Reporter's Notebook: Stephen Peacock

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...
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U.S. Elevates River-Combat Role in Colombian 'Counter Narco-Terrorist' Ops

Posted by Stephen Peacock - March 15, 2006 at 5:19 pm

U.S. government “counter narco-terrorism” forces in Colombia are heightening their ability to conduct river-based missions, the most recent step which involves the planned shipment of “mini armored troop carriers,” or MATCs, to Bogota. The U.S. Navy is arranging to deliver up to 10 of the titanium-reinforced, 14-troop capacity MATCs, beginning with four of the watercraft this year and possibly another six by 2007, according to a recently obtained procurement document.

The acquisition of these 36-foot armored boats comes at a time when the U.S. Marine Corps is stepping up its involvement in Colombian “riverine” counterdrug operations. Earlier this year the U.S. Marines launched a recruitment campaign for a privately contracted “Riverine Plans Officer,” a role which serves as the primary operations advisor responsible for overseeing strategic and tactical operations conducted in and around Colombian waterways.

DEA Treating Global Counterdrug Officials to Hawaiian Holiday

Posted by Stephen Peacock - March 8, 2006 at 4:19 pm

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has chosen Hawaii as the venue for its annual International Narcotics Enforcement Management Seminar, a 20-day conference that in the past had been held in Washington, D.C. According to a call for bids released yesterday, the State Dept.-funded event will take place at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu as well as at an unspecified hotel in Waikiki.

Bolivian Task Force To Get U.S. Aviation Advisor for Interdiction, Crop-Eradication

Posted by Stephen Peacock - March 7, 2006 at 2:36 am

The Bolivian Air Force Red Devil Task Force (RDTF), the military unit responsible for providing aerial support to Bolivian police operations, will continue to operate under the guidance of the State Dept. into the foreseeable future, a new personnel-services contract (PSC) document indicates.

According to the document, which was obtained during a search of the FedBizOpps contracting database, the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) is seeking to recruit a Senior Aviation Advisor for such purposes. The candidate will be based in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to oversee State assets and contractor services provided to RDTF. That person also will serve as a high-level interagency coordinator of Drug Enforcement Administration, Dept. of Defense, Customs, and Bolivian military and police personnel “for the purpose of destroying illegal narcotics crops through aerial eradication and intercepting illegal drug shipments through aerial interdiction operations.”

State Dept. Budget-Hearing Cancelled

Posted by Stephen Peacock - March 3, 2006 at 1:35 pm

The House Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee has cancelled its previously scheduled March 8 hearing on the President's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget for the State Dept. The panel has not yet rescheduled the event. Secy. of State Condoleeza Rice had been slated to testify.

DEA to Modernize Its Satellite Video Distribution Functions

Posted by Stephen Peacock - March 3, 2006 at 1:15 pm

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is heightening its ability to globally disseminate photos and video, and intends to award a sole-source contract to General Dynamics to carry out those tasks. According to a March 2 DEA contracting notice, General Dynamics is the only source capable of deploying the satellite-transmission software necessary to distribute still- and video imagery. No further information is currently available.

Hearing Slated for Bush's FY 2007 State Dept. Budget

Posted by Stephen Peacock - February 15, 2006 at 5:37 pm

A House Appropriations Committee panel has scheduled a hearing on March 8 to review the President's proposed fiscal year 2007 budget for the State Dept.

Massive, Rush Shipment of Ammo Soon En Route to Colombia

Posted by Stephen Peacock - February 13, 2006 at 3:59 pm

The U.S. Embassy in Bogota currently is looking to arrange a swift shipment of millions of machine-gun bullets and tracers to Colombia, revealing an urgent need to bolster the lethality of Colombian military and national police forces.

Input From Human Rights Groups Sought by USAID/Colombia for 2006-2010 Roadmap

Posted by Stephen Peacock - February 6, 2006 at 4:12 pm

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking "credible and non-partisan civil society organizations" to help it craft the future of human-rights policy in Colombia.

Healthcare Is Going to the (Customs, Coast Guard & Border Patrol) Dogs

Posted by Stephen Peacock - February 2, 2006 at 2:17 pm

Narcotics-detecting dogs assigned to U.S. Customs, Coast Guard and Border Patrol are getting better healthcare services than millions of Americans, as I reported today in my newly unveiled online-journal The Peacock Report.

U.S. State Dept. Steps Up Support of Bolivian Counterdrug Ops, Despite Morales' Rise to Power

Posted by Stephen Peacock - January 25, 2006 at 10:19 pm

The Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) of the U.S. State Dept. is taking action to “allow for an expansion of NAS support to counternarcotics operations in Bolivia,” according to a department planning document that was obtained, and had just begun circulating, today. This otherwise unannounced escalation of U.S.-backed counterdrug missions comes four days after Evo Morales – a vociferous advocate of the rights of coca-crop farmers – took office as Bolivia’s first Indian president.

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