Triple Canopy, Inc.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  (Redirected from Triple canopy)
Jump to: navigation, search
Triple Canopy, Inc.
Type Private
Founded 2003
Headquarters Herndon, Virginia, United States
Industry security & risk management consulting, private security, defense contracting
Services security management, risk management, crisis management, full-service risk management consulting
Revenue unknown
Net income unknown
Employees 5,500+ (2009)
Website [1], [2]

Triple Canopy is a private military company that provides global security and risk management services. The company was incorporated in Chicago, currently has its headquarters in Herndon, Virginia, and has presence in North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East. The company's website claims that it delivers "a broad range of security and risk management services including assessments, training, crisis management, protective, and support services."

The company was founded in 2003, and it is best known for its work in the Iraq War, which earned it over $90 million.[1] In April 2009, journalist Jeremy Scahill reported that the Barack Obama administration signed contracts for Triple Canopy to work in the Middle East.[2]

It has as subsidiaries Global Solutions 3D and Gesecur SAC, which it contracted to search for mercenaries in South America[3][4]. It is rumored that leadership at Triple Canopy has roots from the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta (commonly referred to as Delta Force).

The name Triple Canopy was initially chosen to refer to the layered canopy jungle where some of the key founding members received their training; it also refers to the distinction among U.S. Army personnel of wearing the Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces tabs, if authorized, when assigned to Special Forces units.

Contents

[edit] Key personnel

Early promotional materials from Triple Canopy described their founding team as "an eclectic group of individuals from a dizzying array of backgrounds. From bankers to Green Berets, from technologists to management consultants, the one thing in common is that coveted combination of ability, character and intelligence." Some of the members of this eclectic group have included:

[edit] Principals

  • Lee Van Arsdale (US Army, ret) is CEO; also a technical advisor for the movie Black Hawk Down.
  • Greg Mulligan, COO
  • Tom Katis, Co-Chairman
  • Matt Mann, Co-Chairman
  • Ignacio "Iggy" Balderas, Director
  • James V. Kimsey, Director
  • John O. Peters III, former CFO; current boardmember

[edit] Alumni

  • Barrett H. Moore, founding CEO; "left the company and all company-affiliated positions and relationships effective April 2, 2004"

[edit] Worldwide presence

[edit] Iraq

[edit] Roadside bombing in September, 2005

On September 7, 2005, four security professionals contracted by Triple Canopy were killed while in protective security operations for the U.S. Department of State in Basra [3].

[edit] Whistleblowing lawsuit

A lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County by two former Triple Canopy employees in July 2006 claims that their shift leader (an unnamed former U.S serviceman) deliberately fired at vehicles and civilians in two incidents, saying it was his last day in Iraq and he was determined to kill, and that the company later fired the two employees for reporting what happened to the company's senior supervisor in Iraq, and blacklisted them from working in the industry.[5]

[edit] Adam Hermanson death

Adam Hermanson, an employee of Triple Canopy and US Air Force veteran died September 1, 2009, after apparently being electrocuting while taking a shower in his quarters at Triple Canopy’s base inside the Green Zone in Baghdad. Hermanson’s family is alleging Triple Canopy misled them about how he died, perhaps to cover up faulty electrical wiring at the firm’s facilities.[6][7][8] Eighteen US soldiers and contractors have died from electrocution, several of them in showers.[8] In the case of US soldier Ryan Maseth, who was electrocuted while showering, a U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division investigator reports blames KBR, the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, and two KBR supervisors for "fail[ing] to ensure that work was being done by qualified electricians and plumbers, and to inspect the work that was being conducted."[9][10]

[edit] Honduras

La Tribuna revealed in its headlines on September 18, 2005 that the Lepaterique base in Honduras was being used as a training center for mercenaries employed by Your Solutions, a Triple Canopy subsidiary. Following these revelations, the Honduran authorities excluded, in September 2005, 105 Chilean mercenaries, who had entered the countries as tourists or businessmen and attended a training camp led by US and Chilean personnel in Lepaterique, 16 miles away from Tegucigalpa. The Honduran government had previously supported Triple Canopy, naming the Vice-minister of Labour Áfrico Madrid as intermediary between the administration and the firm.[11] The Lepaterique camp was set up in the 1980s by the CIA and Argentine intelligence officers; the Batallon de Inteligencia 601 from the Argentine Army trained the Contras there. According to La Tribuna, in one day in November, Your Solutions shipped 108 Hondurans, 88 Chileans and 16 Nicaraguans to Iraq. Approximatively 700 Peruvians, 250 Chileans and 320 Hondurans work in Baghdad’s Green Zone. La Tribuna also confirmed that the monthly pay was $1,000, with an additional $500 for English-speaking men.[12]. The media revelation lifted a scandal, in particular concerning illegal entrance on territory and the high wage differences between South American mercenaries and US mercenaries working for Triple Canopy. US employees are payed between 400 to 700 USD a day.[11] Furthermore, while Chilean and Hondurans contracted for a full year, US employees contract for three-months duration, after which Triple Canopy pay them back a trip home, and then they choose if they want to re-new their contract.[11] The revelations also lifted scandal in Chile, when it became known that retired military Marina Óscar Aspe worked for Triple Canopy. The latter had taken part to the assassination of Marcelo Barrios Andrade, a 21 years-old member of the FPMR, who is on the list of victims of the Rettig Report — while Marina Óscar Aspe is on the list of the 2001 Comisión Ética contra la Tortura (2001 Ethical Commission Against Torture).[11]

[edit] History

[edit] Formation

Following the closing of the Jungle Operations Training Center (JOTC) in Panama in 1999, Triple Canopy was originally conceived to fill a perceived continuing demand from the U.S. Army to engage in jungle operations training. The original plan by Triple Canopy's founders to offer a training venue in Belize never materialized.

With the onset of hostilities in Iraq, the founders recognized a different kind of demand from the U.S. government for specialized expertise to secure assets in high-threat environments, and shifted the focus of the company's talent pool on answering that demand. The name Triple Canopy specifically refers to layered protection (commonly referred to as defence in depth or concentric rings theory). The name also refers to the original business plan of using special operations veterans to deliver jungle warfare training under contract to the U.S. Army. While unconfirmed, the term may also allude to the roots of the founders as special operations veterans. The term "triple canopy" refers to the array of patches worn by a soldier with Special Forces, Ranger, and Airborne qualifications. The tabs for each specialty stack on the left shoulder of the uniform, and the descriptive term is common vernacular in the special operations community.

Early promotional materials from Triple Canopy described their founding team as "an eclectic group of individuals from a dizzying array of backgrounds. From bankers to Green Berets, from technologists to management consultants, the one thing in common is that coveted combination of ability, character and intelligence."

[edit] First 5 Years

Triple Canopy first began providing services to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, in September 2003; In 2005, the U.S. Department of State awarded Triple Canopy contracts to provide security at the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq and to protect diplomats in Haiti, Israel, and Basrah under the Worldwide Personal Protective Services (WPPS) contract, an Indefinite Quantity, Indefinite Delivery (IDIQ) contract.

[edit] Acquisition of Clayton Consultants, Inc.

In 2007, Triple Canopy acquired Clayton Consultants, Inc., a crisis management security consultancy offering incident response, security consulting and training services. Although operating in a highly specialized industry, Clayton Consultants is the second largest provider of crisis management consulting services, particularly as they relate to kidnap and ransom insurance policies. Clayton is the exclusive provider of crisis management pre-incident and response services to American International Underwriters.

The acquisition of Clayton marked the beginning of Triple Canopy's transformation from being Iraq-centric, to becoming a global provider of security and risk management services ranging from short-term consulting engagements to management of security mega-projects around the world.

Clayton Consultants was originally founded by Thomas A. Clayton, the negotiator credited with securing the release of Thomas R. Hargrove. This story was popularized in the motion picture "Proof of Life" [13]

[edit] Continued growth

In March, 2009, Triple Canopy was awarded an additional task order under the WPPS IDIQ valued at $977 million.

Triple Canopy is now an ISO 9001:2000-certified company.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Daniel Bergner (2008-08-14). "The Other Army". New York Times. http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1782.htm. 
  2. ^ Jeremy Scahill (2009-04-02). "Obama's Blackwater? Chicago Mercenary Firm Gets Millions for Private "Security" in Israel and Iraq". AlterNet. http://www.alternet.org/world/134594/obama%27s_blackwater_chicago_mercenary_firm_gets_millions_for_private_%22security%22_in_israel_and_iraq_/. 
  3. ^ Cancillería está corroborando contratos de peruanos en Irak, RPP, 14 October 2005 (Spanish)
  4. ^ Governo investiga condições de 380 peruanos que estão no Iraque, Terra, 15 October 2005 (Portuguese)
  5. ^ C. J. Chivers (November 17, 2003). "Contractor's Boss in Iraq Shot at Civilians, Workers' Suit Says". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/world/middleeast/17contractors.html. Retrieved 2006-11-18. 
  6. ^ Jeremy Scahill (September 10, 2009). "The Death of Adam Hermanson". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090928/scahill. 
  7. ^ Jeremy Scahill (2009-09-21). "Another Mysterious Electrocution Death in Iraq". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/scahill. 
  8. ^ a b Jeremy Scahill; Amy Goodman; Patricia Hermanson; Jesse Hermanson (2009-09-09). "EXCLUSIVE: Triple Canopy Employee Killed in Iraq of Apparent Electrocution, Family Searches for Truth". Democracy Now!. http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/11/exclusive_triple_canopy_employee_killed_in. 
  9. ^ Abbie Boudreau; Scott Bronstein (January 22, 2009). "Investigator: Soldier's electrocution 'negligent homicide'". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/22/soldier.electrocuted/. 
  10. ^ Abbie Boudreau; Scott Bronstein (2008-05-28). "Green Beret electrocuted in shower on Iraq base". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/28/soldier.electrocutions/index.html. 
  11. ^ a b c d Capítulos desconocidos de los mercenarios chilenos en Honduras camino de Iraq, La Nación, September 25, 2005 - URL accessed on February 14, 2007 (Spanish)
  12. ^ Latin American mercenaries guarding Baghdad’s Green Zone, December 28, 2005
  13. ^ Hargrove's biography

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Canopy,_Inc."