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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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November 3rd,
2007 - Blackwater’s Owner Has Spies for Hire |
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Blackwater’s Owner Has Spies
for Hire Ex-U.S. Operatives Dot Firm’s Roster By Dana Hedgpeth Washington Post November 3, 2007 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." Staff researcher Julie Tate
contributed to this report. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110202165.html |