The privatisation of intelligence procurement has led to the rise of Stratfor, as recently leaked emails reveal.
By Mark LeVine
Al-Jazeera
"......More troubling is Stratfor's contracts with Homeland Security, which is on record as coordinating the recent police attacks on the Occupy movement across the United States, as documented by Rolling Stone.
At the very least, we should not be surprised if in the coming years, Stratfor and similar organisations play an increasingly prevalent and pernicious, role in the privatisation of the security, intelligence and policing by governments across the world. It is this function - the ability to monitor and even attack citizens when governments can't afford to get their hands dirty - which will be the most important "geopolitical instrument" (to use CEO George Friedman's term) that companies like Stratfor can offer their corporate and government customers.
If so far their "craft" remains amateurish, the experience of Iraq shows that all they need to do to succeed is sow enough chaos and distrust among their adversaries to keep the customers happy and the profits rolling in. If Stratfor can do that, George Friedman and his henchmen will have the last laugh, no matter who is reading their emails."
By Mark LeVine
Al-Jazeera
"......More troubling is Stratfor's contracts with Homeland Security, which is on record as coordinating the recent police attacks on the Occupy movement across the United States, as documented by Rolling Stone.
At the very least, we should not be surprised if in the coming years, Stratfor and similar organisations play an increasingly prevalent and pernicious, role in the privatisation of the security, intelligence and policing by governments across the world. It is this function - the ability to monitor and even attack citizens when governments can't afford to get their hands dirty - which will be the most important "geopolitical instrument" (to use CEO George Friedman's term) that companies like Stratfor can offer their corporate and government customers.
If so far their "craft" remains amateurish, the experience of Iraq shows that all they need to do to succeed is sow enough chaos and distrust among their adversaries to keep the customers happy and the profits rolling in. If Stratfor can do that, George Friedman and his henchmen will have the last laugh, no matter who is reading their emails."
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