Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Publications: Journal Of International Peace Operations, March-April 2011
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Monday, February 28, 2011
Maritime Security: UAE Shipping Association Has Reversed Position– Backs The Use Of PSC’s On Vessels
“We don’t feel protected by the international navies, so we need to take matters into our own hands,” said Scott Jones, first vice president of the UAESA, the leading industry body in the nation. “There is still no vessel that has armed guards on board that has been taken. It seems to be the only way we can feel relatively certain,” he said.
Boy, chalk up another association that has come to grips with reality. Might I also add that these last couple of months, according to some of my readers that are in the know, has been nuts for maritime security companies. Business is picking up to say the least. Although I cannot say for sure how much of an increase there has been because no one is tracking it. All I can go by is what I am hearing out there.
With that said, it makes total sense that this market could be seeing a surge. And with more boats having armed security giving problems to the pirates, there will be those boats without security that will soon become the targets of greedy and dangerous pirates. It is the law of the jungle, and predators will always seek the weakest and easiest prey. Who knows, and this is all just speculation on this particular niche of private security. (we are seeing pirates attack smaller yachts, and violently, which could be considered ‘weaker prey’)
Also, as a cautionary tale, I think it is important to note the similar evolution of the PSC industry in today’s current war zones. In the beginning stages, there are always problems. I suspect as this thing grows bigger, the problems will show their ugly head and will be dealt with accordingly. Although we can be proactive out there and try to apply Jundism and the lessons learned from war zone contracting to this quickly growing maritime security market. All the skeptical eyes of the world will be on the man or woman on the boats with the guns–do well….
Pirates will also be studying the armed security of boats out there, and planning ways of defeating it. Because as the ‘unarmed’ prey diminishes, the hungry predators will start targeting weaker ‘armed’ prey. So if you are a shipping company that has deemed arming your boat with one Glock pistol, and think that is sufficient for ‘arming’ the vessel, you are severely wrong.
‘Know yourself, know your enemy’ as Sun Tzu says. Shipping companies must strive to put in place teams on their vessels that are competent, credible and well armed, that can defeat whatever the latest evolution of pirate weaponry, tactics, and strategies are. –Matt
Pirates could face armed seafarers
By Carol Huang
February 28, 2011
The UAE Shipping Association (UAESA) has reversed course to back the use of private security guards aboard commercial vessels as the best way to combat increasingly aggressive Somali pirates.
The U-turn comes as the shipping industry worldwide reconsiders its longtime opposition to carrying weapons at sea. Over the past year, pirate presence has spread across the Indian Ocean. Ransom demands are rising, and hostages are being held captive longer.
Last week, pirates killed four American yachtsmen whom they had taken hostage.
“We don’t feel protected by the international navies, so we need to take matters into our own hands,” said Scott Jones, first vice president of the UAESA, the leading industry body in the nation. “There is still no vessel that has armed guards on board that has been taken. It seems to be the only way we can feel relatively certain,” he said.
That stance would hold for as long as the problem persisted, the organisation said in an announcement earlier this month.
“Until an international solution resolving the governance of Somalia is accomplished, the UAESA will support the stationing of trained professional armed security aboard vessels.”
Dubai port authorities have implemented “clearance procedures” to allow armed guards, it said.
Since many ports around the world ban weapons, many authorities have had to amend or clarify their policies to allow private security escorts to enter.
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Legal News: Fitzsimons Gets Life Sentence In Iraq, Escaping Hanging
Interesting verdict. Thanks to Carmen for giving me the heads up on this story and this is hopefully the final chapter on a very tragic incident.
This is also significant because this is the first Western contractor to be prosecuted and convicted of a crime in Iraq. –Matt
UK contractor gets life sentence in Iraq, escaping hanging
February 28, 2011
An Iraqi judge sentenced a British contractor to life in prison Monday, sparing him the death penalty.
Daniel Fitzsimons, 30, was charged with murder in the 2009 shooting deaths of two colleagues in Baghdad, in the first trial of a Westerner in Iraq since the Iraq War started in 2003.
He pleaded not guilty, telling a three-judge panel that he shot the two men in self-defense.
The judge who sentenced him said he didn’t give him the death penalty “because you’re still young and because of the circumstances of the crime,” he said.
Fitzsimons smiled and thanked the judge when he heard the verdict Monday.
The victims were Paul McGuigan, a British national, and Darren Hoare, an Australian. Fitzsimons was also accused of the attempted murder of a guard.
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Saturday, February 26, 2011
Disaster Response: PSC’s Come To The Rescue For Massive Evacuations In Libya
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 surface 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.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Industry Talk: FBO–USACE Looking For Interested Companies For Possible Security Support Contract, Afghanistan
Not that companies who are in the mix don’t already know about this FBO posting, but still I figured I would put it out there for the rest of the industry to check out. From the sounds of it, this contract would be similar to the remote bases that USACE used to run in Iraq for the CMC projects. Those were cool contracts because contractors did it all at those camps. From PSD missions to convoy security, and of course static security–security contractors were vital assets.
What would be different here is the increased use of aviation transport. In Iraq you could convoy everywhere and aviation was not used as much for these CMC camps. But in Afghanistan, air transport and the security that goes with it would be a big part of this contract.
The other difference is that USACE is probably doing a different mission with this contract than clearing munitions. Reconstruction could mean all sorts of things and who knows what they will be building? We will see if they fly this one or not, because this is still in the beginning research phase. –Matt
R–Afghanistan Reconstruction Security Support Services for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Solicitation Number: W912ER11R0050
Agency: Department of the Army
Office: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Location: USACE Middle East District
Synopsis:
Added: Feb 02, 2011 11:04 pm
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Middle East District, is publishing this sources sought notice to solicit responses from firms interested in and capable of providing the following services throughout Afghanistan: comprehensive security, operations, transportation, aircraft, and intelligence services to secure and account for Afghanistan Engineering District-North (AEN) and Afghanistan Engineering District-South (AES) personnel, provide all forms of transportation services, provide quality assurance activities to include construction, nationwide operational oversight, intelligence analysis, production of intelligence products, convoy transportation and security, fixed/rotary wing air-transportation services, personal protective services, static site security, community liaison activities, local atmospherics, supply and maintenance of armored vehicles, establishment, maintenance and management of a nationwide, visual map-based satellite tracking product, establishment, maintenance and management of a nationwide voice and text communication network, and vetting of third-party employees. The contemplated contract awarded from a solicitation for this work will constitute an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) type contract as defined in FAR 16.504. Task orders will be Firm-Fixed Price (FFP).
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