Reply #77: Armor Holdings a.k.a. RENT-A-SPY, INC.

[DrDebug]

RENT-A-SPY, INC.
By jenny Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002 at 3:29 PM
American corporation involved in foreign and domestic espionage

Armor Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1969 as American Body Armor & Equipment, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida. At that time, American was an industry leader in the development, manufacture and distribution of projectile resistant garments. Its manufacturing facility was in New York. Its main customer was law enforcement. American started as a small, mom-and-pop operation.

In 1995, the company filed for Chapter 11, Bankruptcy and Reorganization. A group of international investors became interested in taking over the company so it was placed in the hands of British national, Jonathan Spiller. Mr. Spiller is or was a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Upon reorganizing, the company was renamed Armor Holdings.

At the time of reorganization, the chain of command for Armor Holdings was as follows:

Warren B. Kanders

Burtt R. Ehrlich

Nicholas Sokolow

Thomas W. Strauss

Richard C. Barlett

(...)
In 2001, the company made more adjustments and eliminated its “US-based” investigative offices. 26 positions were eliminated in all.

(...)
Armor Holdings has a global presence. Its client base includes multi-national corporations, non-governmental organizations, governmental agencies, military, law enforcement, security, corrections, natural resource industry, financial industry, insurance industry, investment banks, legal profession, consumer products industry, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of State, United Nations, USAID, World Bank, and Britain's Department for International Development.

(...)
Products are manufactured in the US, UK, and Mexico. The product line includes body armor, vehicle armor, non- lethal weapons, duty gear and military garments, forensic collection equipment and supplies, prisoner restraints, and anti-riot gear (tear gas, percussion grenades, etc.) Located within this division is the Training Academy of Technology and Tactics to educate its clientele on the proper use of the previously identified products. The company has over 500 distributors and sales operatives worldwide.

http://www.southafrica.indymedia.org/news/2002/11/2643....

So in 2001 they reorganized and got rid off their US spy division and just before 9/11 on August 23rd they bought Kroll. Doesn't make any sense...

In 1996 they bought Defence Systems Limited which is also an "interesting" partner.

Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.2.

Defence Systems Limited was one of the earliest PMCs (Private Military Corporations), formed in 1981 by a group of ex-SAS officials riding the swell brought on by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's yardsale of Britain's defense industry to cold war warriors of worth. DSL was initially started with private financial support from London bankers, and possibly some Middle East investors. Over the next fifteen years they established a reputation in the security industry and a small fortune, before selling all to Armor Holdings, Inc. in 1997 for $26 million (1).

What was DSL became ArmorGroup, a one stop shop spot for a variety of products pertaining to defense and riot situations. They then reached out to old foes and brought on ex-KGB commandos when they acquired the Alpha Firm. (2);

DSL has provided protection and training services to a variety of elite niches in the security sector. In addition to major corporations, DSL has received contracts from governments around the world. They guarded the embassies of the United States, South Africa and Switzerland in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as the embassies of England, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, and the US in Angola. They have provided camps for workers rebuilding a railway line in Mozambique, trained policemen in Somoalia, demined areas of the former Yugoslavia (3) and worked with various NGOs.

DSL has provided oil line protection and security force training for oil firms around the world. In the DRC they protected the SOCIR oil refinery installations belonging to Congo-SEP, a subsidiary of Belgian Petrofina. In Angola, where they were guarding oil and diamond companies, they were forced to expel 103 of their personnel for violating laws regarding the use of foreign corporate nationals. (4) Some other past clients include: Amoco, Andarko Petroleum, Bechtel, British Petroleum, Broken Hill Propriety Petroleum, Cambior, Chevron, De Beers, Exxon, Mobile and NGOs CARE and Goal.

They have also worked extensively with the United Nations and the World Bank.

1. http://www.ipisresearch.be/ipis.txt/txt004/004contracti...
2. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11223
3. http://www.defense-aerospace.com/cgi-bin/client/modele....
4. http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/books/PeaceProfitPlunder/Chap...

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Defence_Syst...