Now I read through the report, and there was no mention of EODT using armed guards to protect the building of these sites, so that was not the ‘inherently governmental’ portion they were talking about. They were talking about the contractors doing the job of upper level management of CBP, which to me is a no-brainer–no duh that is inherently governmental. It’s also inherently lazy on the part of the CBP to not draft their own reports for congress to read.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Publications: IG Says SBInet Has Too Many Contractors
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Thursday, July 9, 2009
Jobs: Security Officer, Nigeria
Location: Nigeria
Salary: Competitive
Job Type: Permanent
Vacancy placed by: G4S Risk Management
Qualifications & Experience: Ex RMP, gendarmerie, police.Significant experience in the management and delivery of complex, multi-faceted and high value commercial projects within non-permissive or semi permissive environments.High level of integrity, professionalism and personal qualities that can effectively ensure an optimum level of performance is maintained.The ability to fully utilize ICT.
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Industry Talk: GAO Finds Major Security Lapses at Federal Buildings
I see a couple of failures here. For one, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I would guarantee if the companies paid a decent salary for these positions, they would attract employees that would care. But the one salary they certainly should not skimp on is the supervisor. A well paid supervisor that knows what they are doing, could easily shore up these security issues brought up by the GAO.
Be that as it may, most of these companies could care less about customer service or satisfaction, and most could care less about Kaizen. Primarily because the feds have yet to put the pressure on them, and doing just ‘good enough’ is financially sound to them. It costs money to train and costs money to get good people. Might as well just run the show all shabby until someone blows the whistle–no one cares, until now.
And then there is the lapse of federal oversight, which continues to be lightly mentioned in the MSM over and over. I will not beat that dead horse. Although I will go back to the main solution to these problems. It’s leadership all the way. It’s a good leader that monitors and tests the abilities of it’s security force and insures that the post orders are being followed. It’s a good leader that recognizes deficiencies in the guard force and corrects them on the spot. It’s a good leader that applies Kaizen, customer service and customer satisfaction to their security services. If the FPS and the companies recognized the value of focusing on these supervisors, and insuring that they are in fact getting the right man for the job, then these issues will be corrected.
The leadership within the FPS and Companies need to be evaluated as well. Did those leaders tasked with managing these supervisors and regions do the things necessary to insure things were going well out there? Did they have a ‘shared reality’ with their men out in the field, or did they lead from a desk? I think we know the answer, and the proof is in the pudding. –Matt
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GAO finds major security lapses at federal buildings
The Federal Protective Service comes under fire as government investigators tell Congress they were able to carry bomb-making materials through all 10 security checkpoints tested.
From the Los Angeles Times
By Kristina Sherry
July 9, 2009
Reporting from Washington — The Government Accountability Office told a congressional panel Wednesday that its investigators were able to carry bomb-making materials through 10 security checkpoints monitored by the Federal Protective Service, which guards nearly 9,000 facilities throughout the country.
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Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Cool Stuff: Slinging.org
This is a fun one, and thanks to Doug for sending me this. I guess the one thing that is cool about slings, is that you could potentially use a sling as a less than lethal option for crowd control. Thats all depending on the type of projectile you use. (please note the Israeli using the sling below). Or if you are bored at some outpost and want something to do on your downtime, build a sling out of paracord and see if you can hit a tin can with it. It’s cheap fun, but it is also cool to get a feel for how this weapon could have been used back when it was a weapon of war. With the right projectile and some skill, a sling can certainly be deadly. –Matt
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An Israeli soldier uses a sling shot to stone demonstrators and workers dismantling the area in front of the Fatima Gate on the Israeli-Lebanese border, at Kfarkila, southern Lebanon, Tuesday Oct. 10, 2000. The area was liberated after the Israeli’s troops withdrew from southern Lebanon in May.
Welcome to Slinging.org!
When I first became interested in this fascinating weapon, I could find little information on the web or in published material. I hope this website can be the definitive source for slinging related information and news. Of course, it needs a community of slingers to experiment and pass on their knowledge. With your help, I hope we can rekindle the interest in this truly simple, effective, and historically significant weapon.
Sling Ranges
The range of the sling has always been a point of contention among enthusiasts and scholars. Present literature generally underestimates the sling’s range. Consider this snippet of text from Thom Richardson’s “The Ballistics of The Sling”, which provides an overview of some of these statistics:
“The more conservative estimates are around the 200 m mark (Ferrill 1985: 25), Connolly suggests 350 m (1981: 49), Korfmann estimates 400 m (1973: 37) while Demmin and Hogg go to 500 m (1893: 876; 1968: 30). The few accurately recorded observations are rather different. Reid records 55 m with a 227 g stone, and 91 m with 85 and 113 g balls (1976: 21). Burgess threw stones with his reconstructed Lahun sling between 50 and 100 yds, but admits to being unskilled at the art (1958: 230). Korfmann observed Turkish shepherds sling ordinary pebbles, ‘in 5 out of 11 trials the pebbles reached 200 m, and the three best casts were between 230 and 240 m (1973), while Dohrenwend has himself thrown beach pebbles over 200 yds (1994: 86).”
Since many of these statistics are formulated from authors’ experiences, the ranges that are creeping into literature, and becoming the standard, might not be representative of the true potential of the sling. The sling is a demanding weapon; range varies considerably from amateur to expert. Below is a table documenting the varied ranges of some members on slinging.org’s forum. It’s also important to consider the projectiles used in the test. A stone or softball will not perform as well as a biconical lead projectile, like those often used in antiquity.
For comparison, the current World Flight record for a “historically accurate” English longbow and horn/sinew composite bow is 306m and 566m respectively. It should be noted, however, that these ranges were achieved using light-weight flight arrows designed for range, and not for combat.
Website here.
5-Strand Woven Paracord Sling Tutorial
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Strategy: How David Beats Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell
When underdogs break the rules.
by Malcolm Gladwell
May 11, 2009
A non-stop full-court press gives weak basketball teams a chance against far stronger teams. Why have so few adopted it?
When Vivek Ranadivé decided to coach his daughter Anjali’s basketball team, he settled on two principles. The first was that he would never raise his voice. This was National Junior Basketball—the Little League of basketball. The team was made up mostly of twelve-year-olds, and twelve-year-olds, he knew from experience, did not respond well to shouting. He would conduct business on the basketball court, he decided, the same way he conducted business at his software firm. He would speak calmly and softly, and convince the girls of the wisdom of his approach with appeals to reason and common sense.
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