http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/blackwater-datamining-vets-want-to-s... Sons of Blackwater Open Corporate Spying Shop By Spencer Ackerman May 12, 2011 | 4:44 pm | Categories: Spies, Secrecy and Surveillance Veterans from the most infamous private security firm on Earth and one of the militarybs most controversial datamining operations are teaming up to provide the Fortune 500 with their own private spies. Take one part Blackwater, and another part Able Danger, the military data-mining op that claimed to have identified members of al-Qaida living in the United States before 9/11. Put bem together, and youbve got a new company called Jellyfish. Jellyfish is about corporate-information dominance. It swears itbs leaving all the spy-world baggage behind. No guns, no governments digging through private records of its citizens. b Our organization is not going to be controversial,b pledges Keith Mahoney, the Jellyfish CEO, a former Navy officer and senior executive with Blackwaterbs intelligence arm, Total Intelligence Solutions. Try not to make a joke about corporate mercenaries. His partners know from controversy. Along with Mahoney, therebs Michael Yorio, the executive vice president for business development and another Blackwater vet; Yorio recently prepped the renamed Xe Services for its life after founder Erik Prince sold it. Jellyfishbs chief technology officer is J.D. Smith, who was part of Able Danger until lawyers for the U.S. Special Operations Command shut the program down in 2000. Also from Able Danger is Tony Shaffer, Jellyfishbs b military operations adviserb and the ex-Defense Intelligence Agency operative who became the public face of the program in dramatic 2005 congressional testimony. But Jellyfish isnbt about merging mercenaries with data sifters. And itbs not about going after short money like government contracts. (Although, the firm is based in D.C., where the intel community is and the titans of corporate America arenbt.) During a Thursday press conference in Washington that served as a coming-out party for the company, Jellyfishbs executives described an all-purpose b private-sector intelligenceb firm. Whatbs that mean? Through a mouthful of corporate-speak (b empowering the C-suiteb to make crucial decisions) Mahoney describes a worldwide intelligence network of contacts, ready to collect data on global hot spots that Jellyfish can pitch to deep-pocketed clients. Does your energy firm need to know if Iran will fall victim to the next Mideast uprising? Jellyfishbs informants in Tehran can give a picture. (They insist itbs legal.) Theybve got b long-established relationshipsb everywhere from Bogota to Belgrade, Somalia to South Korea, says Michael Bagley, Jellyfishbs president, formerly of the Osint Group. A mix of b academia, think tanks, military or governmentb types. Thatbs par for the course. It sometimes seems like every CIA veteran over the last 15 years has set up or joined a consulting practice, tapping their agency contacts for information they can peddle to businesses. Want to sell your analysis of the geostrategic picture to corporate clients? Congratulations b Stratfor beat you to it. Thatbs where Smith comes in. b The Able Danger days, thatbs like 1,000 years ago,b he says. Working with a technology firm called 4th Dimension Data, Jellyfish builds clients a dashboard to search and aggregate data from across its proprietary intel database, the public internet and specifically targeted information sources. If youbre in maritime shipping, for instance, Jellyfish can build you a search-and-aggregation app, operating up in the cloud, that can put together weather patterns with Jellyfish contacts in Somalia who know about piracy. Of course, therebs a security element to all of this, too. Jellyfish will train your staff in network security, as well as b physical security,b Yorio says. But Mahoney quickly adds, b Jellyfish Intelligence has no interest in guns and gates and guards.b Message: This isnbt Blackwater b or even b Xe.b Mahoney says Jellyfish isnbt trading on its executivesb ties to the more infamous corners of the intelligence and security trades. Sure, therebs a press release that announced Jellyfishbs origins in Blackwater and Able Danger. And some companies doing business in high-risk areas might consider ties to Blackwater, which never lost a clientbs life, to be an advantage. But Mahoney says hebs just trying to be up front about his executivesb histories before some enterprising journalist Googles it out and makes it a thing. Put the moose on the table, or however the corporate cliche goes. (According to Smith, the father of 4th Dimension Databs founder worked with Smith in an b unnamed intelligence organization.b ) b Our brand enhancement,b he says, b will be the success our clients have.b Photo: Danger Roombs Blackwater logo contest