If anyone remembers the raid that freed the American contractors and Ingrid Betancourt in Colombia, then you might have remembered me talking about Global CST’s supposed involvement. Well, according to this article, this company was definitely kicking some butt and ruffling some feathers down in Latin America. lol It is an example of private industry competing with government forces in the war fighting department, and government getting all bent out of shape because the company is actually good at what they are doing.
Which brings me to an interesting point here. When the US shows some concern about a PMC, then there is a good chance that the company actually knows what they are doing. And it makes sense, because the Israelis are very good at problem solving and war fighting. Why wouldn’t a PMC like this not do well? For more research into the company, I wrote about them awhile back and these guys will be the ones to watch down in Latin America and elsewhere. It would be a good one to contract with for the war against the cartels.
Also, it is interesting that the company has set up a Scribd and a Youtube Channel, but no Twitter or Facebook account? They might as well go all out with the social networking effort if strategic communications is the intent? Just saying… –Matt
US saw Israeli firm’s rise in Latin America as a threat, cables show
By TIM JOHNSON
May 09, 2011
A security company led by the former head of operations for the Israeli military made such inroads into Latin America a few years ago that U.S. diplomats saw it as a security risk and moved to thwart the company’s expansion, U.S. diplomatic cables show.
The diplomats’ efforts were made easier when an interpreter for the Israeli firm, Global CST, was caught peddling classified Colombian Defense Ministry documents to Marxist guerrillas seeking to topple the state, one cable said.
Still, the ability of the Israeli security consultancy to obtain contracts in Colombia, Peru and Panama in rapid succession speaks to the prowess of retired Israeli military officers in peddling security know-how amid perceptions that they’d bring better results than official U.S. government assistance. (more…)