Monsanto hired Blackwater firm to gather information on activists

According to a report in The Nation, Monsanto Company hired a company owned by the controversial private security firm Blackwater to gather information about activist groups.

The company, Total Intelligence, sought to become the “intel arm” of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the biotech giant.

According to Total Intelligence’s communications, Monsanto hired the firm in 2008-2009.

In an email to the Nation reporter, a Monsanto official confirmed that Monsanto had hired Total Intelligence but denied there were plans to infiltrate activist groups. The official claimed that Total Intelligence had provided “reports about the activities of groups that could pose a risk to company personnel or operations around the world which were developed by monitoring local media reports and other publicly available information.” Activities included “scanning the content of activists’ blogs and websites.”

(Source: The Nation)

(The Organic & Non-GMO Report, October 2010)