Sons of Blackwater Open Corporate Spying Shop

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/blackwater-datamining-vets-want-to-save-big-business

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.

bOur 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 bmilitary
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
bprivate-sector intelligenceb firm.

Whatbs that mean? Through a mouthful of corporate-speak (bempowering 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 blong-established relationshipsb everywhere from Bogota to
Belgrade, Somalia to South Korea, says Michael Bagley, Jellyfishbs president,
formerly of the Osint Group. A mix of bacademia, 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. bThe 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 bphysical security,b Yorio
says. But Mahoney quickly adds, bJellyfish Intelligence has no interest in
guns and gates and guards.b

Message: This isnbt Blackwater b or even bXe.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 bunnamed intelligence organization.b) bOur brand enhancement,b he
says, bwill be the success our clients have.b

Photo: Danger Roombs Blackwater logo contest