Predicting future actions of the U.S. State Dept. and its affiliated entities – at least with any degree of specificity or credibility – is a difficult and arguably hazardous task. In order to make such predictions, journalists typically would need inside sources on the order of magnitude of “Deep Throat” or else gain access to secret governent documents. As for me, I continue to follow the money trail and connect the dots, primarily by scrutinizing the buying habits of critical federal departments and agencies.

In recent weeks I have come across multiple new documents indicating heightened activity by the State Dept. – activity, that is, apparently involving U.S. Special Forces. Based on a review of these documents, an increase in jungle-based Drug War conflict may be coming. Specifically,  I have discovered that State is planning to purchase and distribute many thousands of replacement parts for weaponry designed for “close-quarters battle” situations, in addition to acquiring thousands of articles of U.S. Army-specification hot-weather combat uniforms.

A Washington, D.C.-based “social marketing” firm received a $2.7 million technical-assistance contract this week to establish the presence of PROCOSI, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Bolivia that is seeking to branch out its healthcare network across that nation.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded the contract to The Manoff Group, a self-described “pioneer in using the power of mass media to create public awareness of urgent health problems.”

Counternarcotics support-service and equipment contracts that the United States government awards on a regular basis often reveal, at least implicitly, soon-to-be heightened Drug War activity in "cooperating" foreign nations. On other occasions, the U.S. State Dept. or a Dept. of Defense agency reaches out to the commercial sector for goods or assistance while explicitly disclosing – either intentionally or accidentally – plans to help their international partners to step up law enforcement or military action.

Take Mexico, for instance. In what otherwise would have appeared to be the uneventful procurement of two-and-a-half dozen vehicles, the Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City this week made clear that a new phase of U.S.-Mexican counterdrug operation is about to unfold.

The U.S. Marshals Service this week cemented a deal to have a Santa Ana, Costa Rica-based law firm oversee its asset-seizure efforts in that nation. BLP-Abogados, located in the Forum Business Park, will get nearly a half-million dollars over the next year to perfom those services. BLP is the acronym for "Business Law Partners."

The U.S. Army is arranging to provide the Colombian Marine Corps with several armored cargo-trucks, each containing 7.62 mm removable machine-gun mounts, for deployment either in the city of Cartegena or Santa Marta, Colombia.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is recruiting private security forces to load, transport and unload "multi-ton" shipments of seized marijuana en route to destruction in Arizona. It's conducting what is known as a "sources sought" inquiry to determine the availability of commercial firms that can provide on-call deployments of armed contractors to protect these bulk transports of pot.

Two armored trucks for use by Port Au Prince-based SWAT (special weapons and tactics) police units are en route to Haiti, thanks to a recent contract that the U.S. State Dept. awarded to Alpine Armoring, Inc., of Great Falls, Va.

The U.S. State Dept. is delaying construction of new facilities for Paraguay’s Anti-Drug Secretariat (Secretaria Nacional Antidrogas, or SENAD) as a result of a deadline extension it granted to potential contractors submitting bids. The bid-submission cut-off for the office and residential buildings project, which has an estimated $150,000-$300,000 value, has been changed from Aug. 26 to Sept. 9, according to a recent bid-solicitation amendment. The document did not provide reasons for the extension.

The Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota is continuing its trend in creating new counterdrug advisory positions and deploying those candidates throughout Colombia. The U.S. State Dept. in 2005 launched several recruitment campaigns for advisory positions in the respective areas of facility security, fixed-wing aviation operations, counterdrug ops financial-management, aircraft maintenance and fuel support, and even a position jointly encompassing the areas of wiretapping & weaponry; last week it added yet another title to its list of Bogota-based private-contractors: Eradication Imagery/Statistics Advisor.

A new Judicial Reform & Modernization Program (JRMP) for Colombia has been unveiled by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), whose stated goals are to strengthen the government of Colombia's justice system as well as to "enhance access to justice (especially for the poor and disenfranchised)."

The U.S. Dept. of Justice (DoJ) will operate on behalf of USAID as the lead U.S. government agency for the initiative. DoJ subsequently will rely on private contractors to provide technical assistance and training to Colombian law enforcement organizations such as "police, investigative and criminal intelligence agencies, Attorney General and national prosecutor offices, crime scene and forensics organizations," according to a July 21 notice posted to the FedBizOpps database.