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Monday, April 19, 2010

Industry Talk: U.N. Security Officer Louis Maxwell ‘Executed By Afghan Police’

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: afghan police, Afghanistan, Dag Hammarskjold Medal, Industry Talk, Louis Maxwell, private military, security contracting, UN — Matt @ 3:51 AM

I posted a deal about the brave actions of Louis when this originally happened and hoped that the UN would recognize his bravery and sacrifice with the Dag Hammarskjold Medal. Now that this story came out, this adds even more tragedy to the mix. Imagine surviving all of that fighting, and then getting executed by the so called ‘police’? Perhaps these were not police at all, and were just the enemy dressed like the police? This doesn’t sound like friendly fire to me. Who knows and I certainly hope the UN continues the investigation on this. –Matt

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Louis Maxwell

Louis Maxwell.

UN bodyguard ‘executed by Afghan police’

A United Nations bodyguard who saved 17 colleagues by holding back Taliban fighters who stormed a guesthouse was minutes later executed by Afghan police, according to a video which has been seen by officials.

By Ben Farmer in Kabul17 Apr 2010

Louis Maxwell, a UN security officer from the United States, was among five international UN workers who died in the early morning October 28 attack in Kabul.

Mr Maxwell climbed onto a roof of the privately-run Bakhtar guesthouse and held the suicide attackers at bay with an assault rifle so colleagues could escape.

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Iraq: Schlumberger Oil Services Giant Builds A FOB For It’s Operations

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: Industry Talk, Iraq, oil, oil industry, oil services, Schlumberger, security, security contracting — Matt @ 12:54 AM

The company is finishing up work on a 40-acre compound near Basra. Earlier this month, several dozen employees moved in and set up a mobile barracks. Schlumberger said it expected to have 300 employees there by July and nearly double that by the end of the year.

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There are 36,000 oil field workers in Iraq, according to R. P. Eddy, chief executive of emerging markets consultant Ergo, and he expects that number to rise to 76,000 by 2015.

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So if anyone knows what security company they are working with, go ahead and put that in the comments or send me the stuff and I will make an edit. My guess is that this will provide a ton of jobs for Iraqis and expats–both for security work but all just oil industry work. Something to keep an eye on. –Matt

Edit: 4/21/2010- This recent article in Businessweek details even more companies that are moving into Iraq.

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Schlumberger Gambles on Iraq Work

APRIL 16, 2010

By RUSSELL GOLD

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s largest oilfield service company, has begun staffing an Iraqi business operation, one of the first such moves by a western energy company in decades.

Chief Executive Andrew Gould said in an interview from his office in Paris that he believes the security situation has improved considerably in the past year, and the opportunity to provide support to major oil firms is building. If security improves and oilfield work increases, a $3 billion to $4 billion market annually is possible by mid-decade, he said.

The situation in southern Iraq no longer resembles the chaos that engulfed the country five years ago. It has become “more traditional risk of tribal disturbance and banditry rather than any politically motivated security incident,” he said.

Unlike companies working in Iraq under government or military contract, Schlumberger symbolizes the nascent return by western corporations to the country, where many of the world’s largest oilfields are being opened up to foreign oil companies for the first time in a generation.

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Friday, April 16, 2010

Technology: Boron Nanowires Could Turn T-shirts Into Body Armor

Filed under: Technology — Tags: armor, boron nanowire, private military companies, security, security contracting, Technology — Matt @ 11:44 PM

How cool would that be? Not to mention the reduction for the soldier’s load or a reduction in the amount of medical claims for back problems do to wearing heavy armor. I like this kind of science and keep it up guys. –Matt

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Boron nanowires could turn T-shirts into body armor

April 6, 2010

(Nanowerk News) A simple cotton T-shirt may one day be converted into tougher, more comfortable body armor for soldiers or police officers.

Researchers at the University of South Carolina, collaborating with others from China and Switzerland, drastically increased the toughness of a T-shirt by combining the carbon in the shirt’s cotton with boron – the third hardest material on earth. The result is a lightweight shirt reinforced with boron carbide, the same material used to protect tanks.

Dr. Xiaodong Li, USC College of Engineering and Computing Distinguished Professor in Mechanical Engineering, co-authored the recent article on the research in the journal, Advanced Materials.

“USC is playing a leading role in this area. This is a true breakthrough,” Li said, calling the research “a conceptual change in fabricating lightweight, fuel-efficient, super-strong and ultra-tough materials. This groundbreaking new study opens up unprecedented opportunities.”

The scientists started with plain, white T-shirts that were cut into thin strips and dipped into a boron solution. The strips were later removed from the solution and heated in an oven. The heat changes the cotton fibers into carbon fibers, which react with the boron solution and produce boron carbide.

The result is a fabric that’s lightweight but tougher and stiffer than the original T-shirt, yet flexible enough that it can be bent, said Li, who led the group from USC. That flexibility is an improvement over the heavy boron-carbide plates used in bulletproof vests and body armor.

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Legal News: ‘To Deny Hostage Takers The Benefits Of Ransom’–W.H. Somali Piracy Policy

Filed under: Legal News,Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: Legal News, piracy, private military companies, ransoms, security contracting, Somalia, White House — Matt @ 2:02 AM

U.S. government policy is “to deny hostage takers the benefits of ransom, prisoner releases, policy changes, or other acts of concession,” the White House said in a statement today.

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This is the only article I could find that listed the administration’s follow up statement on the matter. This quote was also added as an update to this article. I have not seen a lot of stuff written on this, primarily because it is still kind of new and vague. A reporter needs to nail down the White House on this, because I am sure there are shipping companies out there just scratching their head. Does this new order expressly prohibit paying ransoms to pirates or not?

If a lawyer (in the article below) states that this is vague and could be interpreted one way or the other, I tend to think that the American shipping industry is pretty confused right now.

It could also mean that this is a hint that the administration is dropping on the US shipping industry. A hint that says ‘you guys should probably think about doing something other than paying the salaries of Somali pirates with 3 to 5 million dollar ransoms’. Who knows, and we will see how this turns out. –Matt

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Obama Order May Block Ransoms Paid to Somali Pirates

April 15, 2010 (updated)

Afghanistan: Why Private Guards Are Crucial To The Afghanistan Mission

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: Afghanistan, michael evans, mission, private guards, private military company, security contracting — Matt @ 12:24 AM

This came from the Times Online, and I was kind of surprised they used the word ‘guard’ as opposed to ‘mercenary’ in the title. I was even more surprised that this was an article describing how important we are to the mission in Afghanistan. You just don’t hear that kind of language in the media, and it is refreshing to hear. It is a realist point of view, and it is definitely a respectful point of view.

There are more contractors than soldiers in Afghanistan, and we have our deaths and injuries too. It’s nice to hear that someone in the media actually recognizes our contribution and importance to the mission. –Matt

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Why private guards are crucial to the Afghanistan mission

April 16, 2010

Michael Evans

Western contractors, whose numbers have proliferated in Afghanistan in recent years, are as much in the front line as the military because of the constant threat of suicide bombers.

The most vulnerable among them are security guards, working for private companies such as the British ArmorGroup International. They can be seen standing sentry outside every base, every embassy, and protecting diplomats, aid officials and visiting VIPs. The operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have provided tens of thousands of jobs for former special forces soldiers and other military and law enforcement personnel.

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