Had you ever heard of Booz Allen prior to 36 hours ago?

[Orrex]

Be honest.

I'd be lying if I claimed to have heard of it before yesterday, and a quick poll of some of the people in my office reveals that 35 out of 36 still haven't heard of it.

[sadbear]

1. Nope.

[Gothmog]

2. Yes

They were a consultant to the Savings and Loan industry during the Southwest Plan days

[JaneyVee]

3. No, but I've heard of Lockheed-Martin.

[WestStar]

4. Isn't that part of the problem?

Nobody knows these outfits.

[FSogol]

5. You can see their offices from Nationals Ball Park and along I-66 West leaving Fairfax County.

Everyone around DC has heard of them.

[MiniMe]

72. Agree FSogol

I have friends who work for Booz Allen, most of them hate it there.

[randome]

6. I would venture to guess there are literally thousands of contracting companies we never heard of.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[noamnety]

7. Yes.

I've had friends who worked there, and I considered a job there at one point. I've known about them for over 20 years.

Edit to add: the problem here isn't the company itself - if they hadn't won the contract to do the spying, someone else would have.

[Peregrine]

8. In an earlier life they were a major competitor

An extremely large government contractor. Where you find the Feds, you will find them.

[longship]

9. There was this guy in high school we called Booze Allen.

He had fake ID and looked old enough to supply all his friends.

Is that what you mean?

[Hobo]

10. Yes

I interviewed for a job with them about 12 years ago..


Hobo

[Brickbat]

11. Yes.

[southernyankeebelle]

12. I never heard of him and I still don't know who he is.

[Orrex]

78. He was the oddball brother who worked opposite George & Gracie.

[southernyankeebelle]

87. Your funny :)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Yes. Wasn't sure what they did, but I've heard of them.

[stopbush]

14. Yes. I lived in NYC back in the 80s. My ex-girlfriend worked there as a receptionist.

[GentryDixon]

15. Yes.

I was a Budget Officer for the Department of Defense, so I saw all the contractors fighting for the big bucks at the expense of the in-house worker. Thanks Ronald Reagan, you dirty bugger.

[WillyT]

16. Nope...

[Smarmie Doofus]

17. Nevah. n/t

[Tx4obama]

18. Snowden said he made the decision to leak before the Nov 2008 election - he wasn't at BAH back then

He said he was thinking about leaking the info 'before' the Nov 2008 election, and then decided to wait to see what Obama would do after/if he was elected.

Snowden wasn't with Booz Allen Hamilton back then, he was at BAH only there months this year.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57588462/snowden-leak-of-nsa-spy-programs-marks-my-end/?pageNum=2

-snip-

He later went to work for the CIA as an information technology employee and by 2007 was stationed in Geneva, Switzerland, where he had access to classified documents.

During that time, he considered going public about the nation's secretive programs but told the newspaper he decided against it, because he did not want to put anyone in danger and he hoped Obama's election would curtail some of the clandestine programs.

He said he was disappointed that Obama did not rein in the surveillance programs.

-snip-

[Hell Hath No Fury]

19. Yes --

they are a client of the company I work for. They are a naughty bunch and have been in the news before.

[octoberlib]

20. Nope. nt

[G_j]

21. No, but they are Fortune 500

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/

[antigop]

22. Yep. I've known about them for years. nt

[City Lights]

23. No. nt

[think]

24. Never. I have heard of the parent company The Carlyle Group

But not this subsidiary or whatever they want to call this private contractor who made The Carlyle Group $2 billion:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2013/06/10/the-carlyle-group-has-made-2-billion-off-of-booz-allen/

[pangaia]

70. The Carlyle Group,

as far as I know, is not so much a company, as a bunch of rich fuckers who run the world.
Now, I could be mistaken...about the company part.

[In_The_Wind]

25. No

[LeftInTX]

26. No - never heard of them

[Auggie]

27. Yes ... a fiend of the family worked for them

[Octafish]

28. Oldest link that I got was 2005...

Know your BFEE: R. James Woolsey, Turd of War

[forestpath]

29. Yes - I used to work for a federal govt. agency (not security-related) and

my office used them for some (mostly administrative/marketing type) stuff.

[GP6971]

30. Sure

But not under that exact name. Think they're lineage is actually accounting firms from the early 70s. Could be wrong......brain cells start dwindling at my age

[aristocles]

31. Yes, I subcontracted for them on a Navy project.

They have offices all over D.C. And at most major military bases.

[Jamastiene]

32. No, I had not.

I can't help but picture a guy named Allen who sells liquor when I hear it now.

[msanthrope]

33. Yes. nt

[Warpy]

34. No, and supposedly they have an office here in town

Their Wikipedia entry is very recent and reads like a PR handout given to bright college grads with no morals.

[Dreamer Tatum]

35. One of the biggest consulting companies in the world? Um, yes. nt

[DCBob]

36. If you worked in DC you would.

[Aerows]

43. +1 n/t

[nenagh]

37. No.

[Recursion]

38. Yes. I was a defense contractor for a while. They also sponsor the local NPR station

They're the 900 pound gorilla among contractors. They're also part of most DC-area people's drive home.

[Scuba]

39. Yes. They've been around the accounting field for decades.

[muriel_volestrangler]

42. That was what was at the back of my mind for them

But they might have been a publishing firm, too.

[grasswire]

40. yes

But from what the experts on MSNBC said today, there are apparently thousands of firms contracting with the intelligence complex -- some big, some mom-pop operations -- to eavesdrop. Thousands. I would say that Booz Allen is not our biggest problem.

[Aerows]

41. Yes. n/t

[elehhhhna]

44. yep. Subsidiary of Carlyle Group.

The Carlyle Group Has Made $2 Billion Off Of Booz Allen













Comment Now


Follow Comments




Carlyle Group Historical Logo
Carlyle Group Historical Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In 2008, the Carlyle Group made a large $910 million investment to buy a majority stake in Booz Allen’s government consulting business. The deal saw Booz Allen’s big government advisory unit, which produced most of the firm’s revenue, split off from its corporate consulting group, on the eve of the financial crisis.

But Washington-based Carlyle, which has a long and successful history doing deals involving government contractors, has really made the Booz Allen deal work. It has been an amazing transaction for Carlyle. The private equity firm has made $2 billion in realized and unrealized profits on the Booz Allen Hamilton deal so far. Its $910 million investment is now worth $3 billion.

Carlyle’s acquisition of Booz Allen looked risky back in 2008, but Carlyle believed it could unlock value by separating the cash generating government advisory side of the business from the corporate consulting part of the company. Shares of Booz Allen fell by 3.6% in Monday morning trading after one of its employees, Edward Snowden, leaked information about a secret National Security Agency surveillance program.

[FarCenter]

45. Yes -- forever -- they are one of the oldest technical consulting companies.

[lanlady]

46. YES -- I'm a proud Booz Allen employee

and we do a lot of great work.

[sikofit3]

57. I have tried..

to get a job there. I have a friend who works there that gave me a recommendation, how long does the process take of even letting someone know if they are considered? It seems like forever!

[Orrex]

60. Honestly, that's what I've been hearing about the company

What annoys me is that they simply didn't exist in the national consciousness until a day and a half ago (or so), but now the media are acting like they've known all about them since forever.

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

[MrScorpio]

47. I've heard of them years ago

I've even sent them my resume once

[Chan790]

48. As in Booz Allen Hamilton?

Yes. It's a government contractor. They interviewed me coming out of college in 2002.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

49. Thanks to the bravery of Snowden, a lot people have heard of them now.

[frylock]

50. absolutely..

I applied to several contract positions offered by them on the various job boards. that was 8 years ago.

[elleng]

51. Yes, for many years.

[PoliticAverse]

52. I heard of them frequently in the 1970's... n/t

[pnwmom]

53. Yup. Absolutely.

Had a relative who worked for them. It's a management consulting firm, like McKinsey.

[sammytko]

54. Yes

[Solly Mack]

55. Yes

Last edited Tue Jun 11, 2013, 09:33 AM - Edit history (3)

From 2005

The Spy Who Billed Me
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5662129

From 2007

Did you know info in the PDB is collected by contractors?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1441250

[PsychoBunny]

56. Yes. nt

nt

[DJ13]

58. I thought he won Last Comic Standing

[Ilsa]

59. Yes, on DU, a year or so ago, I think. nt

[rightsideout]

61. I had a job interview with them

They are pretty well known if you live in the DC area. It's one of many Beltway Bandit companies in DC with Federal contracts. I didn't take the job because my custom van wouldn't fit in their parking garage. They suggested I take the spoiler off the top. In hindsight, I should have done that or got a car because they are a pretty well known company in DC and have alot of clout. They used to be called Booz, Allen and Hamilton. Not sure what happened to Hamilton.

[Hoyt]

62. Remember them doing consulting work for a state Medicaid agency where I worked over 30 years ago.

They actually did "legitimate" work at one time.

[SecularMotion]

63. Yes

Hackers claim they exposed Booz Allen Hamilton data

Hackers flying the AntiSec banner claimed today that they compromised a server at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and have released internal data, including about 90,000 military e-mail addresses.

"We infiltrated a server on their network that basically had no security measures in place. We were able to run our own application, which turned out to be a shell and began plundering some booty," the hackers wrote in a message on the Pastebin file storage site. "Most shiny is probably a list of roughly 90,000 military emails and password hashes (md5, non-salted of course!). We also added the complete sqldump, compressed ~50mb, for a good measure."

The hackers also claimed to have grabbed source code, but said it was "insignificant" so they wiped it from the Booz Allen Hamilton system, as well as "maps and keys for various other treasure chests buried on the islands of government agencies, federal contractors and shady whitehat companies. This material surely will keep our blackhat friends busy for a while."

Booz Allen Hamilton representatives did not immediately respond to e-mails and phone messages seeking comment. A representative for the company tweeted this message from the @BoozAllen Twitter account: "As part of @BoozAllen security policy, we generally do not comment on specific threats or actions taken against our system."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20078498-245/hackers-claim-they-exposed-booz-allen-hamilton-data/

[Liberal_in_LA]

64. yes. Hard name to forget. Didn't know much about them though

[lynne]

65. Yes, had heard of them -

- didn't know too much about them, though.

[alcibiades_mystery]

66. Of course. It's a giant consulting firm

Been around for years.

[nadinbrzezinski]

67. Yes

And a few others.

Fr lordly sake I live in a town that has a few, including Caqui, some lovable Mercs, really, and Xe, and yes, general atomics, and a few none of us gas heard off

[winter is coming]

68. Yes. n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

69. Yes, but then I don't live on DU. n/t

[pangaia]

71. They should change their first name.

It's just too weird...Sort of like.. 'Custer Battles.'
I mean, give me a break.

[DEMTough]

73. Yes.

Through a family member who used to work there.

[neverforget]

74. Yes. They were/are a competitor of my former company.

[SharonAnn]

75. Yes, they've been a big consulting firm for a LONG, LONG TIME. Booz Allen Hamilton formerly.

[MrMickeysMom]

76. Yep...

I read a book relevant to management in health care. The model discussed in this book discussed the way patient care was aggregated, and managed to be rather provocative, even the the model never really worked in health care.

So, there... and frankly, so what?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

77. Yes

[MotherPetrie]

79. Yes. When I was a Federal employee my office had a contract with Booz Allen Hamilton.

This was in the 1970s. My agency was not defense or intelligence related, BTW.

[cliffordu]

80. Well, I'm drinking booze and have an allen wrench -

Can I help?

[GoCubsGo]

81. Yes. n/t

[On the Road]

82. Booz Allen is HUGE in the Consulting World

They are 99 years old and extremely large in the consulting world. In the 80's, they used to insist on spelling their name "Booz^.Allen". I used to joke that they thought they were so important they could invent their own punctuation.

Booz Allen is not a fake company or a consulting firm created for special purposes. They are not cheap, but in general they have smart people, a good reputation, and know what they're doing. The Carlyle Group thing was news to me.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

83. Yes. Anonymous hacked the shit out of them in 2011--twice

Booz Allen has already been involved in one Anonymous hack earlier this year. When the hacker collective dumped 71,000 emails from the cybersecurity firm HBGary Federal in retaliation for what it interpreted as an attempt to unmask key figures within Anonymous, the emails revealed that HBGary had worked with Booz Allen Hamilton to develop a response plan for Bank of America based on what the bank feared might be an upcoming leak of its internal documents by WikiLeaks. The Anonymous statement also paints the contractor as a revolving door of military-related conflicts of interest, and argues that the firm has been involved in mass surveillance projects.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/07/11/anonymous-hackers-breach-booz-allen-hamilton-dump-90000-military-email-addresses/

[alp227]

84. I've heard of Booze but not Booz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booz_Allen_Hamilton

I think some veteran DUers may be familiar with Booz back in 2007 because of these media exposures:

Another controversy, related to some of the senior staff of Booz Allen (past and present) and related to its performance on some specific U.S. intelligence agency contracts, was brought to light on January 12, 2007 in an interview conducted by Democracy Now! with Tim Shorrock,[21] an independent investigative journalist, and separately in an article he wrote for the Salon online magazine. Through investigation of Booz Allen employees, Shorrock asserts that there is a sort of revolving-door conflict of interest between Booz Allen and the U.S. government, and between multiple other contractors and the U.S. government in general. Regarding Booz Allen, Shorrock referred to such people as John M. McConnell, R. James Woolsey, Jr., and James R. Clapper, all of whom have gone back and forth between government and industry (Booz Allen in particular), and who may present the appearance that certain government contractors receive undue or unlawful business from the government, and that certain government contractors may exert undue or unlawful influence on government. Shorrock further relates that Booz Allen was a sub-contractor with two programs at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), called Trailblazer and Pioneer Groundbreaker.

A June 28, 2007 Washington Post article related how a U.S. Department of Homeland Security contract with Booz Allen increased from $2 million to more than $70 million through two no-bid contracts, one occurring after the DHS's legal office had advised DHS not to continue the contract until after a review. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the contract characterized it as not well-planned and lacking any measure for assuring valuable work to be completed.

[HiPointDem]

85. yes. they've been around a long time, a connected firm & not the first time its been in the news.

[Rex]

86. Did anyone know who Halliburton was or KBR

or Carlyle or Black Water? Or Enron? How about the Koch brothers? Do people know who Neil Bush is?

How many people know we are still at war in Afghanistan?

[Poll_Blind]

88. I had, but it was only in the last 5 years or so. Then again, I hadn't heard of Bechtel before Bush

PB

[treestar]

89. No.

I bet they aren't happy to be so famous in this way, either.

[HipChick]

90. Yes...I have a few friends that have worked for them

[karynnj]

91. Yes, for decades

They were management consultants mentioned in many business articles.