Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Always spying on you

Via Huffington Post comes a Business Week article which suggests Wal-Mart is creating its own intelligence apparatus:
Wal-Mart posted ads in March on its own web site and sites for security professionals, including the bulletin of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, for "global threat analysts" with a background in government or military intelligence work.

The jobs were listed with the Analytical Research Center, part of Wal-Mart's Global Security division, which is headed by former senior CIA and FBI senior officer Kenneth Senser. The analytical unit was created over the past year and half, according to published comments by its head, Army Special Operations veteran David Harrison.
And get a load of this:
Harrison told a meeting of security professionals last year that Wal-Mart was learning to defend itself by using the vast information it routinely collects about its employees, shoppers and suppliers.

The only public comment to date on the work of the Analystical Research Center, the speech was reported on by the trade magazine Government Security News. Wal-Mart did not dispute the report when contacted by The Associated Press this week.
How delightful, a modern-day group of Pinkertons working for Wal-Mart. So be sure to save a few bucks and turn your personal information over to Wal-Mart, you'll be glad to know those cheap prices will be used to fund a private CIA, as a representative of Wake Up Wal-Mart described the effort.

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