Feral Jundi

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Industry Talk: Video Of Drunk, Stoned Jorge Scientific Contractors Puts Company On The Skyline

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 12:23 PM

First of all, this disgusts me. It is embarrassing and it just further emphasizes the necessity of good leadership in the industry, and a lack there of within this contract. Because obviously, this company did not care about putting responsible folks in the position of managing these men.

It sucks, and you see the same thing over and over again with the companies. We saw this with AGNA in Afghanistan, with the G4S Olympics deal and with the WSI Oakridge fiasco. Just imagine if these companies actually invested a portion of their money into leadership and getting good people in those positions of power? Just imagine if this industry actually put some focus on leadership training or a proper system of management that grows good leaders within the company? Just imagine if contracts were written in such a way where good leadership was rewarded, or companies were rewarded for taking care of their people out in the field? But first the companies actually have to ‘care’ about good leadership…..

On the plus side, bravo to these whistle blowers for coming forward and having the courage to do what is right. It sounds like John Melson and Kenny Smith are the guys who are bringing the lawsuit against the company for what was going on out there. Also, Danielle Brian of POGO was able to make an appearance in this story, and POGO has been a big supporter of whistle blowers in the past and bringing attention upon poor contractors in the war zones. We will see how it goes and if anyone from the company or other contractors would like to comment on this deal, feel free to do so in the comments section below. –Matt

Edit: 10/18/2012- Here is a statement from the company about this incident.

Statement from Jorge Scientific Corporation

Jorge Scientific Corporation took decisive action to correct the unacceptable behavior of a limited number of employees that occurred at an administrative living facility in Afghanistan. Specifically, early in 2012 the Company implemented management changes to ensure that employees were maintaining the highest standards of professional and personal conduct. Most importantly, new leadership implemented a no-drinking policy and dismantled the bonfire pit at the center of the misbehavior.
On August 21, 2012, we learned that two former employees filed a complaint that accuses individuals living at the facility of personal misconduct. These individuals are seeking monetary damages by mischaracterizing these actions as “fraud.” All of the accusations pre-date the management changes that Jorge put in place.
The Company is deeply concerned about any employee misconduct. As a result of the complaint, the Board of Directors hired an outside and independent investigation team headed by a former federal prosecutor to conduct a thorough investigation. The Board has also established a special committee, to include a former senior military member with extensive operational experience, to review, approve as appropriate, and implement the investigation’s conclusions and recommendations.
The investigation is ongoing. The Company remains confident that the personal misconduct did not impact the Company’s contract performance.
The former senior executive, the medic and several others mentioned in the complaint no longer work for Jorge; their employment ceased before Jorge received the complaint.
Jorge is dedicated to ensuring transparency and the highest levels of professionalism and conduct, and pledges to fully investigate and correct any mistakes to preserve and continue its history of exemplary performance.
For more information, please contact our press officer at media@jorge.com.

 

 

Exclusive: Video Shows Drunk, Stoned US Security Contractors
By CINDY GALLI, RHONDA SCHWARTZ and BRIAN ROSS
Oct. 17, 2012
Cellphone video recorded earlier this year at an operations center of a U.S. security contractor in Kabul, Afghanistan appears to show key personnel staggeringly drunk or high on narcotics, in what former employees say was a pattern of outrageous behavior that put American lives at risk and went undetected by U.S. military officials who are supposed to oversee such contractors.
The video, provided to ABC News by two former employees, is scheduled to be broadcast in a report this evening on “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” and “Nightline.”
Asked if a response to an attack by terrorists would have been possible during the events seen on the video, one of the former employees, Kenny Smith, told ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross, “No, sir.”
Questions posed by ABC News to the Pentagon have sparked a criminal investigation by the U.S. Army, a spokesman says.
The contractor, Virginia-based Jorge Scientific, has won almost $1 billion in U.S. government contracts.
The company says it has taken “decisive action to correct the unacceptable behavior of a limited number of employees” and that several of them seen on the video are no longer employed by Jorge Scientific.
The use of alcohol or illegal drugs by U.S. contractors in Afghanistan is prohibited by the military under what is known as General Order Number One.
Yet the former employees told ABC News they saw no evidence of oversight of the company by American military officials and that at least one U.S. Army major, a female, was a regular visitor to drunken parties at the facility, often using a room for sexual encounters.
The two former employees, John Melson and Kenny Smith, say the video documents allegations they have made in a lawsuit against Jorge Scientific.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Publications: Texas Border Security–A Strategic Military Assessment, 2011

Filed under: Law Enforcement,Publications,Texas — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 12:31 PM

This is a great little publication and a big hat tip to retired Generals McCaffery and Scales for putting together such an enlightening report.

The bottom line here folks, is as the Mexican authorities become better at countering the cartels, the cartels will increasingly depend upon safe havens to continue business and operations. So strategically speaking, the cartels are looking to set up sanctuary in the US border regions and play the border like a rib bone.

I should say that they ‘are’ using the US as sanctuary, just because if you combine this report with the other report I posted, then it isn’t too hard to put two and two together. And in a war sense, this is akin to the Taliban using Pakistan as a sanctuary so they can continue operations in Afghanistan.

The other element of sanctuary is the idea that cartels are operating along the seams of the law and law enforcement agencies, both federal or state, or between two countries. These guys are playing the borders in the literal sense, and in the legal sense, and definitely taking advantage of the grey areas.

Here are some quotes from this thing that jumped out at me:

A successful sanctuary permits insurgents to move freely and operate on whichever side offers greater security. In a curious twist of irony, the more successful the Mexican military becomes in confronting the cartels, the greater likelihood that cartels will take the active fight into Texas as they compete against each other in the battle to control distribution territories and corridors….

…..This paper will be the first to conclude that the cartels are following a twofold strategic plan:
1. First, to create a “sanitary zone” inside the Texas border — one county deep — that will provide sanctuary from Mexican law enforcement and, at the same time, enable the cartels to transform Texas’ border counties into narcotics transshipment points for continued transport and distribution into the continental United States.
2. Second, to increasingly rely on organized gangs to provide expendable and unaccountable manpower to do their dirty work inside Texas and elsewhere in the country. These gangs are recruited on the streets of Texas cities and inside Texas prisons by top-tier gangs who work in conjunction with the cartels.

Check it out and let me know what you think?  Definitely pass this around and get the word out. –Matt

 

Texas Border Security: A Strategic Military Assessment, 2011

Friday, September 16, 2011

Mexico: Has Mérida Evolved? Part One: The Evolution Of Drug Cartels And The Threat to Mexico’s Governance

Filed under: Mexico,Strategy — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 5:37 PM

“I never thought we would contemplate the day when ‘true believers’ from a Mexican cartel would start looking a lot like jihadists fighting for Al Qaeda—instead representing a perverted form of Christianity—but such a day appears very close at hand.” -Dr. Robert Bunker, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere

This is a fascinating testimony about the strategy, or lack there of, for the war in Mexico. That quote up top came from Dr. Bunker and his assessment of what is going on down there, and it does make you pause. The cartels are just as awful as jihadists, and sometimes worse. The violence going on down there is truly hellish and horrific. This is also on the US border and not in Iraq or Afghanistan! Dr. Bunker also mentioned that the drug war and cartels/gangs in the Western Hemisphere are a larger threat to the US than islamic extremists. (Very bold statement.)

I would also add one little thing to Dr. Bunker’s testimony, and that is he forgot to mention an area of study that will help to understand the cartels a little better. That would be the market of force or privatized force in war. Or to even delve into the new area of study that I have mentioned in the past called Offense Industry. States and non-state actors alike, all use Offense Industry to achieve their goals. The Sicarios and how they are bough/sold/used are a prime example.  And especially the similarities between the early Condottieri /free companies in 14th Century Italy and these current cartels. Or the history of pirates and how their business and war fighting has evolved, or remained the same. Money and how it guides the actions of these combatants, must be understood so we can develop strategies for stopping them.

The other thing I would like to hear in these testimonies is the manpower issue. If this is viewed as a narco insurgency, then a realistic assessment must be made to find out how many and what type of forces would be needed to counter such a thing? The same type of deal was applied to Iraq and Afghanistan, and we need to know how short the Mexican’s really are with ‘trusted’ and capable security forces. We also must look at the utility of all and any available sources of manpower–to include private industry and/or the Mexican people. (like promoting and assisting a Mexican Spring?) Hat tip to Small Wars Journal for this one. –Matt

 

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Law Enforcement: I.C.E. Takes Down ‘Super Cartel’, Responsible For Almost Half The Cocaine In The U.S.

Filed under: Colombia,Law Enforcement,Letter Of Marque — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 2:26 PM

     The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE), estimated the cartel, named El Dorado, made $5 billion profit from their trade over the past few years.

     Agents involved in Operation Pacific Rim alleged on Friday that the gang trafficked cocaine to every continent except Antarctica, with drugs bound for Europe and Britain smuggled through Spain.

     They believe the gang were responsible for almost half of the cocaine on American streets, or more than 912 tonnes with an estimated street value of more than $24 billion.

*****

     This is stunning news, and I am floored that this is not getting the attention it deserves.  I know the whole McChrystal thing or the Gulf spill is hogging all the news right now, but this is some news of actual success in that other war we are fighting in.  This bust is like taking down the Walmart of cartels. We will see what players step up to fill that gap, but still, this is huge.

     That is the other part of this that is intriguing, and that is the second and third order effects from something like this.  Often when you kill the big dog, the dogs in the pack fight for the new position. They also kill off any traces of the old dog, just to establish pure dominance and the new command.  It is a brutal fight and there will always be an alpha dog that comes up from that process. So how ICE is able to take advantage of this chaos within the drug market will be interesting to watch. Stand by for some battles over that territory.

    I also think that the money taken in these raids should be going towards a bounty system, along with funding the law enforcement agencies involved. We should see way more money being offered in the reward programs, and the wanted list should also include way more people. It is also important to note that ICE does have a ‘prize‘ system in place within the the law enforcement realm.

    With the current arrangement at ICE, there is an incentive attached to the process of taking down these cartels.  ICE has a deal called the Asset Forfeiture/Equitable Sharing program. It is a way to reward police agencies that cooperate with ICE in their operations, and they basically get to ‘split the prize’. That can be a lot of money to split, and just look at the numbers in the quote up top! If this program was opened up to include ‘licensed’ and bonded companies or individuals, they too could take part in that prize system and this would dramatically expand the program.

     We already have the Rewards For Justice Program, yet only law enforcement agencies get to claim prizes after captures? I say open it up to private industry and lets get this business of eradicating drug cartels started. And believe me, there are plenty of drug cartels, terrorists, and pirates for militaries, police departments and private industry to go after.-Matt

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ICE takes down billion-dollar Colombian drug trafficking organization

June 18, 2010

DTO finances its illicit empire by sending cocaine all over the globe

In Operation Pacific Rim, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), working closely with the Colombian National Police and Mexican authorities, took down a major drug trafficking organization — an industrial and transportation empire with a profit margin in the billions. The drug kingpins operating out of Colombia wrestled with a vexing problem — they made so much money from illegal narcotics trafficking that they couldn’t launder it all.

In fact, tracking the cold hard cash is one of the specialties of ICE’s investigative directorate, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). HSI is the largest investigative agency within the Department of Homeland Security. HSI agents working with ICE Attaché offices in Bogota and elsewhere brought this giant among drug organizations to its knees. HSI began Operation Pacific Rim in September 2009 after scoring a previous victory in an investigation where they seized $41 million in Colombia and Mexico. This is often the case in federal law enforcement, with one case that tips investigators off to an even bigger fish to fry.

(more…)

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Mexico: Police Forces Are Resigning In Small Towns Due To Cartel Violence And Threats

Filed under: Law Enforcement,Letter Of Marque,Mexico — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:40 AM

   Boy, the war on Mexico’s authorities is only getting worse.  I expect that as more police forces resign, you will see more private security increase.  Worse yet, you will see more businesses being forced to kiss the ring of the cartels, because there is no one to protect them.

   Another idea is that Mexico is not a signatory of the Declaration of Paris.  Although they did remove the Amendment in their constitution that allowed their congress to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal(I think in the 1960’s).  Regardless, a sovereign nation should be able to do anything they can to defend themselves against all threats, both foreign and domestic.  Mexico could use the LoM to enlist the help of private industry in their war.  The cartels are pretty rich, and they are the kind of big fish that could make the business of killing or capturing these thugs pretty profitable for a privateering company.  Mexico would also have to attach a bounty to those they would want killed or captured.

   Personally, I think there should be more value to a living cartel member, as opposed to a dead one.  The reason for that is then Mexico could identify more cartel members that are threats, and thus increase the bounty roster. They can also get more money out of a living guy, because you can get more information out of them(secret bank accounts, hidden cash, etc.).

   Also, with this kind of industry, companies would want to interrogate their captures so they can build their own files.  That information is gold to a company that is in the business of ‘finding’ people and things, and that intel should be part of the prize when going after these thugs. –Matt

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Mexican Town’s Police Force Quits After Ambush

May 18, 2010

Most of a small Mexican town’s police force has quit after armed men ambushed and wounded two of their officers.

The resignation of six of the 11 municipal officers in La Union Monday evening comes after several other Mexican towns have seen mass police resignations because of cartel violence or threats.

State police in Guerrero, which La Union is located, said Tuesday that it has deployed 20 of its officers to patrol La Union until further notice.

The resignations came two days after their colleagues were ambushed and left La Union’s police force with five members: the chief, the deputy chief, an officer in charge of weapons logistics and the two wounded officers who are hospitalized.

Meanwhile, people in some Mexican towns have begun taking the law into their own hands.

In Mexico State, on the outskirts of Mexico City, authorities said Tuesday that residents of a town beat a man death on suspicion of robbing a young couple of 200 pesos (about $16) and a cell phone Monday.

The suspect and an accomplice allegedly held up the couple with a knife and what later was found to be a toy gun.

About 300 people pursued the two men, caught one and beat him so badly with sticks and fists that he died in an ambulance, officials said.

Also Tuesday, the federal police announced the capture of an alleged member of the La Linea gang in the border city of Ciudad Juarez who allegedly participated in the killing of 10 people.

Juan Padilla Juarez, 28, allegedly targeted rivals of the La Linea gang, which is allied with the Juarez drug cartel. He was captured Monday in Ciudad Juarez.

The Attorney General’s Office announced that a judge handed down a prison sentence of almost 22 years against Jaime Gonzalez Duran, also known as ”The Hummer,” for money laundering and weapons possession. He had previously been sentenced to 16 1/2 years on similar charges by another court. The sentences will not be served concurrently.

Gonzalez Duran is an army deserter who was arrested in the northern border city of Reynosa. He is allegedly one of the founding members of the Zetas, a band of cartel hit men believed responsible for massacres and beheadings.

Story here.

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