Feral Jundi

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Iraq: Here Comes China And Their ‘Astonishing’ Oil Demand

Filed under: Africa,China,Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 2:34 AM

   China’s demand for oil jumped by an “astonishing” 28% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. 

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   Here is a quick run down on what China is doing in Iraq, and it is all about oil.  I find it interesting that China is getting more involved with really risky resource ventures in places like Iraq or the Congo. And what that means to this industry, is that the Chinese will find a way to secure these ventures and investments.  You will either see Chinese security folks, or they will use local nationals for the work.  But like with most security work, they tend to go with the kind of security they can really trust and depend upon for the most sensitive projects.  Especially to guard oil executives.

   The other thing about this that is frustrating, is that information about Chinese private security companies is very thin.  Maybe there is tons of stuff on Chinese servers?.  Who knows, but it is an area that I would like to learn more about as the fight for resources increases in the coming future. Our industry will only see more involvement in that resource war, and it is important to track this stuff.

   In Iraq, you could very well see a situation where you see Chinese security contractors rolling down the highway in SUVs, or posted at some gate of some oil facility. If any readers have any stories about bumping into Chinese military or contractors in Iraq, please feel free to post away in the comments.  Like I said, there is nothing written about Chinese PMC’s or PSC’s, and I would like to see Feral Jundi’s archives fill up with some more data about that.  I will keep looking, and if anyone finds anything else, let me know. Especially for Africa, because China is really involved there. –Matt

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Chinese guards at the Ahdab field Thaier Al-Sudan/Reuters 

Red Star Over Iraq

January 21, 2010

China’s ambitions in the Iraqi oil fields could change the landscape

By Stanley Reed and Dexter Roberts

It may be the start of the biggest oil job in the world. Each day, 20 workers from BP and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) buckle down to the task of prepping the Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq for rapid development. In industry lingo, Rumaila is a “supergiant”—a 50-mile-long deposit of sweet crude with estimated reserves of 16 billion barrels, whose output may someday rank second only to Saudi Arabia’s vast Ghawar field. The Saudis, though, have carefully managed their oil assets for decades. In contrast, Rumaila, a lightly inhabited expanse of date groves and Bedouin encampments, has not had a proper upgrade since the 1970s. The Iraqis contracted with BP and CNPC last year (BP) to juice Rumaila’s production from 1.06 million barrels a day to 2.85 million, all in seven years. No one has ever tried such a ramp-up at a field as huge as this one. Putting Rumaila back in full working order will take tens of thousands of workers, 1,000 new wells, and billions in investment.

BP is the largest partner in the venture, but only by a dipstick: It has a 38% stake, while the Chinese hold 37% (the rest is owned by an Iraqi company). The media focus has been on BP’s decision to take up the Rumaila challenge for a low fee of only $2 for every barrel the venture produces. But the more important story could be China’s role. “CNPC’s involvement brings together the country with the most rapid growth in energy demand in history with the country that plans the greatest buildup of production capacity ever,” says Alex Munton, an Iraq specialist at Edinburgh-based oil consultants Wood Mackenzie.

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Kaizen: FPS Using Covert/Overt Inspections For Contractor Security Posts

Filed under: Industry Talk,Kaizen,Leadership — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:34 PM

     FPS officials said in a statement that it has increased both overt and covert inspections of security posts, as well as its oversight of contract guards. 

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   Hmmm, I wonder if FPS is reading Feral Jundi. lol Actually this practice of overt and covert inspections is pretty common in a few agencies out there.  The Postal Service even uses mystery shoppers to get a real feel for their customer service and inner workings of offices, so this is nothing new for federal agencies. Mystery shopping is very common in other industries as well, and I have covered that here before.

    But what boggles my mind, is why haven’t more private military companies used this concept?  If you truly care about what is going on with your company, you should be fully involved with collecting intelligence on the inner workings of your company. That means sending folks out to your sites and talking with the contractor on the ground.

    I am not talking about just talking with the managers either. I am talking about getting feedback from the backbone of your company, and that is the contractor doing the work. These are the folks who represent the end result of all of your company policies and training, and a lot depends upon them.  These guys and gals are the ones your customer sees on a daily basis, and makes their judgements about your company based on the actions of these contractors.  The managers are there to lead and to implement company policy and training, and the best gauge for seeing if they did their job, is to study the contractors they are in charge of.

   Also, it is important to note that this is not a witch hunt, or undercover gotcha stuff.  It costs money to fire and hire folks, so ideally, this information is used to tweak policies where it makes it easy for contractors to do the right thing.  It also helps in identifying inefficiencies or identifying key training points that need to be reworked or re-emphasized in order to get a better outcome.  That is what you use this intelligence for.  Of course if you catch criminal activity within your company, you should act upon that information pronto.  But all in all, the idea behind obtaining feedback is to feed your Kaizen machine and make your company a top performer.

   The mystery shopping or covert employee thing is something I have mentioned before, which is just one tool to gain that kind of information about the workings of your company.  It is an extra cost, but it is the kind of investment that will pay for itself handily down the line. Because you can ask folks what is going on with your company, and they might give the straight scoop. Or they might not, partly because they don’t think you will do anything about it or they don’t trust the idea of giving you information that may or may not cause reprisals (thats if your company has a culture that does not support feedback, and if that is the case, you need to fix that by actually acting upon feedback and showing you care).

     You could also use customer or employee feedback software to mine that information gold.  Either way, if you are not doing these things, and actually acting upon that information to make your company better, then you are certainly headed down a road of uncertainty and peril.  You are just gambling at that point, with the hopes that nothing bad will happen to your company and that everything is just rosy with your people. pfffft.

   I guess my point with all of this, is that don’t be the company where the head does not know what the tail is doing.  Seek that feedback gold, and invest in the necessary measures to make that happen.  Start by just asking honestly what the issues are (and be responsive to those issues!!!), and if that doesn’t work, do surprise inspections, use software to gain employee and customer feedback, and finally, use mystery employees and get a solid read on what is really going on with your company. –Matt

Edit: Also check out this article about Best Buy and how they used ’employee feedback’ to their advantage.

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Use of private security guards at government buildings comes under scrutiny

By Ed O’KeefeThursday, March 11, 2010

There’s a saying among some private security guards in the Washington region: “There’s no security in security.”

Poor job security and the potential dangers that come with protecting government buildings make it a risky line of work, said guards interviewed this week.

Unlike officers with the Pentagon Force Protection Agency who gunned down shooter John Patrick Bedell last week, most security guards at federal buildings in the Washington region are employed by private firms that have contracts with the Federal Protective Service.

The FPS, part of the Department of Homeland Security, provides security at more than 9,000 federal buildings across the country and uses about 15,000 contract security guards to support about 1,200 officers, inspectors and administrative staffers, according to agency officials. A House hearing Tuesday will focus on the FPS’s future and its response to a 2009 Government Accountability Office investigation that exposed security gaps at 10 major federal buildings. The GAO report also faulted the FPS for inconsistent training and poor oversight of private guards.

Next month, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) plans to introduce legislation that addresses the agency’s future and broader threats and security measures at all civilian and military facilities, aides said.

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War Art: ’Not Responsible’, From LMS Defense-The Comics

Filed under: Funny Stuff,War Art — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 11:52 AM

‘Not Responsible.‘ From LMS Defense-The Comics and Righteous Duke Designs.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Letter Of Marque: The Constitutional Law And Practice Of Privateering, By Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore Cooperstein

Filed under: Legal News,Letter Of Marque,Publications — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 11:42 PM

  So this is interesting.  Here is a guy that works for the US Attorneys Office, who is former special forces and a reserve Army Intel guy, that writes this fantastic paper on the subject of Letters of Marque and Reprisal.  Does anyone else find that to be cool, or am I the only constitutional law geek that likes this stuff? lol

   The thing about it folks, is that I like the LoM, and I think it is just one more tool that can be used in this long and costly war.  It gives congress a means to connect with private industry in a way that will be cost effective, and certainly effective if done properly.  The one caveat though, is that congress needs to understand the mechanisms at play with this concept, and they must have the tools on how to properly construct a LoM. It would take some modern day modifications to get it just right, but it is certainly not impossible, and all the pieces are there to put it together.

   Which leads me to my next point.  By far, Feral Jundi is the place with the most comprehensive collection and commentary about the subject of the Letter of Marque and Reprisal. I know, I search this stuff relentlessly, and have collected it all.  I invite the readership to explore all of this good stuff, and ‘build a snowmobile’ out of it. Hell, write congress and let them know about the LoM and your thoughts about it. Remind them about Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution and let’s get the word out. –Matt

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Letters of Marque and Reprisal: The Constitutional Law and Practice of Privateering

Theodore M. Cooperstein, U.S. Attorneys Office (SDFL)

Abstract

The United States Constitution grants to the Congress the power, among others, to issue “Letters of Marque and Reprisal.” Although the practice seems to have fallen into disuse in this century, it was an important tool of national power for the federal government created by the Framers, who placed great import on the federal government’s role in protecting international commerce and in enforcing international law.

Privateering played a significant role before and during the Revolutionary War, and it persisted in American history as an economical way to augment naval forces against an enemy in wartime. A significant outgrowth of the practice of privateering was the body of law resulting from prize court adjudications. United States courts, in deciding title to ships and goods taken prize, determined issues both of domestic and customary international law. In this manner the federal courts significantly shaped the role of international law in the United States jurisprudence as well as assured the role of the United States in the ongoing development of customary international law. Case law concerning prizes and privateering is accordingly a useful vehicle to examine the interplay of U.S. constitutional law and customary international law as they both developed through the Nineteenth Century.

Changes in the methods of warfare during the Twentieth Century diminished the role of privateering. But the Congressional authority to issue Letters of Marque and Reprisal remains. As a means to commission private actors to augment national forces in international crises, the Letter of Marque and Reprisal could yet have modern applications. It remains for innovative executive and legislative experiment to revive the ancient practice in a form befitting modern international problems.

Suggested Citation

Theodore M. Cooperstein, “Letters of Marque and Reprisal: The Constitutional Law and Practice of Privateering,” 40 J. Maritime L. & Comm. 221 (Apr. 2009)

Link to publication website here.

LinkedIn Page for Theodore M. Cooperstein here.

Download Pdf here.

Industry Talk: Private Sector Eyes Opportunity In Haiti Rebuilding

Filed under: Disaster Response,Haiti,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 4:30 PM

   From what I can gather, the IPOA/GIS conference in Miami is going well.  I also want to emphasize that for you owners of small companies, who want to get involved with opportunities in Haiti, then these are the types of conferences you should be attending.  It is also advisable to go to the conference prepared, meaning you have the licenses and you have your company squared away to actually deliver on promises.  Do not be the schmuck that goes to one of these things, and is not prepared or hasn’t a clue on how to put action to words and get boots on the ground.  All eyes are on you, and if you screw up, it gives the entire industry a black eye.

   What will be cool, is if Doug can give an AAR on this conference, and provide some details that the readership might be interested in.  I think it is noteworthy that they only had three weeks or so to put this together, when normally these events take months to plan.  That to me only highlights the flexibility and speed of what the private industry is capable of if properly organized and mobilized.  I witnessed the same reaction of private industry during the Katrina Hurricanes back in 2005, and it is definitely a strength of the industry.  So the next step after this conference, is to see who goes where, and what they are doing. I will keep a watch on it, and see what pops up. –Matt

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Private Sector Eyes Opportunity in Haiti Rebuilding

By Pascal Fletcher

March 10, 2010

Rebuilding Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake should generate major contracts for private companies specializing in construction, logistics, transport and security, but U.S. executives say they need a clear reconstruction strategy to shape their business plans.

Private sector firms that focus on post-conflict or disaster relief operations gathered at a meeting in Miami this week to consider the business opportunities offered by Haiti’s recovery from the January 12 quake that devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns.

With Haiti’s government saying up to 300,000 people may have died, some economists are calling the Haitian quake the deadliest natural disaster in modern times. Relief experts and business leaders agree the mammoth task of rebuilding what was already the Western Hemisphere’s poorest state will be impossible without private sector participation.

“I don’t think they have any option but to get private companies in to help reconstruct Haiti,” Kevin Lumb, CEO of London-based Global Investment Summits Ltd, which organized the Haiti Reconstruction meeting in Miami, told Reuters.

“I think it opens up a great deal of business opportunities. Most of their infrastructure is destroyed, their roads, communications, buildings, it’s obviously affected water supply, electricity, so that all needs rebuilding,” Lumb said.

The Miami summit was also organized by the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group of companies working in conflict, post-conflict and disaster zones.

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