Feral Jundi

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Industry Talk: State Will Hire Contractor To Supervise Private Embassy Guards

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:51 AM

   Thanks to Samuel for providing the link to this story. So now we are into the practice of hiring a contractor to supervise a contractor? I guess alarm bells should be going off right now. lol  That way, DoS can blame contractors for everything and they can just wash their hands of the whole thing!

    I have to say, I just don’t get why this is sooooo hard for the DoS to comprehend.  If they just hired the guys they need through the federal system, and actually get off their ass and manage the contract, they just might get the kind of performance and service they desire. And if they are not getting enough folks, then up the pay for the thing.  If you pay a decent salary for these jobs, you will get plenty of applicants. But if you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys or worse yet, you will get no one.

    Is this laziness, a lack of leadership or a refusal to do what is right?  This just perplexes me, and especially with all the negative press they received on this.  This is just as perplexing as reducing the police training schedule for Afghans in the latest contract announcement from eight weeks to six weeks, and then expecting the company that wins the contract to produce competent police. It’s almost as if the government wants private industry to fail.

   Now I am not going to say that this so called ‘personal services’ contractor can’t do the job. I actually hope they kick ass. All I am saying is that you would think that the DoS would actually perform this job themselves so they don’t get another scathing report from the IG or run into another embarrassing incident with a poor performing company.

   On the positive side, I wonder who this company is that will be performing these third party services?  Will they be doing covert and overt inspections, and applying best industry practices to managing this contract?  How involved will they be in the supervision of this thing and will AGNA or whomever actually be on their best behavior around this company or what? Most of all, is this a sign of things to come–to have private industry tasked with managing private industry? –Matt

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State will hire contractor to supervise private embassy guards

By Robert Brodsky

March 23, 2010

The State Department plans to hire a personal services contractor to help supervise a private security company photographed last year hosting rowdy, alcohol-fueled parties near the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

In response to questions from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, Ambassador Eric Boswell said State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security is in the process of selecting and hiring a personal services contractor that will reside at Camp Sullivan, just outside the embassy. A Diplomatic Security special agent currently oversees the camp.

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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Guatemala: Private Security Is Good Business In Guatemala

Filed under: Guatemala,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 1:25 AM

     “The guards and the guns they wield — pump action shotguns and old revolvers — mark the front doors of businesses and the guard gates of wealthy neighborhoods. They have become accepted members of a culture numb to crime,” Fieser writes. Professor Ungar says: “Can you imagine walking into a Guatemala City shopping mall and not seeing a guard? People wouldn’t know what to do…. Guards have become a social phenomenon. They are part of the fabric of urban life.”

*****

     Wow, sometimes you stumble upon some really cool statistics that just give you a pause.  This article is filled with those kinds of statistics, and this thing delves into South African and Brazilian statistics on security guards as well.

     My take away on all of this, is that the main theme I see repeated over and over again throughout the world when it comes to guards or security contractors is that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Also, without standards and some kind of a regulatory body with teeth, you will have problems. And what do you know, our industry is coming up against these same issues, and I just don’t get why these lessons are not learned and applied? Well, I do know why–because security is a luxury in most folks minds, until someone gets hurt or killed, and regulating an industry takes effort and leadership. Most folks in charge in these countries are poor leaders and lazy or the government organizations tasked with monitoring and regulating, have no money or resources to do that job. (or they just don’t think it is a worthy expense)

   Well, on the plus side, at least all of these security industries throughout the world have access to the internet.  They can actually research what works and what doesn’t work, and the information is there for anyone interested in applying Kaizen to their industry. There are folks in these countries who care, and who are trying to do what is right, and bravo to them for keeping up the fight. Maybe the folks in Guatemala will be reading Feral Jundi and get a feel for the best industry practices?  Who knows, but I have to think that everyone’s learning organizations will only be enhanced by what is currently out there.  All they have to do is grab that information and ‘build a snowmobile’ out of it. –Matt

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Private security is good business in Guatemala

22 March 2010

In the United States there are 1.09 million private guards — that is, one guard for every 280 people; in Guatemala, a country of 13 million people, there are between 100,000 to 150,000 guards (the exact number is not known since many of these companies do not bother to register with the authorities); this is one guard for every 85 to 130 residents; the combined number of state and federal police in the United States is 883,600; Guatemala has roughly 22,000 active police officers

When it comes to crime and lawlessness, few countries could match South Africa. Just one example: The United States has a population of 307,000,000. South Africa’s population is 49,000,000. The number of murders committed in the United States between April 2008 and March 2009: 16,204. The comparable number in South Africa during the same period: 18,148. The murder rate in South Africa is 38.6 murders per 100,000 citizens. The world’s average for murder is 5 per 100 000.

The prevalence of crime, especially violent crime, is one manifestation of lawlessness. Another manifestation is the health of the private security industry. The business of private security thrives in countries on which the government does not offer sufficient protection to the people at the same time that it does not do enough to fight crime.

Two countries in which the private security sector thrives are South Africa and Brazil. There are other countries, too, in which offering private security services is a lucrative business.

Ezra Fieser writes in GlobalPost that Guatemala is one of these countries. Security guards employed by private companies in Guatemala outnumber police seven-to-one. Throughout Latin America private security guard forces dwarf police rolls (note that even the United States has more guards than police — 1.09 million to 883,600, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fieser notes that this is about one guard for every 280 people).

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Friday, March 19, 2010

Industry Talk: To Defense Industry, The Future Looks Uncomfortably Unfamiliar

Filed under: Books,Industry Talk,Strategy — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 12:46 PM

     For traditional defense companies, the operative word is “non-kinetic,” another speaker asserted.

“We love our kinetic weapons, and we don’t want to let them go,” he said. “But the world is moving in a different direction.”

     Here’s the problem: Kinetic weapons only are useful in phases two, three and four of war. Gates is veering the emphasis to the fringes — to phases zero and one (prevention of conflict, interagency work) and to phases five and six (stabilization and policing).

*****

     I love articles like this, because looking into the future of an industry, takes analysis and synthesis.  You have to put all the pieces together, and create a picture of what you think will happen.  If you have a enough of these articles, you can start to gain a consensus with predictions.  You also hope that people aren’t just copying what everyone else is saying, and calling that prediction.

   With that said, I take all of these with a grain of salt, and enjoy the process.  From what I can deduct, I think organizations like the IPOA are gonna be very popular in this industry.  Because stabilization and policing is right at the top of the list with this industry, and if we continue to apply Kaizen to the way we do business, this industry will continue to gain.

   I also got the obvious hint in this article about what the big guys are reading. Andrew Krepinevich should be on the reading list for everyone here, if they want to make their own assessments.  If the big guys are reading it, and the thing is shaping policy because of what was said, I kind of think that our industry should keep up and get on the same track. – Matt

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To Defense Industry, the Future Looks Uncomfortably Unfamiliar 

April 2010

By Sandra I. Erwin

Once upon a time there was much anxiety in the defense industry about the Obama administration gutting the Pentagon’s budget.

Those worries have been allayed, for now. Defense is the only portion of the federal budget that the president sheltered from the axe.

So the industry is breathing a sigh of relief, sort of.

Yes, the budget is huge, but the industry still feels vulnerable. Executives fear that weapons systems that for decades have been reliably profitable are becoming obsolete. They see the Defense Department shifting into new areas of warfare, but are not sure how to reposition their companies to succeed in non-traditional markets. They also fret about the nation’s oncoming fiscal train wreck, and wonder when someone will make the tough choices.

The much-anticipated Quadrennial Defense Review was supposed to give the industry “planning tools” to strategize about the future of the business. But the review was mostly a disappointment for its lack of specificity. One industry official compared the QDR to the Soviets’ infamous five-year plans for economic development.

In boardrooms these days, corporate bosses are brainstorming.

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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Industry Talk: DHS Pulls SBInet Funding

Filed under: Industry Talk,Mexico — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 10:11 PM

     She added that funds allocated to the program would be used to for proven technologies like mobile surveillance equipment, thermal imaging devices, ultra-light plane detection systems, mobile radios, cameras and laptop computers for Border Patrol vehicles.  

*****

   I guess the economy dictates, and this project has been killed.  It is kind of interesting that they would list ultra-light plane detection systems as something to be funded.  I wonder if that includes the Flat Top Paramotor Border Patrol para-gliders I brought up awhile back? If it does, I didn’t know that was considered ‘proven technologies’. –Matt

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DHS Pulls SBInet Funding

By Jack Mann

17 March, 2010

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano

The Department of Homeland Security has pulled the plug on $50 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for the “Virtual Border Fence,” meant to secure the U.S.’s border with Mexico.  The SBInet project would mesh security cameras, motion sensors, radar and other technologies into a high-tech detection system to defeat illegal border crossings.

“Effective immediately, the Department of Homeland Security will redeploy $50 million of Recovery Act funding originally allocated for the SBInet … to other tested, commercially available security technology along the Southwest border,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. She added that funds allocated to the program would be used to for proven technologies like mobile surveillance equipment, thermal imaging devices, ultra-light plane detection systems, mobile radios, cameras and laptop computers for Border Patrol vehicles.  She said that DHS has also frozen all funding beyond SBInet’s initial deployment to two areas south of Tucson and Ajo, Arizona, an assessment ordered in January.

Story here.

Industry Talk: Triple Canopy Donates And Delivers Humanitarian Aid To Haitian Earthquake Victims

Filed under: Disaster Response,Haiti,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 9:48 PM

   Outstanding and good on TC for giving to a worthy cause. It sounds like Diamondback Tactical and others have pitched in as well, and that is great when you see this kind of assistance.  Now if we can get some guards over there to protect the women and other innocents at these camps, then we can really do some good. –Matt

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Triple Canopy Donates and Delivers Humanitarian Aid to Haitian Earthquake Victims

Partners with GHESKIO HIV/AIDS Clinic for Timely Philanthropic Mission

March 17, 2010

Triple Canopy, Inc., a leading provider of integrated security and mission support services, announced today that it has donated supplies, transportation and personnel in an effort to provide shelter to thousands of homeless earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Triple Canopy is supporting the efforts of the Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO) to deliver aid to homeless families camped on its compound. Triple Canopy was able to coordinate with staff from GHESKIO to determine what kind of aid would be the most helpful. Within two weeks of establishing contact, a chartered flight loaded with tents, flashlights, generators and other vital items landed in Port-au-Prince.

Founded in 1982, the GHESKIO Center was the first institution in the world dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS. In the aftermath of the earthquake, thousands of refugees migrated to the center and have been living there in makeshift shelters.

“Upon learning about the dire situation on the ground, Triple Canopy reached out to Dr. Bill Pape, director of GHESKIO, and ascertained the critical need for shelter prior to the onslaught of the rainy season,” said Triple Canopy CEO Ignacio Balderas. “For the past three weeks, hundreds of entire Haitian families designated by GHESKIO were able to move out of their makeshift hovels and move into waterproof tents erected by our personnel.”

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