U.S. Seeks Local Help in Guatemalan Counterdrug Ops

Posted by Stephen Peacock - November 22, 2005 at 3:06 pm
The U.S. Embassy-Guatemala Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) is reaching out to local helicopter charter-service providers to support its drug seizure and crop-eradication operations. According to a solicitation document uploaded Nov. 18 to the federal Electronic Posting System contracting database, the State Dept. is looking for private helicopter companies capable of providing the embassy with rotary aircraft assistance within 12-24 hours notice. The solicitation says selected contractors would have to provide these services:

to various locations within Guatemala on an as needed basis to support the NAS counter narcotic interdiction and eradication missions. The missions may include, but are not limited to, observation and/or reconnaissance of poppy and marihuana areas, before, during, and after the eradication to observe effects of the interdiction and/or eradication process, to assist with DEA and/or host nation counter-narcotic task force units with follow-up investigative case work, and preparation for the next eradication operation... All flying is strictly during daylight hours and may range from 3 to 6 hours per mission depending on the mission.

The document does not specify the number of missions for which a contractor will provide service, but points out that, historically, "the NAS has chartered from as few as one helicopter per year, to as many as five helicopters per year." The minimum value of an initial one-year contract will be $10,000, while the total value of the first year plus four one-year options will not exceed $125,000, it said.

The NAS requires contractors "to obtain chartered aircraft of varying sizes of a Bell 206B-3 Jet Ranger III and/or a Bell 206L-4 Long Ranger IV in order to accommodate the numbers of USG and foreign nationals needing to travel via chartered aircraft."

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About Stephen Peacock

I'm currently a high school English teacher and writer. I'm also a former Washington, DC, journalist, having worked for Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily (WID), investigative newsletters that cover the telecommunications, broadcast and Internet industries. Following the 9/11 attacks, my news beat expanded beyond Capitol Hill telecom/TV/IT policy and began to include technology-policy coverage at the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security. I've written over a thousand articles about government and industry affairs, and I'm pleased to say that I was the reporter who broke the story about the Total Information Awareness surveillance/data-collection initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. I've written articles for publications including NACLA Report on the Americas, Drug Enforcement Report, Corrections Journal, and The Tampa Tribune. I've also written a memoir about my former career as a plainclothes security officer of the Helmsley Palace hotel in New York City, Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze.
http://jerseysandstorm.blogspot.com/
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About Stephen Peacock

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http://jerseysandstorm.blogspot.com/

Biography
I'm currently a high school English teacher and writer. I'm also a former Washington, DC, journalist, having worked for Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily (WID), investigative newsletters that cover the telecommunications, broadcast and Internet industries. Following the 9/11 attacks, my news beat expanded beyond Capitol Hill telecom/TV/IT policy and began to include technology-policy coverage at the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security. I've written over a thousand articles about government and industry affairs, and I'm pleased to say that I was the reporter who broke the story about the Total Information Awareness surveillance/data-collection initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. I've written articles for publications including NACLA Report on the Americas, Drug Enforcement Report, Corrections Journal, and The Tampa Tribune. I've also written a memoir about my former career as a plainclothes security officer of the Helmsley Palace hotel in New York City, Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze.