TigerSwan

TigerSwan is an international security and global stability firm founded in 2008 by retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and Delta Force operator James Reese.

Background

TigerSwan is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business based in Apex, North Carolina.[1] The company operates globally.[2] Founder James Reese served in the elite Delta Force unit. He started his career as an ROTC cadet and served in the United States Army for 25 years. Reese was an adviser, commander and operations officer during the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.[2]

The company has over 300 employees and conducts operations in over 50 countries.[3]

The TigerSwan firearms training center was located near Cedar Creek in Cumberland County, North Carolina. Since it opened in 2010, the range has offered firearms and tactical training to military, law enforcement and the public. In 2014, Reese sold the training company, and the shooting range changed its name to the Range Complex.[4]

In the book Kill Bin Laden Dalton Fury wrote: "Delta Force legends like Paul Howe of Combat Shooting and Tactics Inc., Larry Vickers of Vickers Tactical Inc., and Brian Searcy of Tiger Swan Inc., and Kyle Lamb of Viking Tactics Inc., can't only teach you how to shoot a gnat off a bull's ass at fifty yards while on the move but they will actually show you how it's done first."[5]

Company history

Iraq War

The firm provided security for the Iraqi Mine-Unexploded Ordnance Clearing Organization, a U.S. State Department funded NGO tasked with clearing munitions and mines in Iraq.[6]

2014 Sochi Olympics

During the 2014 Sochi Olympics, TigerSwan provided security for members of Olympic committees, corporate sponsors and sports fans traveling to Sochi. They said they could pinpoint a client's location within a 3 foot radius using a GPS device provided to their clients.[7]

Standing Rock Protests

TigerSwan was hired by Dakota Access, LLC to provide security consulting during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.[8] Internal company documents, which were leaked to The Intercept, reportedly compared the movement opposed to the pipeline with jihadis, calling them "an ideologically driven insurgency with a strong religious component."[9] The Intercept called the DAPL operation a "multi-faceted private security operation characterized by sweeping and invasive surveillance of protesters," and reported that the leaked situation and disinformation reports prepared by the company during the protest provide evidence of aerial surveillance, as well as radio eavesdropping.[9]

The owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline hired over a half dozen security companies to work with law enforcement officials to protect the pipeline against vandalism, arson, and other acts of eco-terrorism. "As TigerSwan security employees began to arrive in at the Standing Rock protest site, protesters began showing up in the camps calling for violence and engaging in increasingly menacing rhetoric. The FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and Bureau of Land Management all participated in the security operation."[10]

The pipeline needed extra security due to arson and other acts of destruction. For example, on July 24, 2017, activists Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya admitted that they were responsible for setting fires to the pipeline and destroying valves. The two referred to their actions as "peaceful." The two women cut through the pipeline with a torch, but at one point torched a hole through a part of the pipeline that had oil in it, which caused oil to spill.[10]

In 2013 TigerSwan filed a lawsuit against the United States in Federal Court alleging breach of contract due to improper termination. The dispute was over two contracts that were awarded by the Department of Defense for Iraq-based security services. The DoD initially awarded the contracts to TigerSwan, but then terminated the contracts and awarded them instead to the British private military company Aegis Defence Services.[11] The Court denied the government's request to dismiss the case, finding that a contractor does not always need to show specific intent in order to prevail on a claim that alleges bad-faith.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ "TigerSwan Awarded US Dept of Defense Iraq Security Contract". TigerSwan. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Delta Force veteran to speak at MU commencement". USA Today. Star Gazette. 15 April 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  3. ↑ "Jim Reese Joins Fox and Friends to Discuss Syria | TigerSwan". www.tigerswan.com. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  4. ↑ Phillips, Gregory (14 May 2014). "TigerSwan firearms training center has new owners and name". The Fayetteville Observer. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  5. ↑ Fury, Dalton (2008). Kill Bin Laden. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 45. ISBN 9781429960762.
  6. ↑ "TigerSwan Escorts Medical Provider to Baghdad on Journey of Compassion". Business Wire. Berkshire Hathaway. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  7. ↑ Whiteside, Kelly (3 February 2014). "Tight security at Sochi Olympics gives sense of comfort". USA Today. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  8. ↑ May, Charlie. "A reporter's notebook:The journey to Oceti Sakowin, the protest camp of the Standing Rock Sioux". salon. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  9. 1 2 Brown, Alleen. "Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to "Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies"". The Intercept. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
  10. 1 2 "Eco-terrorism prompted Dakota Access Pipeline to hire security firms to assist law enforcement at Standing Rock protest site". American Security News. 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  11. ↑ "TigerSwan's Suit Over Iraq Security Contract Kept Alive". Law360. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  12. ↑ "Contract Termination Suits Not A Lost Cause, But Still Tough". Law360. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  13. ↑ Roin, Julie A. (2013). "Public-Private Partnerships and Termination for Convenience Clauses: Time for a Mandate". Emory Law Journal. 63 (2). Retrieved 15 May 2017.
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