencies
> like the Army, Navy, Air Force, Customs and the U.S.
> Special Operations Command buying its data
> subscription or other services.
>
>     To Black and Richer, one of the most surprising
> things about being in the private sector is finding
> that much of the information they once considered top
> secret is publicly available. The trick, Richer said,
> is knowing where to look.
>
>     "In a classified area, there's an assumption that
> if it is open, it can't be as good as if you stole
> it," Richer said. "I'm seeing that at least 80 percent
> of what we stole was open."
>
>     As he's no longer with the CIA, Richer said he's
> found that people are more willing to share
> information. He said a military general in a country
> he would not name told him of the country's plan to
> build its next strike fighter. "I listened," Richer
> said.
>
>     "We talked business and where we could help him
> understand markets and things like that." At the end
> of the conversation, Richer said, he asked the man,
> "Isn't that classified? Why are you telling me this?"
>
>     Richer said the man answered, "If I tell it to an
> embassy official I've created espionage. You're a
> business partner."
>
>
>
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