.Military Outsources Rescue Ops, Secret Tagging Tech (Updated}
In the American military, few missions are considered more important than rescuing missing or kidnapped troops. So it’s more than a little odd that U.S. forces in Iraq have decided to outsource that operation to a private company. The military’s Joint Contracting Command-Iraq/Afghanistan on Sunday handed out a one year, $11.3 million, no-bid contract to Blackbird Technologies Inc., declaring that the firm was “the only contractor that can currently provide the subject matter expertise needed” for personnel rescue operations.
It’s hardly the first military contract for Virginia-based Blackbird, originally founded in 1997 as an Internet security firm. In August, Blackbird won a massive, $450 million contract from the U.S. Navy to provide ”tagging, tracking and locating” gear and training to a wide swath of military units. In addition, Blackbird is currently assisting the armed forces in “locating people held captive or hostage under duress and assessing enemy vulnerabilities.” U.S. forces say they need the company to continue to “provid[e] staff and mission area expertise for PR [personnel recovery] operations, serve as a fusion nexus for intelligence operations to support PR, and operational oversight for subordinate operations.” In addition, the military expects Blackbird to provide everything from “crisis action planning” to “non-attributable internet research.”
“We’re not the guys that go out and kick down doors and bring out the Jessica Lynches of the world,” says retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Timur Eads, who serves as Blackbird’s vice president of government relations. “We’re the guys in the background, assembling the forensic information, bringing all the threads together.” Sometimes, Eads tells Danger Room, that entails online research “where you appear to be entering the Internet from somewhere else.”
Beyond that, Eads won’t say much. “I can’t give the specifics of what we do, because the work is classified. But the reason we got this contract is because we have people with very unique skillsets that we can quickly bring together.”
The company says they’ve already got a crack team assembled for their rescue operations. But Blackbird is openly recruiting for “personnel recovery mission officers,” apparently to service this contract. Only applicants with a very specific background need apply. Blackbird wants each of the eight officers to have 10 years of special operations missions and a clearance of “Top Secret/SSBI with SCI eligibility.” But despite the sensitivity of this mission, and despite the exclusive resumes applicants need to provide, these positions are only “part-time.”
Blackbird is headquartered in Herndon, VA, with five branch offices nationwide. Blackbird’s website states that the company is a “technology solutions provider whose mission is to solve challenging problems for customers in the Defense, Intelligence, and Law Enforcement Communities.” They also advertise that the majority of their staff hold high-level clearances and handle “the most sensitive government and commercial matters.”
Various arms of the Department of Defense have awarded at least six different contracts to the company since 2003. The biggest, and most sensitive, of these deals is the nearly half-billion contract for “tagging, tracking, and locating” — military jargon for keeping tabs on troops and their potential enemies through clandestine means.
Usually, that TTL job is accomplished by putting an infrared, radio frequency, or satellite homing device on or around the target. The CIA, for instance, allegedly directs its drone strikes in Pakistan with the help of infrared beacons. Blackbird is responsible for “training all Army, Marine Corps, and Special Operations forces in the use and application” of these TTL tags, according to Eads. That includes “infrared beacons, satellite tags, and over-the-horizon tags.”
The idea is to give local U.S. commanders in places like Afghanistan the ability to “identify high-value targets in his sector.,” Eads says. That officer can also use the tags to trace the routes and attack points used by insurgent bombing networks. Blackbird also sells the gear to the various military branches, and embeds a company contractor with a military unit to service the equipment.
Eads and Blackbird were temporarily thrust into the spotlight in 2008. The company was also involved in the “Pentagon Pundits” imbroglio — retired military officers who were hired as news analysts for their Pentagon access. Blackbird’s Eads opined on military matters for Fox News.
Blackbird’s new contract is yet another example of the government’s embrace of private firms in some of its most sensitive work. Among those killed last month by the Jordanian suicide bomber who infiltrated a C.I.A. base in Afghanistan were two contractors from the firm formerly known as Blackwater.
Wired
It’s hardly the first military contract for Virginia-based Blackbird, originally founded in 1997 as an Internet security firm. In August, Blackbird won a massive, $450 million contract from the U.S. Navy to provide ”tagging, tracking and locating” gear and training to a wide swath of military units. In addition, Blackbird is currently assisting the armed forces in “locating people held captive or hostage under duress and assessing enemy vulnerabilities.” U.S. forces say they need the company to continue to “provid[e] staff and mission area expertise for PR [personnel recovery] operations, serve as a fusion nexus for intelligence operations to support PR, and operational oversight for subordinate operations.” In addition, the military expects Blackbird to provide everything from “crisis action planning” to “non-attributable internet research.”
“We’re not the guys that go out and kick down doors and bring out the Jessica Lynches of the world,” says retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Timur Eads, who serves as Blackbird’s vice president of government relations. “We’re the guys in the background, assembling the forensic information, bringing all the threads together.” Sometimes, Eads tells Danger Room, that entails online research “where you appear to be entering the Internet from somewhere else.”
Beyond that, Eads won’t say much. “I can’t give the specifics of what we do, because the work is classified. But the reason we got this contract is because we have people with very unique skillsets that we can quickly bring together.”
The company says they’ve already got a crack team assembled for their rescue operations. But Blackbird is openly recruiting for “personnel recovery mission officers,” apparently to service this contract. Only applicants with a very specific background need apply. Blackbird wants each of the eight officers to have 10 years of special operations missions and a clearance of “Top Secret/SSBI with SCI eligibility.” But despite the sensitivity of this mission, and despite the exclusive resumes applicants need to provide, these positions are only “part-time.”
Blackbird is headquartered in Herndon, VA, with five branch offices nationwide. Blackbird’s website states that the company is a “technology solutions provider whose mission is to solve challenging problems for customers in the Defense, Intelligence, and Law Enforcement Communities.” They also advertise that the majority of their staff hold high-level clearances and handle “the most sensitive government and commercial matters.”
Various arms of the Department of Defense have awarded at least six different contracts to the company since 2003. The biggest, and most sensitive, of these deals is the nearly half-billion contract for “tagging, tracking, and locating” — military jargon for keeping tabs on troops and their potential enemies through clandestine means.
Usually, that TTL job is accomplished by putting an infrared, radio frequency, or satellite homing device on or around the target. The CIA, for instance, allegedly directs its drone strikes in Pakistan with the help of infrared beacons. Blackbird is responsible for “training all Army, Marine Corps, and Special Operations forces in the use and application” of these TTL tags, according to Eads. That includes “infrared beacons, satellite tags, and over-the-horizon tags.”
The idea is to give local U.S. commanders in places like Afghanistan the ability to “identify high-value targets in his sector.,” Eads says. That officer can also use the tags to trace the routes and attack points used by insurgent bombing networks. Blackbird also sells the gear to the various military branches, and embeds a company contractor with a military unit to service the equipment.
Eads and Blackbird were temporarily thrust into the spotlight in 2008. The company was also involved in the “Pentagon Pundits” imbroglio — retired military officers who were hired as news analysts for their Pentagon access. Blackbird’s Eads opined on military matters for Fox News.
Blackbird’s new contract is yet another example of the government’s embrace of private firms in some of its most sensitive work. Among those killed last month by the Jordanian suicide bomber who infiltrated a C.I.A. base in Afghanistan were two contractors from the firm formerly known as Blackwater.
Wired
posted by madtom at 6:40 PM
7 Comments:
There will be more of that. Highly skilled SOLDIERS are leaving in droves because of rules of engagement and politically correct environment-- and when gays can sashay in yo face and dare you to comment, many more will leave. I know it for a fact. I have heard first and second hand that there is great discontent in the ranks among those who actually do the fighting. The 8 to 10 percent who say they are outa here are among those most vital. Look for a service support oriented military with private contractors to do the dirty work in the future, until we really can't afford the PC bullshit anymore and realize the few real men left are needed again. Shit happens and who you gonna call? Adam Lambert?
Please if skill is migrating, it's doing it for the usual reasons, rude awakening if you think they care about anything else other than the skill in the private sector, "sashay", or no "sashay". I mean in the real world we already have that? No place to run my friend no place to run. Just man up and deal with it.
And besides, maybe they'll all volunteer for duty in Pashtunland...hearts and minds...
You need to pay more attention to what is being said by soldiers if you doubt me. It's reaching a tipping point and this new move to effectively make sexual preference just one more protected status in the ranks could well start something few are expecting. Or, it could very well achieve what O and is minions desire--- a military that is just another civil service extension of the executive branch.
Overblown, in six months no one will remember what all the fuss is about. You'll have exactly the same guys and galls you have there right now, sprinkle a few surprises here and there, and no one will care anymore...
In the words of Worf, "today is a good day to die"
The way I heard it, it's not on base where you're getting any push back, it's in the base towns, where people are talking about the "gays" coming in on leave and deflowering all the "boys"....what's new?
I'm not talking about the 'gays'. I've been hearing this for the last several years. People are sick of the ROE and tiptoeing around the human resources aspect of the military. I'm talking about the pervasive issue of PC where those in one group or another use their status as leverage in the bureaucracy that is the modern military. Succeeding in the military is more about navigating the legislated political and social sensitivities than it is about preparing for and fighting war. I only mention the gay issue because it is just going to be one more protected class to pile on all the other issues. Gender, race, religion, sexual preferences---- obesity is even something that has come to be another personal issue one must treat with sensitivity---in the MILITARY!?
I haven't heard a single vet suggest a gay man or woman should be precluded from service, but they all know what open acknowledgment will mean in everyday life. They'll be watching their backs, and not because they are afraid some gay boy is about to mount them. If they see poor performance and soldiering from a gay soldier, they won't dare intervene. And if the gay boy is also a radical Muslim...... he will get the best reviews in his entire unit up until the day he breaks the record for base massacres because NO ONE is going to stick their neck out to get rid of the guy.
"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."--- rough men are getting the hell out and we aren't sleeping nearly as safely. But the nation will come crawling back to them just like they always do. I just hope we have enough of them left because the emasculation begins in kindergarten.
"But the nation will come crawling back"
I don't know Will, sounds to me like your wishing on a fading dream. Most likely what you speak of will only get worst as the level of education of even the recruits goes up past anything we have seen in the past. I think it's just part and parcel of the volunteer force, we are likely to see more and more regular Joes walking around with Masters and PhD's in their pockets next to the guns and knives.
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