Triple Canopy, Inc.

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Triple Canopy is a private military company (PMC) based in Herndon, VA. The company integrates assessment and analysis, technical surveillance countermeasures, tactical training and full-scale security and protection operations; its marquee client is the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, which it has served since September of 2003. It has provided security services to the Department of Energy, and training services to various foreign governments and domestic law enforcement agencies, and was one of three PMCs chosen to provide supplemental security personnel at U.S. embassies worldwide.

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 having earned all of the Ranger, Airborne, and Special Forces tabs.

Triple Canopy, Inc is not related to the game production company Triple Canopy Productions.

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[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] Wordwide Presence

[edit] Iraq

[edit] Roadside bombing in September, 2005

In 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 [1].

[edit] Whistleblowing lawsuit

A lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County by two former Triple Canopy employees in July of 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.[1]

[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 Hondurian 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 Hondurian government had previously supported Triple Canopy, naming the Vice-minister of Labour Áfrico Madrid as intermediary between the administration and the firm.[2] 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.[3]. 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.[2] Furthermore, while Chilean and Hondurians 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.[2] 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).[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ C. J. Chivers. "Contractor's Boss in Iraq Shot at Civilians, Workers' Suit Says", New York Times, November 17, 2003. Retrieved on November 18, 2006.
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ Latin American mercenaries guarding Baghdad’s Green Zone, December 28, 2005

[edit] External links

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