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.

View full user profile

Stephen Peacock's Latest Comments

On a related note...
State Dept. Arranges Delivery of Sniper Rifles to Bogota
September 10, 2007 - 9:24pm
Appreciation
House of Death continues to haunt Bush Administration
August 7, 2007 - 8:03pm
O'Really
Autopsy
April 27, 2007 - 12:06am
Credit where credit's due
U.S. Government Starts Spy Program in Mexico
April 3, 2007 - 8:34am
Likewise
Free Speech Threatened at Columbia Universtity?
October 20, 2006 - 8:24am

U.S. Seeks to Enlighten Sightless Peruvians on Economics of Protected Lands

Posted by Stephen Peacock - January 19, 2006 at 2:00 am

The following commentary, though based on verifiable U.S. government information, is intended as satire.

Are Peruvians blind? Can't they see that they can rake in infinitely greater amounts of cash by raping their natural protected lands, rather than preserving such national treasures to appease a bunch of whiny environmentalists?

According to tentative plans of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior to hold an International Workshop on Economics somewhere near Lima, the citizens of Peru apparently do need new glasses. But do not fear, dear Peruvians, for in spite of your ineffective eyeballs, my elected leaders (and their appointed cronies) in Washington, D.C. can help you see the financial light.

Mexico To Deploy Nationwide Electronic Surveillance System With State Dept. Help

Posted by Stephen Peacock - January 13, 2006 at 5:43 pm

The U.S. State Dept. is coordinating the deployment of a nationwide electronic-surveillance system in Mexico, a project that will enable the Agencia Federal de Investigaciones (AFI) to intercept phone conversations and online messages from every telecommunications network within Mexico. According to documents obtained via the Federal Business Opportunities contracting database, this new system will enable the mass collection and analysis of communications and information, thereby helping to prevent “acts of major federal crimes in Mexico that include narcotics trafficking and terrorism.”

State Dept. Buying Additional, Durable Aerial Crop-Sprayers

Posted by Stephen Peacock - January 12, 2006 at 2:42 am

The U.S. State Dept. wants to bolster its existing fleet of 175 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft with the purchase of additional -- and more durable -- cropdusters for counterdrug operations.

The Aviation Office of the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL/A) is assessing potential makers of such aircraft, which would be armor-hardened to repel small-arms attacks and would contain 380-gallon fuel tanks to reach broader swaths of remote sites.

Air Force Delays Next Step in Ecuadorian Counterdrug Site Project

Posted by Stephen Peacock - December 20, 2005 at 12:05 pm

The U.S. Air Force once again has delayed finalization of its counterdrug Forward Operating Location (FOL) modernization and expansion project. Yesterday the agency issued a memo announcing that its long-awaited FOL Request for Proposals (RFP) is being delayed, despite completion of contractor “industry visits” to existing FOLs in Manta, Ecuador, and Curacao, Netherlands Antilles.

U.S. Arranges 'Pre-Deployment' Training for Haiti-Bound Private Police

Posted by Stephen Peacock - December 13, 2005 at 3:43 pm

The U.S. State Dept. is reaching out to independent contractors to train other private contractors who will be deployed as “civilian police” -- hired guns for so-called peacekeeping missions taking place in Haiti and other geopolitical hotspots. The senior adviser selected for the task “must oversee pre-deployment training currently being conducted” by Dyncorp International, Civilian Police International and Pacific Architects and Engineers/Homeland Security Corporation, according a recently released procurement document.

Panamanian Interrogators Getting State Dept. Polygraph Training

Posted by Stephen Peacock - December 2, 2005 at 1:19 pm

The U.S. State Dept. is launching an initiative to train and certify personnel of the government of Panama as polygraph examiners -- a project whose objective is to make Panamanian authorities proficient in "advanced interrogation" techniques, according to a Dec. 1 bid request.

Thousands of Smoke Grenades, M-16 Kits En Route to Colombia

Posted by Stephen Peacock - November 30, 2005 at 11:04 am

The U.S. State Dept. is soliciting proposals from manufacturers of smoke grenades, thousands of which the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) plans to send annually to the government of Colombia. The INL yesterday called on U.S.-only smoke-grenade makers to submit cost estimates by Dec. 7 for up to 3,000 red- and green-smoke grenades.

U.S. Seeks Local Help in Guatemalan Counterdrug Ops

Posted by Stephen Peacock - November 22, 2005 at 4:06 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.

Honduran Economy Seen As 'Promising,' But Needs U.S. Guidance

Posted by Stephen Peacock - November 15, 2005 at 2:58 pm

Honduras represents "a particularly promising challenge" for Washington, D.C., policymakers, in the words of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The slow, but growing economy in Honduras, combined with participation in CAFTA, FTAA, and WTO trade agreements, is complementary to that nation's "active civil society," the agency said in a recently obtained planning document. Consequently, USAID is dispatching a Senior Mission Economist/Donor Coordinator to Tegucigalpa to make sure the Hondurans don't screw it up, the document indicates.

State Dept. to Expand Yet Another Ecuadorian Counterdrug Site

Posted by Stephen Peacock - November 14, 2005 at 8:46 pm

The expansion and modernization of an existing Ecuadorian Aero Police air base is the latest Drug War brainchild to come out of the U.S. State Dept. Indeed, the U.S. Embassy in Quito and State's Miami-based Regional Procurement Support Office only today began searching for potential contractors capable of launching Phase One of the project.

Language