Category: Communities of Practice

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Reference: Private Military Corporations–A Non-State Actor-Nuclear Terror Nexus?

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence
Full Paper Online
Private Military Corporations: A Non-State Actor-Nuclear Terror Nexus?

Robert L. Brown
Temple University

August 16, 2010

Abstract:

The risk of nuclear terrorism is hyped by some as possible and high consequence (Allison 2006) while others dismiss the strategy as too difficult and too risky for terrorist organizations (Jenkins 2008). However, analysts have no data from which to directly analyze the probability of terrorist acquisition and use. One methodological solution is to extend the range analysis to include analogous cases: private military corporations (PMCs) are one class of non-state actors (NSAs) who may possess the capacity and autonomy to pose a risk of nuclear terrorism for their state masters. I find that the while the technical and military capabilities of PMCs may be greater than those of terrorist organizations with respect to nuclear weapon construction or delivery, they are still be insufficient (and PMCs must also somehow acquire fissile materials). Also, PMCs benefit from agency slack, as demonstrated by Blackwater’s performance in Iraq, but this autonomy does not appear sufficient to carry out an illicit nuclear plot. Therefore, PMCs may be more capable than most terrorist organizations if they sought to acquire nuclear weapons but they are still unlikely to succeed.

Keywords: Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism, Private Military Corporations, Blackwater, Xe

Working Paper Series
Brown, Robert L., Private Military Corporations: A Non-State Actor-Nuclear Terror Nexus? (August 16, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1659785

See Also:

David Isenberg, Jack Bauer Beats Blackwater, Huffington Post 20 december 2010

Journal: Near-Term Demise of Private Military Contractors

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Wikileaks V Rolling Update CLOSED

02 Diplomacy, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Multinational, IO Secrets, Officers Call
Yvette Carnell

30 December 2010

Cyber-sabotage and espionage top 2011 security fears (BBC)

The WikiLeaks War on America (Commentary)

The Dark Side of Wikileaks (Atlanta Post)

Assange: I'll reveal info that will spark Arab world coups (YNETNews)

Assange: Many Arab Officials Work With CIA (CBSNews)

WikiLeaks founder vows to release all files in case of death or incarceration (The Star)

Floyd Abrams Whizzes on WikiLeaks (Slate)

Wired journalists deny cover-up over WikiLeaks boss and accused US soldier (Guardian)

53 letters: Response to Wired's accusations (Salon)

FBI Raids Texas Server Farm for Clues to Anonymous Group, Operation Payback (eweek)

If Wikileaks Is About Cyberwar, Was The Pentagon Papers About A Wood Pulp War? (techdirt)

Continue reading “Wikileaks V Rolling Update CLOSED”

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Journal: Corporate Hijacking of Cyber-Space

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Mobile, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Policy, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Privacy, Reform, Standards, Strategy, Technologies
Marcus Aurelius Recommends

The Wall Street Journal

The FCC's Threat to Internet Freedom

‘Net neutrality' sounds nice, but the Web is working fine now. The new rules will inhibit investment, deter innovation and create a billable-hours bonanza for lawyers.

Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government's reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.

How did the FCC get here?

Read entire article….

Phi Beta Iota: The public is now much more aware that neither of the two political parties can be trusted, and that trust for any given government element, policy, or point of view is contingent on a much deeper examination of bias and motive than many would wish.  There are two sides to this issue, irrespective of the competency and good faith of government: on the one side are the corporations, including Google and Verizon, that wish to hijack cyber-space and claim that they own it.  This will allow them to charge premium prices for access to high-speed services.  On the other are those whose taxes paid for the creation of the Internet in the first place, the US taxpayer–they see the vital importance of open spectrum, open source software, and open source intelligence as the tri-fecta of cyber-freedom.  At OSS '92 John Perry Barlow said that the Internet interprets censorship as an outage, and routes around it.  Our view is that the corporations will succeed in hijacking cyberspace in the near term, but in the mid-term and beyond OpenBTS and other bottom-up public innovation solutions will restore the noosphere to its rightful owners, the human minds that comprise the World Brain.

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Journal: Ron Paul C-SPAN’s Newsmakers + Ron Paul RECAP

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Corporations, Ethics, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy
Michael Ostrolenk Recommends...

Focus on tax package, Republican future, focus on Federal Reserve and oversight if not termination of the Federal Reserve.  Focus on danger of central economic planning.  Do not attack individuals, but rather the “system.”  It's going to get a lot worse.  Need more transparency.  Everything Fed does is secret and they have a budget bigger than US Congress.  They bail out the insiders, not America.  Bad economics and not legal under the Constitution.  He is pressed hard by interviewers on bubbles existing before the Fed.  You pay the price of SHORTER recessions.  The debt is liquidated.  Today our whole goal is to perpetuate the mistakes.  Only thing worse than the Fed would be a “One World” currency.  Explicit prohibition against printing money (applies to BOTH the Fed and to Congress).  What is really at issue here is NOT the Fed, but rather the role of government in the eyes of the people.  Stopping the Fed stops the US Government from being a world policeman and a regulator of our lives and the world.

C-SPAN VIDEO (31.:05) “Newsmakers” Interview of Ron Paul

Books by Ron Paul

Review: The Revolution–A Manifesto . . . . . . .Review: A Foreign Policy of Freedom–Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship (Paperback). . . . .End the Fed . . . . . . .Liberty Defined: The 50 Urgent Issues That Affect Our Freedom . . . . . . .Pillars of Prosperity . . . . . Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse. . . . .Ron Paul Speaks. . . . . .Case for Gold: A Minority Report of the United State Gold Commission. . . . . .Mises and Austrian Economics: A Personal View

See Also:

Reference: Empire of Lies & Secrecy…..Reference: Personal for Mike Bloomberg…..Reference: Inside Job–The Movie…..Reference: Citizens Fiddle, Obama Dances…..Reference: A World That Works for All…..Journal: College Musings on Ron Paul and Economy…..Journal: Ron Paul, Grand Strategy, Ahem…..Journal: Weapons of Mass Deception Round III…..Journal: Six Big Issues Media Ignoring…..Election 2008 Chapter: Candidates on the Issues

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Journal: Near-Term Demise of Private Military Contractors

10 Security, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Multinational, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence
DefDog Recommends...

Former Blackwater Bought By Investment Group

by The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. December 17, 2010, 10:38 am ET

An investment group with ties to the founder of the company formerly known as Blackwater announced Friday that it has bought the security firm, which was heavily criticized for its contractors' actions in Iraq.

USTC Holdings said in a statement that the acquisition of the company now called Xe Services includes its training facility in North Carolina.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But the statement said owner and founder Erik Prince will no longer have an equity stake and no longer be involved in Xe's management or operations. The company will be managed by a board appointed by the equity holders and will include independent, unaffiliated directors, the statement said.

The ownership group is led by two private equity firms, including New York-based Forte Capital Advisors. Forte managing partner Jason DeYonker has been a longtime financial adviser to Prince, helping him expand the Moyock, N.C., training grounds and negotiating Blackwater's first training contracts with the U.S. government.

“The future of this industry belongs to those companies with the highest standards of governance, transparency, and performance,” DeYonker said.

Read rest of article (includes photos)…

Phi Beta Iota: Winston Churchill is known for saying Americans always do the right thing, they just try everything else first.  Similarly, Russell Ackoff is known for saying that we have to stop doing the wrong things righter, and instead do the right thing.  Private Military Contractors (PMC) are the wrong thing!  Multinational hybrid task forces are the right thing–cheaper, faster, better in all respects.  All we need to bring is integrity and intelligence (decision-support).  PMC's loot our own highly qualified human resources; cheat the taxpayer twice over (the government does it once first by hiring them in the first place); and are one step short of air dropping liquid feces over an entire area of responsibility (AOR).  Not cool at all.  Everyone means well, but this is about as dumb as it gets on all levels of thinking.