Ex-DEA agents now private sleuths

[seemslikeadream]

They peddle cloak, dagger intelligence

By Thor Valdmanis
USA Today
Friday, October 15, 2004

...

Dominated by entrepreneurial former agents of the DEA, CIA, FBI, Britain's MI5 and Israel's Mossad, corporate security firms charge $10,000 or more to test a company's anti-terrorism defenses or check out potential hires or business partners.

Demand for the industry's cloak-and-dagger services has been growing at a double-digit clip since Sept. 11 and the corporate scandal wave, leading to rapid consolidation. But while industry leaders such as Kroll and big accounting firms are bulking up through acquisitions, Strang and Hayes have decided to go back to their roots. While continuing to rely on a global network of contract employees, they believe smaller is better.

"The bigger you get, the slower you move," Strang says. "You call us with a problem in Japan, China or South America, and in an hour we can have a surveillance team in place. We can have security there and begin the investigation."

That hands-on approach has won supporters. "They've helped us on numerous occasions," says John Stark, managing director of investment bank Corporate Financial Advisors. "I remember one case several years ago when Bob and Ann were able to find that one of the principals in a transaction we were about to do was an unindicted co-conspirator in a drug-trafficking ring in college."

Strang and Hayes keep in close contact with federal, state and local law officers. "Bob was a luminary when he was employed at DEA, and he has continued in that same vein post-retirement," says DEA chief Karen Tandy, who recently worked with Strang on an initiative to increase drug education.

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