Archive for category Disaster Response
I wanted to get this up so guys can jump on these opportunities. Wackenhut is an old hand at this disaster response security stuff. They also pay alright. The second company below is a new one to me, and if anyone has anything on them, I would be interested. With that one, apply at your own risk. Hopefully I can get some feedback on that company.
Please follow the links below to apply for these jobs, and I am not the POC or recruiter. Good luck out there, and if I find any more jobs I will make the edit and add them to this post. -Matt
Disaster Response Security Officer-NCR
Job ID:
2011-2588
Location:
US-MD-Oxon Hill
Category:
Security Services – Access Control
Type:
REG
More information about this job: Overview: WSI, a national security firm, is recruiting for Armed Security Officers in support of our Federal Protective Services Disaster Response contracts. Applicants from all states are encouraged to apply. Areas of deployment include: Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Tennessee. Responsibilities: Provide armed security to FPS sites. Qualifications:
Basic Requirements for all applicants:
Must be at least 21 yrs old and U.S. Citizen or legally eligible to work in the United States.
Proficiency in English (Written or Spoken)
Must posses a high school diploma or GED
Must successfully pass a criminal and credit background investigation
3 years armed security experience (police and military acceptable)
Must successfully pass physical examination to include a drug screen
State and local law enforcement officers must provide training certificate and proof of current employment
Experience with Entry/Exit Access
Comfortable with Roving Patrol up to 12 hours per day across long distances
Familiarity with securing facilities and/or vehicles at a fixed location
Physically capable of standing a 12-hour post
Firearms training and firearms qualifications, and company certifications
Must pass DHS Public Trust suitability requirements
You will be *REQUIRED to supply the following items:
• 2 Fingerprint cards (FD-258′s) -Required
• Copy of passport (if available)
• Copy of Driver’s License – Required
• Copy of Birth certificate OR Naturalization Certificate – Required
• CPR & First Aid (if available)
• Baton Training (if available)
• Copy of Current Annual Firearms Training – Required
• Copy of Current Armed Security Guard License
• Copy of DD-214 (if available)
• Copy of High School Diploma or GED – Required
*If any of the required items are missing, then you will be unable to complete the recruitment process and your application will be forfeit.
To apply please go to www.wsihq.com
For more information please email www.gctemp@wsihq.com or call 561-632-8837 or 561-275-8585.
EOE, M/F/D/V
Apply here.
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All Pro Legal Investigations, PA d/b/a/ All Protection & Security is currently recruiting disaster security guards in support of our contract with a 3000+ location nationwide health care provider.
This client requires the following RAPID RESPONSE security personnel:
* ARMED Security Guard License from any of the East Coast states.*
In 1985, a French doctor and businessman co-founded the first travel-assistance company, AEA International, specializing in risk mitigation and pre-trip advice for European and Australian corporations operating in Asia. The firm, which is based in London, Philadelphia, and Singapore, changed its name to International S.O.S. in 1998. As global tourism boomed, ISOS expanded into a force that grossed $850 million and handled 1.2 million cases in 2009. (By contrast, Global Rescue handled about 300 cases that year. The company, which is private, declined to reveal revenue.) Travel assistance and crisis response are now a global industry worth billions, and there are no fewer than eight American companies offering those services.
Great article and I really liked the comparisons between this company and the larger ones like ISOS. All of these companies have been busy this year and last, and they have really shown their necessity in these very dangerous times.
The article also brings up a similar theme in business, that you see in war. That when it comes to competition between companies, the underdog companies compete with the larger ones by going after that behemoth’s weakness. That would be the personal touch. They also copy what works in the bigger companies, and find that one little difference in operations or technology that makes them just a little bit better than the bigger companies.
Global Rescue does not handle the same amount of business as the bigger guys, but what they do offer is a more personal service that is appealing to those that want that kind of thing. It is a small company taking advantage of their size and filling a niche within their market. You can have the homemade deluxe burger made by Marge at the local restaurant, or you can pay less for that burger at a major chain like McDonalds. I would also add that this company probably does a better job at customer service and satisfaction? Who knows, and we will see how their service evolves as they get bigger and more popular?
Although I am curious about their cost, versus the other company’s costs? Obviously their clientele are the type that want the personal touch of some former Navy SEAL and his team coming directly to their rescue and saying, ‘we are here to get you out’. Cool stuff and hopefully someone from the company can chime in. -Matt
Global Rescue Website here.
Hero Complex
A brash new company is revolutionizing crisis response by sending ex-military to rescue adventurers. So why all the enemies?
April 2011
By Devon O’Neil
Global Rescue CEO Dan Richards (Photo by Michael Lewis)
“WHAT’S THE LATEST on the lion bite in Zimbabwe?”
Ted Muhlner’s commanding voice fills the room, a spacious seventh-floor office in Boston’s financial district decorated with ten flatscreen TVs and little else. The place looks like a stockbroker’s warren, but it’s not. The 37-year-old Muhlner, a former Navy SEAL with an M.B.A. from Harvard, is senior director of operations for Global Rescue, a seven-year-old company that assists adventure travelers and corporate employees who find themselves in dicey situations far from home. At the moment, surrounded by four paramedics and two ex–military personnel, Muhlner is conducting a 20-minute briefing on the day’s workload, a checklist of ongoing operations around the world.
This is cool. The Radiation Network is a crowd based and privately run radiation monitoring system that is free for everyone to check out. Each yellow disk on the map indicates a reading. The map is updated every minute by it’s network members. So with the news in Japan in regards to their nuclear disaster, a site like this will be able show exactly the impact on the US in the West Coast.
Now what would really be cool is to turn this into a mobile application? hint hint. I bet a radiation network mobile app would get thousands of downloads through iTunes. We will probably see other networks pop up, or even a group like Google might get in on the action and help the Radiation Network soup up their product?
Also, I expect the number of citizen monitors to increase, just because this nuclear disaster in Japan is causing folks to buy up detectors and everything else dealing with radiation monitoring. But a word of caution–because this is a crowd based deal, it is very difficult to insure that quality readings are being done.
All in all though, I think this is a great resource, and in the coming days and weeks and months of this nuclear disaster, we will see the global impact of the event. (from what I understand, a global network version is being fired up, and the network is expanding internationally) Bravo to Tim Flanegin and his crew for putting this resource together, and I just hope his host’s servers can handle the traffic. -Matt
We have received a lot of feedback on our Radiation Network, including gratitude for this service, and we really appreciate the support. A lot of suggestions and questions (and some complaints) have been forwarded as well, so I would like to address those here, because we do not have time to respond to your individual email messages.
This is tragic, and my heart goes out to all those impacted by these disasters. I was watching the tsunami in Japan on television and the footage was remarkable. The tsunami was a result of an earthquake and it has pummeled Japan. There is a tsunami warning for Hawaii, other Pacific islands, and the entire West Coast in the US. To follow this stuff, definitely track the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and your local news to get updates.
A couple of things that come to mind on this. This event, along with what is going on in Libya and potentially in Saudi Arabia, are all combining to make a Blackswan Event. Events that were not predicted, and change the dynamic dramatically. What I mean by that, is that the shock waves from both disasters, could have drastic consequence. The price of oil will rise, and all the business and economies that depend upon the stability of Japan will be negatively impacted. If Hawaii and the West Coast of the US are hit, that could have consequence as well. I will further update this post as events unfold and we will see how it goes…. -Matt
Update: 03/12/2011- Now the latest deal is the Nuclear Facilities in Japan are in dire straights. If they melt down, the fallout is of concern. In the comments section, I have put up an article that discusses the fallout potential, and especially how it would impact North America via the Pacific Jet Stream.
Major Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
Saudi police open fire at protest
Oil Rises in New York as Libyan Violence Intensifies, Refinery is Bombed
Major Earthquake, Tsunami Hit Japan
March 11, 2011
A massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake has struck off Japan’s northeastern coast, triggering a four meter tsunami that washed away cars along parts of the coastline.Video from national broadcaster NHK showed dozens of cars, large ferries and some buildings being swept out to sea in the port city of Kamaishi in the province of Iwate.The Japanese Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warming for the entire Pacific coast of Japan following the quake that struck about 125 kilometers off the eastern coast, at a depth of 10 kilometers. Residents in the coastal areas have been urged to immediately evacuate to higher ground.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in the U.S. state of Hawaii said a tsunami warning was also in effect for Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. It said a tsunami watch was issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Hawaii.
Governments and private companies around the world scrambled Thursday to evacuate citizens and workers from violence-hit Libya, as Italy braced for a “biblical” exodus of up to 300,000 migrants.
Fears of a full-scale civil war in the North African country prompted countries from Canada to China to scramble to charter ferries and planes to secure their citizens’ safety despite poor communication links and growing violence.
Thousands of foreigners packed Tripoli’s airport hoping to leave the widening chaos behind.
I am only scratching the service here on what private security companies are actually doing in Libya. But to say the least, what they are doing is incredible and life saving. There are thousands of citizens and clients trapped in Libya, and it is a massive evacuation effort to get them all out. From the oil workers and engineers, to the diplomats and businessmen from all over the world–there is a massive exodus going on in Libya and private security companies are a crucial part of this evacuation.
One of the pieces of news that jumped out at me was the mention of the British SAS working with PSC’s to rescue British citizens. There are many of that country’s expats working in Libya, and they are scrambling forces to get in there and rescue folks. The PSC’s are on the ground already and many are prior service folks with connections to special forces units from all over. It makes perfect sense that they would coordinate with groups like the SAS. The point I wanted to emphasize here is that it isn’t just private industry or government doing this alone. This is an ‘all hands on deck’ moment, and it takes private industry and government working together to accomplish the task.
It is also important to note that we are hearing the same kinds of pleas coming from the folks trapped in Libya, that we heard in places like New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. That too was a massive evacuation effort that dwarfed the capabilities of the government and what was available to deploy right then and there. During that disaster, PSC’s were called upon to participate in a massive evacuation effort as well, and their use was driven by the concept of ‘do whatever it takes’ to save people. That included using private security along with the thousands of fire/police/military units from across the US. Plus, PSC’s can deploy extremely fast and can scale up or down pretty fast to meet the needs on the ground.
Now on to the future of PSC’s in Libya. After everyone is evacuated, the next step will be either extracting equipment or protecting it in place. There are millions, if not billions of dollars worth of equipment in the oil fields of Libya and I just can’t see the companies that either own or leased that equipment willing to just throw it away or leave it to be pillaged and neglected. Not to mention the money lost in oil revenues. So will we see future contracts like when EO was contracted back in the early nineties to rescue equipment for Ranger Oil in Angola? Who knows, but I do know that these oil company assets are definitely exposed and extremely vulnerable right now.
Finally, bravo to SOS International, Control Risks, Blue Mountain Group and all of the other PSC’s for all the work they are doing out there. These guys are saving lives in an an extremely dangerous and chaotic environment and they are the unsung heroes of this historic uprising spreading like fire across the Middle East and Africa. -Matt
BREAKING NEWS… Successful Libyan Evacuation
Control Risks supports clients in wake of Egypt protests
International SOS responds to unrest in Libya
SAS ready to rescue desert Britons
Countries rush to evacuate citizens from Libya
BREAKING NEWS… Successful Libyan Evacuation
Blue Mountain Group News
February, 2011
BLUE MOUNTAIN TEAM HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED A SAFE EVACUATION OF CLIENT PERSONNEL FROM LIBYA.
*****
Success has its own rewards, growth is one of them, welcome to the new Blue Mountain Group website.
The Blue Mountain Group is a Special Forces based company that has evolved into four distinct operational divisions (click on the links to the left) specialising in Security, Maritime Security, Driver Training and Adventure.
Each division is specialised and focused on delivering unique quantifiable services which are customer driven and client focused (please review our news column below and on each of the four main home pages where some of our recent activity can be seen).
In a market saturated with companies offering the ‘best available’ we stand or fall on our reputation.
Please review the services that you are interested in and then allow us to validate these services through demonstration of capability and through our historic client recognition.
After the Bay of Pigs failure, President Kennedy and his advisors reflected on their mistakes and created a new process for group discussion and decision making to prevent future groupthink and promote diverse perspectives. Here, Professor Roberto introduces the concept of developing a decision-making process. -From the Lecture ‘Deciding How To Decide’
This is a great lecture series that a friend of mine hooked me up with, and I highly recommend it. It was engaging and thought provoking, and there were so many cool ideas to take away from this if you are looking for leadership guidance. As I listened to it, there were many Jundism concepts that kept popping up in various forms and examples.
The particular lecture that I will highlight in this post is the ‘deciding how to decide’ portion. I took notice, because this method of decision making was born out of the highest levels of leadership during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs invasion failure. The Bay of Pigs invasion was an embarrassing mistake that resulted from poor decision making at the top. Or what the professor referred to as ‘group think’ (being surrounded by ‘yes men’ and folks unwilling to question the group or leadership out of fear of being wrong or just assuming everyone else is right)
The Cuban Missile Crisis was an extreme test of wills, and required the best possible strategy that would prevent the US and the Soviet Union wiping each other out with nuclear weapons. President Kennedy devised a system of decision making that would produce the best product or solution possible, that was not a victim of group think. He used a system of subgroups that would develop solutions independently, then those groups would exchange their solutions with the other groups and critique.
A second set of devils advocates or eyes would also review the solutions, and further nitpick the possible solutions until the best idea was standing. So this solution was hammered out of truly honest debate, and any influences that would cause people to not speak up was eliminated. I thought it was an ingenious way of problem solving, and especially during crisis. (be sure to listen to the series to get the specifics on how to set up this system) The situation with North Korea bombing South Korea, and the US and China reaction to it is a prime example of modern day critical decision making with high stakes involved. How President Obama decides, will really be based more on deciding how to decide first, so that the solution he gets is strategically sound and not at all influenced by group think.
Military leaders and CEO’s can learn from this as well. Leaders should strive hard to have honest debate about strategy and it takes listening to your people, and being open to ideas to get there. It also requires breaking down those walls that limit honest debate, and really being aware of group think and it’s dangers. Check out the series to learn more, and let me know what you think. Also check out Professor Roberto’s blog if you want to follow his ideas or contact him. -Matt
THE ART OF CRITICAL DECISION MAKING
Genre: Audio or video CourseLength: Twenty-four, thirty-minute lecturesTeacher: Prof. Michael Roberto, Bryant UniversityPublisher: The Teaching Company
By Tom Alderman
July 23, 2009
Following the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, President Kennedy asked former President Eisenhower to the White House to seek the old soldier’s counsel. The new president wanted to know what he could learn from the whole sorry mess. Instead of the expected military hoo-hah, Ike wanted to know how the decision was made to go ahead with the Cuban invasion? How did the president gather advice from his advisors? Not a surprising question considering the five-star general led a contentious military coalition during World War II, not because of his martial skills, but because of his extraordinary leadership abilities which included understanding the core ingredient in all critical decision making: whether you’re launching a D-Day invasion, a career, a product or service, HOW you decide is more important than WHAT you decide. The process you use determines a successful outcome and if that process is not clear and effective, you’re going down.
Good on DynCorp and Mr. Gaffney for donating this money to the relief effort. This is the kind of stuff that not only makes the Pakistani Taliban bite their lip, but also puts a shot across the bow of today’s critics of the industry. Maybe some more companies will follow their lead and donate as well?
Now I have no idea if DynCorp will be called upon to drop supplies or anything. In this particular disaster response, security would be a huge issue, and PMC’s like this company are ideally suited to not only deliver supplies but provide their own protection. Using a PMC would also free up vital military aviation units for the war in Afghanistan.
Although I kind of doubt Pakistan would be alright with DynCorp or any other company doing such a thing, just because getting life saving aid from one of those evil contractors is just too repulsive for the suffering muslims of Pakistan to handle. pfffft. -Matt
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DynCorp International Supports Pakistan Relief Efforts
September 02, 2010
DynCorp International today announced that it will donate $10,000 to the American Red Cross to support the people of Pakistan in the aftermath of the worst flooding the country has seen in more than 80 years.
“Right now families in Pakistan are in need of shelter, health services and supplies. We hope our contribution provides them some comfort in such a difficult time.”
The donation will fund relief supplies, mobilize relief workers and provide additional financial resources to the overall relief effort. The American Red Cross is working with its partners in the global Red Cross and Red Crescent network, including the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, to reach those in need.
“As a company that operates globally, it is our responsibility to assist globally,” said Steve Gaffney, DynCorp International president and chief executive officer. “Right now families in Pakistan are in need of shelter, health services and supplies. We hope our contribution provides them some comfort in such a difficult time.”
Well duh! It all makes sense now. CNAS comes out with a report on contractors, fully supporting our use and the future use of contractors in our wars, and now DoS wants to form a ‘mini-army’?(well…. they’ve always had a mini-contractor army)
And the ‘monopoly of force’ argument gets another challenge by none other than…… the US Department of State? Max Weber is rolling in his grave as we speak. lol (I had to stick that one in there…)
I am also reminded of the scenes of Air America rescuing South Vietnamese and American civilians off of the roof top during the last days of the Vietnam War. That was a contractor air force that did that, and not a military one. The idea here is that contractors are the filler during the dangerous stages of a draw down or build up of a war. We can fill those gaps of operational need, and as fast as they come up. Private industry is flexible enough to do this, and account for the surprises or worse yet, poor planning of the war.
Even with natural disasters like the BP spill in the gulf, you must have a partnership between private and public forces in order to meet the operational requirements of the disaster. When the feds run out of a specific resource, or let’s say a disaster has done something completely unexpected, private industry can instantly address the problem. Or in some cases, the federal government can jump in and take over where private industry is faltering. The key to me is to find some kind of equilibrium within that war or disaster, where we reach the sweet spot of private and public partnership. -Matt
Edit: 6/14/2010- I would like to correct one of the things I mentioned in this post that one of my readers brought to my attention as partially wrong. During the draw down stage of the Vietnam war, this was largely a military effort. So I want to emphasize that the military did most of the heavy lifting, and Air America ‘assisted’ in that process. Or in other words, it was a team effort, with the military taking the lead. Here is a run down of Operation Frequent Wind, as just one example of that process.
Also, check this out. The author of this article changed the title of the thing. The content is the same. I will bet that he got some heat for putting together this original title below. The new one says “State Dept Wants Combat Gear For Security In Iraq“. Just a tad bit less flowery or sensationalistic than the original. lol
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This BAE Caiman is what the DoS is requesting for their security force. They want 50. They also want 24 Blackhawk Helicopters.
State wants to form a mini-army for Iraq security
By RICHARD LARDNER
June 14, 2010
WASHINGTON — The State Department is quietly forming a small army to protect diplomatic personnel in Iraq after U.S. military forces leave the country at the end of 2011, taking their firepower with them.
Department officials are asking the Pentagon to provide heavy military gear, including Black Hawk helicopters, and say they will also need substantial support from private contractors.
The shopping list demonstrates the department’s reluctance to count on Iraq’s army and police forces for security despite the billions of dollars the U.S. invested to equip and train them. And it shows that President Barack Obama is having a hard time keeping his pledge to reduce U.S. reliance on contractors, a practice that flourished under the Bush administration.
In an early April request to the Pentagon, Patrick Kennedy, the State Department’s under secretary for management, is seeking 24 Black Hawks, 50 bomb-resistant vehicles, heavy cargo trucks, fuel trailers, and high-tech surveillance systems. Kennedy asks that the equipment, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, be transferred at “no cost” from military stocks.
Contractors will be needed to maintain the gear and provide other support to diplomatic staff, according to the State Department, a potential financial boon for companies such as the Houston-based KBR Inc. that still have a sizable presence in Iraq.
Amnesty International documented cases of sexual violence in camps. Four of the victims interviewed were children. An 8-year-old girl called Celine (not her real name) was alone in the tent at night when she was raped. Her mother had left the camp to work and had no one to look after her daughter during her absence. A 15-year-old girl, called Fabienne (not her real name) was raped when she left the camp to urinate, as there were no latrines within the camp. Carline (not her real name), 21, was raped by 3 men when she went to urinate in a remote area of the camp, as the latrines were too dirty to be used. Pascaline (not her real name), 21, was raped and beaten in her tent, neighbors failed to intervene because they believed she was with her partner.
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What can I say? These folks that continue to promote this idea that security is not important, or that contracting security is disaster capitalism will have the crimes and violence in Haiti all over their pen holding hands. Shame on you. All I have to say is that you cowards have to look at yourself in the mirror every day and realize that people are suffering because of this ‘non-action’ you keep promoting.
But it gets worse. Now we are sending cops from one humanitarian disaster (Rwanda) to another disaster (Haiti), and somehow this gets a free pass?
The first article below is about sending Rwandan cops to Haiti. Whose hair brained idea was this and how are these clowns going to actually increase security in Haiti? As the first article below has clearly stated, Rwanda is the last country to get get security forces from or claim some kind of humanitarian award for excellence.
The second article is about the $ 13.55 billion that world wide donors have raised to rebuild Haiti. Billions…. That’s nice and all, but if there is that much money floating around, why are Haitians having any issues at all regarding security? In my view, that money should be used to first provide security in Haiti, so that the building process can actually take place. Food, water and shelter is great, but if you get murdered/raped/robbed, then what good is that other stuff? Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs comes to mind.
To depend on piss poor UN troops, Rwandan security, or a depleted and ravaged Haitian police is not working. I say contract a police force to come in and assist, and in the mean time build the prison up and build police capability. But for security right now when it is most needed, there should be no hesitation. Get it done, or watch crimes, murders, and rapes continue to be committed. That would be a good use of a small portion of that large sum of money. That isn’t disaster capitalism, that’s just human decency and compassion. To stand by and watch is unacceptable.
The third article goes into detail on how the Haitian police are struggling to bring order to the chaos. They are simply overwhelmed. Thousands of prisoners have escaped, gang violence has increased, rapes have increased, and the police is dealing with a destroyed city and people. So why is it that we are not sending in the cavalry? Oh that’s right, the Rwandans are the cavalry. Pfffft.
Now get this. In the fourth article, it discusses how the locals have had to organize their own security forces to deal with this stuff. If that is not an indicator that police are in trouble, I don’t know what is. So is street justice better than contracting security who would be supporting Haitian security forces?
The last quote and article is from Amnesty International. They are screaming for more police in their recommendations, and their report is pretty clear. Crimes are up, as is sexual assaults, and of course they want something done about it. What is not in the report, is AI’s position on Rwandan cops trying to secure the mess in Haiti. The other thing that is missing is that AI made no mention of contracting security forces to step in to stop these stuff. It’s strange and somewhat disgusting to me that the humanitarian option in Haiti that continues to be promoted by all of these so called ‘humanitarian groups’, is to not do ‘everything’ within our power to stop this. -Matt
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US-UN Peace-keepers” bring Rwandan Police to Haiti
March 11, 2010
by Ann Garrison
In case anyone needed further evidence that President Paul Kagame’s Rwanda is the Pentagon’s proxy, 140 Rwandan police are about to undertake special training before heading to Haiti, as reported in the Rwanda New Times, because, according to Rwandan Police Chief Edmund Kayiranga, “Rwanda wants to be involved in promoting peace in other countries” and, if need be, they would send more peacekeepers to other countries.
