provide for the common defense

The Wackenhut Corporation is the U.S.-based division of Group 4 Securicor, the world's second largest provider of Security Services. Group 4 Securicor (www.group4securicor.com) is based in the United Kingdom and has activities in more than 100 countries and is the market leader in over half the countries in which it operates.

Wackenhut is a leading provider of contract services to major corporations, government agencies, and a wide range of industrial and commercial customers. The company's security-related services include uniformed security officers, investigations, background checks, hotline programs, emergency protection, and security audits and assessments.

Wackenhut is involved with physical security, training and consulting and investigative services:

Consulting:

the operational aspects of a security program,

the necessity of business continuity,

the need to establish a proactive process to prevent security and safety issues,

the assessment of threat and vulnerability,

the methods of satisfying the “due care” principle,

the utilization of and need to balance manpower and electronic solutions, and

the augmentation and improving overall safety of people and property.

Research:

Research Services PDF

Biographies

Pre-Employment Background Screening

Nuclear Access Authorizations

Investigation:

Complex Corporate Investigations

Protection Services

Computer Forensics and Safeguarding of Electronic Information

Brand Integrity Protection

Due Diligence

One of multiple Virginia locations:

The Wackenhut Corporation
11150 Main Street, Ste. 101
Fairfax, VA 22030
Tel (703) 359-8045
Fax (703) 359-8048

From my earlier post on security companies,
Vance International is a local investigation and security firm.

Increasingly, business leaders are concerned about crisis and public scandal, financial damage, safety of people and property, growing security costs, and rapid response to crisis. Consequently, traditional methods of protecting people, property, and information won't meet the needs of most organizations anymore.

Managing risk in today's complex world requires a proactive approach. That's why corporations and governments are taking stronger measures by relying on Vance to plan for, manage, and respond to risks.

...

Vance Integrity Solutions™ include:

Event Integrity™
Workplace Integrity™
Litigation Integrity™
Travel Integrity™
Property Integrity™
Product Integrity™

Good location, too:

COMPANY HEADQUARTERS

Virginia
10467 White Granite Drive
Oakton, VA 22124
USA
(703) 592-1400
(703) 592-1500 fax

Locations as well in UK, Iraq and Mexico for the adventurous.

Specific careers include Investigator and Research Analyst. Backgrounds include:

Legal profession
Research analysis
Government agencies (FBI, CIA, U.S. Secret Service, Scotland Yard)
Military and law enforcement
Corporate security
Compliance and risk management
Digital security

How might the Iranian regime be prevented from continuing to threaten the region with terrorism and nuclear weapons? An interesting possibility could be through the apparently increasing instability of Iran's ethnic groups.

TEHRAN - Today's Iran is the latest manifestation of a great and endlessly undermined Persian empire that once stretched from Iraq to Afghanistan, embracing a multitude of ethnicities along the way. The Islamic republic that came into being a generation ago is a microcosm of its imperial past, with Arabs, Azeris, Bakhtiaris, Balochis, Kurds, Turkmens and Lurs co-existing alongside the majority Persian population.

But as this month's riots by ethnic Arabs in the southern province of Khuzestan demonstrated, Iran's multicultural milieu could also be its Achilles' heel, an open door for foreign opportunists seeking to infiltrate this fledgling nuclear power.

Iran is particularly vulnerable to foreign penetration in that non-Persian, non-Shi'ite ethnic minorities inhabit its extremities. Aside from Khuzestan's Shi'ite Arabs, there are Sunni Balochis in the southeast, Sunni Kurds and Shi'ite Azeris in the northwest and Sunni Turkmens in the northeast.

I've noted before that despite the prevailing wisdom of the Iraq war critics that argued that Iraq would descend into ethnic civil war, the opposite was in fact happening. Not only have Iraqi Shiite ethnic groups largely refused to retaliate against the Sunni minority, but it is the neighboring regimes that now face ethnic unrest. Iran is the most critical example, but also important are the Shiites in Syria, Lebanon and even in Saudi Arabia.

The "ethnic pot stirring" may soon spell trouble for the mullahs in Tehran. Repressive, corrupt and dictatorial rule under the guise of an "Islamic" state may not long survive the desire of Iran's various ethnic groups for better treatment. And as that desire increasingly takes the form of calling for free and fair elections this summer, a showdown may be at hand.

The 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon is passing with little fanfare. Asia Times takes a political and economic look at the intervening years. Despite the divisive politics of the Vietnam War that still haunt US foreign policy to some extent, it's hard to see the inconclusive pullout of the US from Vietnam as having been to the benefit of the Vietnamese people. Or the region as a whole:

Vietnam's climb from the rubble of the Second Indochina War, which the communist leadership launched in 1961, was slow and painful. The totalitarian policies grafted on to South Vietnam by Hanoi's hardliners after "liberation" in 1975 resulted in nearly 400,000 southerners being sent to "re-education camps"; more than 500,000 southerners escaping (many taking their chances on the high seas) or bribing their way out of the territory; and some 2 million people being forcibly resettled into "economic zones" in the southern countryside. The number of executions of southerners has never been officially admitted by Hanoi. Add to this the huge refugee packing into South Vietnam's cities induced by US bombing and artillery practices, and severe misery characterized the first few years of Vietnam's "unification".

Le Duan's, Trong Chinh's and other communist hardliners' insistence on Stalinist economics for the conquered south, which included the expropriation of southern land, factories and wealth, and the substitution of class credentials for competence, naturally worsened the whole country's situation. Per capita incomes fell drastically, economic growth ended, and the country's gross domestic product (GDP) bottomed out.

Vietnam's long journey toward economic recovery did not begin until 1986, with the Politburo's acknowledgement of its failed economic policies and managerial ineptitude. That year the Communist Party announced its doi moi (renovation) campaign - the same year Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev began his policy of perestroika (restructuring) in the Soviet Union. Even then, it was not until 1989 when Vietnam's economic reforms finally took effect - the same year the army pulled out of prostrated Cambodia, ruled by the former Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese client dictator Hun Sen, ending a 10-year Vietnamese military occupation that had further wrecked the economy.

Although the article goes on to describe Vietam as a country that "displays an economic vibrancy never known before under Indochinese communism," there still remains the iron grip of communist rule. Repression by the security apparatus, corruption at all levels of the bureaucracy and military, a lack of an independent media or judiciary, the suppression of free will--these are all the hallmarks of the failed ideology that seemed to have triumphed some 30 years ago.

But that "triumph" seems to have been largely hollow. The strikingly different histories of post-war Japan, Germany and especially that of South Korea point to the merits of the US military and its public having the nerve to follow through a conflict until the phase of successful reconstruction is well under way. And Vietnam is far from being the lone exception--witness post-WWI Germany (as opposed to post-WWII Germany), post-Soviet/US proxy war in 90's Afghanistan, Somalia, Haiti...the list goes on.

More recently, the lessons of Vietnam have arguably been applied in the determination to follow through in post-war Afghanistan and, yes, especially in Iraq. The evidence points to the growth of a people's freedom movement throughout parts of the Middle East, as contrasted with the post-Vietnam spread of communism in South East Asia and its detrimental legacy for decades. Contrary to the advice of JFK in 1961, the vocal anti-war minority a few years later would convince enough of our politicians not to "pay any price."

To paraphrase the most influential and trusted news anchor at the time ( a now self-admitted Liberal who at the time declared that Vietnam was not winnable): That's the way it was.

So will the aging 60's critics of the US involvement in Vietnam ever concede that the the price paid by abandoning the South Vietnamese was too high? Not likely. But fortunately, a sufficient number Americans apparently think differently. And gradually, an increasing number of South Asians and Middle Easterners seem to agree.

Update: Amir Taheri wrote an interesting piece, which I had read before the piece above, entitled Bandung Fifty Years On reviewing the history of the 50th aniversary of the first Bandung Conference in April 18-25, 1955. This was the birth of the so called "nonaligned movement" which eventually included Vietnam, much of South East Asia and beyond. Its development paralleled the US involvement in Vietnam with similar disappointing results:

In the decades that followed, however, the nonaligned nations became responsible for most of the wars in the world. Months after Bandung India invaded Pakistan in the hope of annexing part of the Ran-e-Kuch salient. China attacked India and captured large chunks of territory, including part of Ladakh in 1960. In 1961 it was the turn of India to invade the Portuguese enclave of Goa. India also fought border wars with Burma, later renamed Myanmar, while Nasser led the Arab states into a disastrous war with Israel in 1967. Over the following three decades members of the nonaligned movement were involved in 67 wars, including the eight-year long Iran-Iraq war, the deadliest in the world since 1945. In the 1970s Indonesia, the host country, experienced a civil war in which at least half a million people perished.

But Taheri strikes a conclusive positive tone:

What is left of Bandung 50 years later?

The blocs have disappeared, and Third World despots can no longer play the capitalist West against the Communist East to maintain their hold on power. Capitalism has triumphed almost everywhere, including in such remaining Communist heartlands as China and Vietnam. Sartre's global peasant revolt sounds like a Paris cafe joke rather than serious philosophy. Everywhere, people want pluralism, elections, and prosperity — all the tings that the Third Worldists regard as decadent, bourgeois, and imperialist concoctions.

This turnabout took over 30 years in South East Asia. It took almost a century (and still counting) in 19th century Russia and currently in the backsliding 21st century Russia.

Fortunately, the Bush administration's policy of engagement is set to produce better results in the Middle East and elsewhere in a much condensed time span. Years, not generations, will likely be the measure of the ongoing reverse falling of the dominos.

Rachel Ehrenfeld makes a good case that a privately owned technology company with apparent ties to terrorists, Ptech, potentially provided infrastructure details of US government and corporate nuclear, food chain and security technology:

The privately owned technology company, based in Quincy, Massachusetts, received at least $20 million in financing from Saudi investors between 1994, when it was founded, and 2001. Fourteen million came from Yassin Al-Qadi, who was listed as a specially designated global terrorist on October 12, 2001.

Ptech is used primarily to develop enterprise blueprints at the highest level of US government and corporate infrastructure. These blueprints hold every important functional, operational, and technical detail of the enterprise. A secondary use of this powerful tool is to build other smart tools in a short period of time. Ptech’s clients in 2001 included the Department of Justice, the Department of Energy, Customs, Air Force, the White House, the FAA, IBM, Sysco, Aetna, and Motorola, to name just a few.

Examples of information gathered utilizing Ptech’s capabilities would include the following:

A complete blueprint of a nuclear waste disposal site would detail the security procedures required to access military bases during transfer of nuclear waste materials. It would also include security rules, revealing where tight security searches vs. random searches exist for conducting detailed identity screening and security checks. These are typically noted in the architecture process, and surely, would be of interest to terrorists.

A second example is a complete blueprint of food distribution patterns, which would include food suppliers, warehouse locations, distributors, vehicles and schedules. With this knowledge, fraudulent deliveries of contaminated food would not be difficult to accomplish.

Another example is Product specifications in the blueprint for Smartcards as implemented in various defense facilities. It would include enough information to provide templates for duplication, and for unauthorized production of fake Smart IDs, which are a basic tool in the arsenal of criminals and terrorists alike.

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And for some continuing education, the ASIS bookstore is open. Books for and on the CPP(Certified Protection Professional) and PSP(Physical Security Professional) are available. They no doubt are more practical and up to date than those accompanying my community college security classes.

Michigan exemplifies the move to technology to increase security. And save money.

In the area of security, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of building occupants, employees and citizens is a top priority for Michigan. The state’s director of tenant services, Joe Ostrowski, said the biggest challenge to increasing security in public buildings is changing mindsets. “Before 9/11 you had everything open and accessible so you had anyone at anytime being able to walk into a building,” he said. “We’re here to serve the public, but addressing heightened security concerns has its tradeoffs.”
The state has guards posted at all critical points of entry – a costly business practice that Ostrowski wants to eliminate with technology. The state also wants to use technology to secure entire perimeters of buildings against unauthorized entry.

Technology is able to replace expensive personel with card access systems for employees and Digital Video Manager (DVM), which integrates video with fire, automation and various security sub-systems such as access control and intrusion detection.

Using the state’s basic IT network infrastructure for communication, managers maintain a continuous central control operation that monitors HVAC, life safety and security systems. Luce said it is fairly easy to use. “I can sit in the control room when someone’s had to leave and if I can do it anybody can. It’s primarily point-and-click with EBI’s graphic interface. You can go down to the equipment level; we have graphics that tell you what things are running, tells you what temperatures are, makes it very user friendly.”

Interesting piece on the constantly developing status of the Chief Security Officer: The Very Model of a Modern CSO.

That is moving the corporation toward an enterprise security solution, and "that's where we need to be," says Don W. Walker, CPP, chairman of Securitas Security Services USA, Inc., and chairman of Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations, Inc. Walker served as co-chair of the ASIS Commission on Guidelines.

...

Impediments have included budget constraints and the business culture. Walker estimates that today less than one-third of the corporate world has its security function set up with the desired enterprisewide model and with a strong CSO working closely with senior management to set and implement security policies.
...
Whether a company has someone called the CSO or not doesn't matter, says Andrew Howell, vice president of homeland security policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Maybe they should be director of security. What matters is that that person should be empowered to do his or her job."

Legislation has also pushed the private sector into security concerns:

A number of onerous legal requirements have formed like dark clouds over corporate executives' heads in recent years. These requirements arise from laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA (which concerns health data protection), Gramm-Leach-Bliley (which concerns financial services data protection), and Sarbanes-Oxley (which pertains to corporate governance, internal controls, and fraud prevention).

From security's perspective, there is a silver lining to these regulatory clouds--the new responsibilities that have rained down from them are pushing companies to recognize the value of the security department and to enhance its role.

"The Patriot Act certainly has brought attention to the security function," says Walker. "And certain companies have now escalated the security function to reporting to the audit committee of the board or to a special committee of the board so that security concerns can get directly to the CEO and to a board committee, and I think that's almost a direct result of Sarbanes-Oxley," he adds.

Some sectors have been more affected by regulatory demands on security than others. In banking, for example, financial institutions are now required to assist law enforcement with detection of money laundering and terrorist financing, and in most cases, the responsibility for suspicious-activity reporting falls with the security group, says P. Kevin Smith, CPP, senior vice president and corporate security director at Chevy Chase Bank.

The scope of security:

The position oversees all security activities for the company, including physical, personnel, investigations, and IT. And this year, Garland has the green light to further expand the department's purview to consolidate the company's contingency planning and emergency-response efforts.

...

Garland is not alone in being given greater responsibilities. "It seems like we get a new area of responsibility almost on a monthly basis," says Gordon W. Kettler, executive director of global security for General Motors Corporation since 1990.

His department's scope includes investigations, crisis management, fire protection, security technology assessment and purchase, contract management, brand protection, VIP protection, global intelligence gathering, loss reporting, and supply chain security.