no-bid contracts allegedly awarded to support the troops and make our country more secure that ultimately benefitted the politicians’ biggest donors.
There was one topic referenced in Bob’s journals with which Matt had some general knowledge but wasn’t deeply familiar. They were PMCs – or private military companies - so Matt began by focusing on them. The fact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were the most privatized in American military history was not breaking news. But the numbers Bob had cited were staggering. According to the website of the Center for Public Integrity, since 1994 the United States Defense Department had entered into 3,061 contracts valued at more than $300 billion with twelveUnited States-based PMCs. Since the war in Afghanistan, these contracts had increased significantly.
Bob described how contractors – in addition to raking in the cash supporting the U.S. military - have provided the Administration with political cover. Using PMCs had allow the government to deploy private forces in a war zone free of public scrutiny, with the deaths, injuries and crimes of those forces shrouded in secrecy in exchange for the Administration’s shielding the contractors from accountability, oversight and legal constraints.
Bob listed the names of the different companies and the figures opposite their names. The amounts paid to these corporations were staggering. Matt started with the first name on the list and worked his way down, not really sure what he was looking for. For each, he did a Google search, browsed the company website and then looked through the public filings of the companies that were public. There was nothing he could immediately identify as unusual.
Flipping through the journal, Matt saw several references to a public relations firm called Information Management Services. A Google search revealed nothing. Searches using several other search engines yielded no hits for the company. An extremely eager and diligent librarian couldn’t find anything either. The company had no website and apparently wasn’t doing a good job promoting itself.
Matt stepped outside for a break and decided to call Alex. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, Matt. Ready for that interview?”
“Not yet, Alex. But, I was hoping to get your help.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I’m trying to find information on a company called Information Management Services. There was a reference to the company in Bob’s journal. Based on his notes, it looks like it’s a public relations firm. Ever heard of it?”
“Actually, yes,” she responded immediately. “But I don’t know much about them. It’s a very private public relations firm.”
“Sounds like an oxymoron.”
“No kidding,” she laughed. “But they are good at what they do.”
“What’s that?”
“Crisis management -- providing damage control to companies in serious trouble. You know, corporate theft, executive officers misbehaving, that kind of stuff.”
“Being involved in such high-profile cases you’d think they’d do a better job promoting themselves.”
“You’d think so, but for whatever reason, they don’t. Even though you may not have heard of the company, I’m sure you’re familiar with some of their work.”
“Like?”
“Remember that oil company that owned the tanker that spilled millions of tons of oil off the coast of Spain?” Alex asked.
“Sure. What a mess. I can still see the pictures of environmentalists suited up in their hazard gear cleaning off wildlife covered in oil.”
“That was them. They hired IMS, and then, a year later, the U.S. government gave the company a permit to drill for oil in Alaska – this despite leaving the governmentin Spain on the hook for millions in environmental cleanup.”
“Interesting,” Matt responded.
“It gets better,” Alex continued. “When Moammar Gadhafi was still in power, he was spending millions of dollars a year on a PR campaign to burnish his
There was one topic referenced in Bob’s journals with which Matt had some general knowledge but wasn’t deeply familiar. They were PMCs – or private military companies - so Matt began by focusing on them. The fact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were the most privatized in American military history was not breaking news. But the numbers Bob had cited were staggering. According to the website of the Center for Public Integrity, since 1994 the United States Defense Department had entered into 3,061 contracts valued at more than $300 billion with twelveUnited States-based PMCs. Since the war in Afghanistan, these contracts had increased significantly.
Bob described how contractors – in addition to raking in the cash supporting the U.S. military - have provided the Administration with political cover. Using PMCs had allow the government to deploy private forces in a war zone free of public scrutiny, with the deaths, injuries and crimes of those forces shrouded in secrecy in exchange for the Administration’s shielding the contractors from accountability, oversight and legal constraints.
Bob listed the names of the different companies and the figures opposite their names. The amounts paid to these corporations were staggering. Matt started with the first name on the list and worked his way down, not really sure what he was looking for. For each, he did a Google search, browsed the company website and then looked through the public filings of the companies that were public. There was nothing he could immediately identify as unusual.
Flipping through the journal, Matt saw several references to a public relations firm called Information Management Services. A Google search revealed nothing. Searches using several other search engines yielded no hits for the company. An extremely eager and diligent librarian couldn’t find anything either. The company had no website and apparently wasn’t doing a good job promoting itself.
Matt stepped outside for a break and decided to call Alex. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, Matt. Ready for that interview?”
“Not yet, Alex. But, I was hoping to get your help.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I’m trying to find information on a company called Information Management Services. There was a reference to the company in Bob’s journal. Based on his notes, it looks like it’s a public relations firm. Ever heard of it?”
“Actually, yes,” she responded immediately. “But I don’t know much about them. It’s a very private public relations firm.”
“Sounds like an oxymoron.”
“No kidding,” she laughed. “But they are good at what they do.”
“What’s that?”
“Crisis management -- providing damage control to companies in serious trouble. You know, corporate theft, executive officers misbehaving, that kind of stuff.”
“Being involved in such high-profile cases you’d think they’d do a better job promoting themselves.”
“You’d think so, but for whatever reason, they don’t. Even though you may not have heard of the company, I’m sure you’re familiar with some of their work.”
“Like?”
“Remember that oil company that owned the tanker that spilled millions of tons of oil off the coast of Spain?” Alex asked.
“Sure. What a mess. I can still see the pictures of environmentalists suited up in their hazard gear cleaning off wildlife covered in oil.”
“That was them. They hired IMS, and then, a year later, the U.S. government gave the company a permit to drill for oil in Alaska – this despite leaving the governmentin Spain on the hook for millions in environmental cleanup.”
“Interesting,” Matt responded.
“It gets better,” Alex continued. “When Moammar Gadhafi was still in power, he was spending millions of dollars a year on a PR campaign to burnish his
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