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General News    H2'ed 11/22/13

Spooky Business: Corporate Espionage Against Nonprofit Organizations- Part 2

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Stratfor

On February 27, 2012, the non-profit media organization WikiLeaks began releasing emails from the Texas-based private intelligence firm Stratfor, [70] showing that it had conducted espionage against human rights, animal rights and environmental groups, on behalf of companies such as Coca-Cola and Dow Chemical. [71]

Coca-Cola and Stratfor vs. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

In June 2009, Stratfor responded to a set of questions from a Coca-Cola executive, Van C. Wilberding, who was "looking at PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] and the potential for protests at the [upcoming 2010] Vancouver Olympics..." [72] Coca-Cola was a major sponsor of those Olympic games.   Among other things, Coca-Cola asked Stratfor to investigate " To what extent are the actions of PETA in one country controlled by an oversight board/governing body?" and "What is PETA's methodology for planning and executing activism?" Stratfor's vice president of intelligence, Fred Burton, responded that " The FBI has a classified investigation on PETA operatives. I'll see what I can uncover." [73]   It is unclear what, if any, information Stratfor provided to Coca-Cola regarding this matter or how it responded to Coca-Cola's other questions.


Dow Chemical and Stratfor vs. Bhopal justice activists

In the evening of December 2, 1984, an explosion at the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India released clouds of the toxic gas methyl isocyanate, in what was probably the world's most deadly industrial disaster.   No one really knows how many people were killed on that night and subsequently; recent estimates from the Indian government have ranged from 15,000 to 16,000. [74]   However, these victims were never adequately compensated.   In 2001, Union Carbide became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical.

In February 2012, WikiLeaks revealed emails showing that Dow Chemical hired Stratfor to monitor Bhopal justice activists, including the Yes Men. [75]


Stratfor and the Texas Department of Public Safety vs. Occupy Austin and Deep Green Resistance

In November 2011, a Stratfor operative named Korena Zucha recounted that she had a "new source" who was providing her with information about an environmental organization named Deep Green Resistance. She identified the source as a "Texas DPS agent," meaning an agent of the Texas Department of Public Safety. [76]

In an email, the Stratfor operative also reported on her undercover work at Occupy Austin:

"There is a group you may be familiar with called Deep Green Resistance".Whether anyone in the Fed or elsewhere classifies this group as eco-terror or not, I don't know, but they are nothing but and should be watched".The local Austin chapter was part of the Occupy Austin crowd at city hall, however, things were not "radical" enough for them since they do not believe in working within the system. When I was working U/C on Nov. 5th, some of my contacts told me that at the General Assembly on Nov. 4th, there was some conflict between regular Occupy people and Deep Green." [77]

Monsanto, Blackwater and Total Intelligence Solutions vs. unnamed activists

Jeremy Scahill reported in the Nation magazine that the security firm "Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the "intel arm' of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm." [78]   In recent years, Blackwater has twice been re-named: first as XE Services and again as Academi. [79]  

According to documents he obtained, Scahill reported in the Nation that,

Through Total Intelligence and the Terrorism Research Center, Blackwater also did business with a range of multinational corporations. According to internal Total Intelligence communications, biotech giant Monsanto--the world's largest supplier of genetically modified seeds--hired the firm in 2008--09. The relationship between the two companies appears to have been solidified in January 2008 when Total Intelligence chair Cofer Black traveled to Zurich to meet with Kevin Wilson, Monsanto's security manager for global issues.

After the meeting in Zurich, Black sent an e-mail to other Blackwater executives, including to [Blackwater owner and founder Erik] Prince and [coordinator of Blackwater's CIA business Enrique "Ric'] Prado at their Blackwater e-mail addresses. Black wrote that Wilson "understands that we can span collection from internet, to reach out, to boots on the ground on legit basis protecting the Monsanto [brand] name.... Ahead of the curve info and insight/heads up is what he is looking for." Black added that Total Intelligence "would develop into acting as intel arm of Monsanto." Black also noted that Monsanto was concerned about animal rights activists and that they discussed how Blackwater "could have our person(s) actually join [activist] group(s) legally." Black wrote that initial payments to Total Intelligence would be paid out of Monsanto's "generous protection budget" but would eventually become a line item in the company's annual budget. He estimated the potential payments to Total Intelligence at between $100,000 and $500,000. According to documents, Monsanto paid Total Intelligence $127,000 in 2008 and $105,000 in 2009.


Three related stories of espionage

The following three stories, while not strictly about corporate espionage against nonprofit organizations, are closely related to such activity.  The first is a case of espionage against an activist who had exposed a powerful politician's role as a former director of a failed savings and loan financial institution.  The second is a case of espionage against animal rights activists to uncover the likelihood of protests against corporate exhibitors at one of their conferences.  The third concerns extensive and wide-ranging corporate espionage against non-activists.


Henry Hyde, former director of Clyde Federal Savings and Loan vs. Tim Anderson

In 1998, the Chicago Tribune reported that Ernie Rizzo, a private investigator, had been hired to investigate Tim Anderson, a former bank consultant and critic of U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde. Hyde was a director of Clyde Federal Savings and Loan between 1981-84. [80] The S&L was declared insolvent in 1990, and cost the taxpayers $67 million, but Hyde was apparently the only director who did not contribute to the settlement.  At the time that Rizzo was hired to investigate Anderson, Rep. Hyde was chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. 

Rizzo told the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call that in 1995 " he was asked by a lawyer working for Hyde to "find out what this guy Anderson was talking about and what he had.'" Rizzo then posed as a television producer seeking an investigative story about Hyde.  Under false pretenses, he accepted 400 pages of documents from Anderson and gave them to one of Hyde's lawyers.  According to Rizzo, Anderson "was stirring up things so bad that they [Clyde's directors] could never settle the case, and they wanted to settle it. Anderson kept stirring up reporters." [81]   In 1997, the Resolution Trust Corporation finally settled its $17.2 million lawsuit against Clyde's directors for a mere $850,000.  Hyde later admitted that his lawyer, James Schirott, had in fact hired Rizzo, and that Hyde had been informed of the results of the investigation. [82]


Society of Toxicology and Information Network Associates vs. animal rights activists

The Society of Toxicology is a "professional and scholarly organization of scientists from academic institutions, government, and industry..." [83] In 2008, the organization planned to hold its annual conference in Seattle, but was concerned about the potential for protests against exhibitors, including Huntingdon Life Sciences.  So, it commissioned a "threat analysis" by Information Network Associates, which was founded by a former FBI special agent as an "investigative and security solutions provider." [84]   The Society of Toxicology asked Information Network Associates to evaluate the potential for protests and disruptions at the event.  INA's 12-page "threat analysis" includes, among many other things, references to the activists' academic and private lives, including who was dating whom. [85]

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Gary Ruskin is the   Director of the  Center for Corporate Policy

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