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Reporter's Notebook: Stephen Peacock

State Dept. Arranges Delivery of Sniper Rifles to Bogota

Posted by Stephen Peacock - August 27, 2007 at 9:00 am
The U.S. State Dept. recently began arranging for the "swift delivery" of many dozens of .223 caliber sniper rifles to Bogota, according to a contracting document dated Aug. 17. This request for quotes (RFQ), located through a routine search of the FedBizOpps database, specifically seeks prices for 115 of the rifles and an equal number of sniper stands, or bipods. The new weapons must be manufactured in the U.S., the document says. Bids submitted on this RFQ are due Aug. 28.

Such contracting documents typically indicate the recipient of the weapons purchase, such as the Colombian National Police or Army. In this case, however, State did not designate who will receive the equipment. Consequently, it remains unclear whether the sniper rifles are for Colombian or U.S. forces. No further information is available.

It should be noted that .223 caliber rifle is the same type of weapon that Gulf War veteran John Lee Muhammed and his co-assassin John Malvo used to terrorize the Washington, D.C. region in 2002. Muhammed and Malvo killed 10 people and wounded three in those attacks.

About Stephen Peacock

Biography
I'm a former Washington, DC, journalist (1998-2003) who most recently 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, SoJo Mail (Sojourners), 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. I look forward to contributing to the fine work being done here at NarcoSphere.

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On a related note...

Submitted September 10, 2007 - 9:24 pm by Stephen Peacock
...I belatedly discovered that this planned acquisition and delivery of sniper rifles to Colombia is taking place in tandem with the State Dept. purchase of 500 M-16 machine guns, whose destination likewise is Bogota, according to a contracting document dated Aug. 15. (Also please note that the link to the solicitation is slated to be archived by FedBizOpps on or around Sept. 15 -- I'll try to update that link ASAP.)

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