Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist/ and sign up. Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) Visit the Klub Konformist at Yahoo!: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/klubkonformist The Courier Mail (Brisbane) 24.7.99 SECRET LOCK-UP A company involved in CIA spying operations on foreign governments is running Australia's immigration detention and many of our private jails. Marshall Wilson reports A CONTROVERSIAL United States-based company with links to the Central Intelligence Agency is running all of Australia's immigration detention centres and most of its private jails, including the high-security Arthur Gorrie Remand and Reception Centre at Wacol in Brisbane. The company, Wackenhut Corporation, is named in a 1992 US House Judiciary Committee inquiry as having "doctored" computer software to allow the CIA to spy on foreign governments. Wackenhut was allegedly involved in joint ventures to produce chemical and biological weapons, machine-guns, fuel-air explosives and other military hardware. Florida-based Wackenhut, which prides itself on pioneering the privatisation of correctional services, was authorised by the Australian Government to run four detention centres after a tender process was finalised in November 1997. Investigation shows 17 companies were invited to respond, of which five chose to contest. Wackenhut's winning tender, through subsidiary Australasian Correctional Services (ACS), allows it to administer sites that include the Port Hedland detention centre for illegal immigrants in Western Australia and the Wacol highsecurity prison in outer western Brisbane. It is also responsible for the transportation and care of illegal migrants housed at Villawood in Sydney, Maribyrnong in Victoria and the Perth Detention Centre. Through ACS it also controls the Junee prison in country NSW and the Fulham Correctional Centre near Sale in Victoria. But Wackenhut's involvement here has been controversial. Within the first 13 months of another of its subsidiaries Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) - accepting the contract to run the Arthur Gorrie remand facility, four inmates committed suicide while another died in mysterious circumstances. Gang-rape was alleged to have been common and one inmate was set on fire. In 1993 the Prisoners Legal Services called for an inquiry into the centre's management structure after a prison riot. It resulted in the replacement of the jail's general manager, known to Wackenhut insiders as a tough-talking former United States marine colonel with a bent for discipline. The Courier-Mail has learned there was heated discussion over his suitability to retain his position even after ACM director Wayne Calabrese flew in from Wackenhut's Florida headquarters to defend him. He was subsequently transferred to another destination believed to be in the US. But Wackenhut is about much more than private prisons. Even though key correctional service officials in Australia were well aware that Wackenhut was the ultimate holding company in ACRO, they remained blissfully unaware of its recruitment policy which placed emphasis on former intelligence, military and law enforcement types with specific skills. Even now, few realise that Wackenhut's global network extends into 50 countries where it runs correctional institutions in places that include its US home base, the United Kingdom and South Africa. A former key official with the Queensland Corrective Services Commission who was involved in the selection of Wackenhut told The CourierMail: "If we had been aware of the information now available, it could have resulted in Wackenhut not being awarded the contract" Founded as an investigation agency in 1954 by George Wackenhut - an FBI special agent and admirer of the ultra right-wing John Birch Society - the company, which employs 70,000 people, has diversified to become one of the largest providers of security services in the world. Since core business remains key US Government contracts, there are fears about an altogether too-cosy relationship with those currently or previously associated with US intelligence. New York-based reporter John Connolly, who conducted a revealing interview with George Wackenhut for Spy magazine in 1992, claims at various times members of the board have included former US Defence Secretary and CIA deputy director Frank Carlucci; former Defence Intelligence Agency director Joseph Carroll; former US Secret Service director James Rowley and former FBI director Clarence Kelley. When asked by Connolly, George Wackenhut denied his company was an arm of the CIA. Connolly remains unconvinced and says the appointment of Bruce Berckmans once assigned to the CIA station in Mexico City - as vice-president of Wackenhut's international operations group, is a valuable pointer. Similarly, the appointment of William Casey to head the CIA at the time that his law firm Rogers and Wells represented Wackenhut, failed to stem rumours. The brushfire has been sparked by further allegations by former employees that Wackenhut has, in the past, allowed the CIA to use its corporate entity to shield covert operations abroad. Therein lies the danger. Could it happen in Australia? What is to stop it? Connolly maintains US Senate Intelligence Committee revelations about covert, often illegal, CIA overseas operations in the mid- 1970s make a compelling case. "Those revelations forced the CIA to do a housecleaning and it became CIA policy that certain kinds of activities would no longer officially be performed. But that didn't mean that the need or the desire to undertake such operations disappeared. That's where Wackenhut came in," he says. The Wackenhut Corporation continues to run an impressive website to showcase a growing list of services that include the design and building of security installations, prison catering, prisoner health, jail transportation, fire safety and protective services. Wackenhut's original 1991 Queensland foray has led to further business, apparently with the blessing of the Howard Government. After what the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) maintains was a "rigorous" tender process, Wackenhut now runs the detention centres for illegal immigrants across Australia under various subsidiaries. CONTACTS previously involved in conducting probity checks on win ning tenders by ACS agree they were always aware of Wackenhut's role as ultimate holding company. While neither would be named, they confirmed knowing about the first of two congressional inquiries into Wackenhut's past. "I think these people are basically in business to make a dollar and will go into any sort of avenue of business where they think they can turn a dollar. Whether or not they will use unethical and/or illegal means to do so is something that we need to be aware of and, obviously, guard against. Consequently you start looking at how they do business in other Places and hence the probity checks." Asked why a corporation that wins regular US Government contracts and guards some of that country's most sensitive military installations should not be considered a risk to Australia's security, the contact replied: "It's a question of how far do you go? These are ultimately going to be value judgments. Whether or not that means they've compromised themselves to the point where they are no longer able to provide a service, or deliver a product, remains to be seen." The Courier-Mail has been assured there is no cause for concern. Asked to explain how probity checks of Wackenhut's past could have been missed in the DIMA tender, another contact said: "It all depends on how much of a probity check they did and how deep they've dug. If they haven't dug very deep, then obviously they're not going to come to the bottom of it. So was DIMA aware of the murkier asp ect of Wackenhut's background? "ACS underwent a fairly rigorous probity investigation before the contract was signed," a spokesman told The Courier-Mail. "We have previously stated publicly that ACS is a member of Wackenhut, but it is important to remember that the contract is with ACS, which is an Australian company that operates independently ofWackenhut. "The contract with ACS involves the department closely monitoring the involves the department closely monitoring the company's performance and provides for a wide range of remedies and compensation for unsatisfactory performance including the termination of the contract. Any improper activities by ACS will be dealt with by the full force of the contract." Attempts to probe contractual arrangements between Wackenhut and the Federal Government are frustrated by "commercial in confidence" clauses. Donald Keens, managing director of Sydney-based ACM, was unable to shed light on Wackenhut's naming at two US congressional inquiries. However, he was quick to confirm ACS as a Wackenhut subsidiary and that the USbased Wackenhut Corrections Corporation is the parent of both ACS and ACM. Keens is a director of both, as are Florida-based George Zoley and Wayne Calabrese. All three are also shown to be directors of the NSW registered Wackenhut Correctional Services whose ultimate holding company is Wackenhut Corrections Corporation. Curiously, its operating address is recorded on Australian Bureau of Statistics records as "unknown". "You need to understand that The Wackenhut Corporation is a separately-registered company on the US Stock Exchange to Wackenhut Corrections Corporation," Keens explained. Either way, given its proud policy of recruiting extensively from US agencies that include the CIA and US military, the decision to choose Wackenhut appears curious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GET WHAT YOU DESERVE! A NextCard Platinum VISA: DOUBLE Rewards points, NO annual fee & rates as low as 9.9% FIXED APR. Apply online today! http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/606 eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/konformist http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications
