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Reporter's Notebook: Stephen Peacock

Multibillion 'Counter-Narcoterrorism' Contract Goes to Blackwater, Other Defense Heavyweights

Posted by Stephen Peacock - September 24, 2007 at 7:06 pm
The U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command last month jointly awarded a $15 billion "counter-narcoterrorism" contract to a group of private U.S. defense behemoths that include Blackwater, a company currently under investigation for alleged arms smuggling and for killing Iraqi civilians. This intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaisance-related R&D support contract includes a wide-range of tasks, including the provision of air crew training to Colombian forces and "strategic public relations support" to Colombian government officials.

For the full story, go to The Peacock Report, where the article originally appeared.

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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