Late morning we started hearing that Cole Engineering Services offices in Orlando, FL had cop cars blocking the entrances and Defense Criminal Investigation Services was conducting a raid, interviewing people and seizing computers. This is the first time in my long career with DoD ever having a nearby company undergo something like this. Quantadyne was caught years back and they show up on our annual ethics training but to have this happen in a huge military industry area is BIG happenings! I also remember General Dynamics getting caught in timecard fraud back in the 80s, but I digress…
Next we heard that the raid was for a Procurement Integrity Act investigation and that the Army entity PEO STRI was also being raided as well as people’s homes.
https://www.peostri.army.mil/peo-stri-overview
3 of us drove by and confirmed with our own eyes that Cole was indeed being raided. Portable tent canopy by the front door. I also have a picture showing that DCIS agents carry guns. Why?
And for the HOLY SHIT moment… This is not confirmed yet by anyone I know personally yet, but we have heard that Karen Saunders, SES, head of PEO STRI, was arrested in her weekly meeting. She was about to retire, I’m pretty sure. This is unheard of. They were making an example of her. They arrested her in front of her colleagues, not at home. Wow, just wow.
Reddit thread…
https://www.reddit.com/r/orlando/comments/1do8uhi/raid_at_cole_engineering_services/
This is definitely a revolving door violation with the parties involved. They are finally cracking down on them?
ByLight bought Cole years back. They are a swampy DC area company…
I’m excited because you’re excited and you obviously understand how BIG this actually is. I’ll have to research what kind of company CES is and what PEO STRI means. 🤣🤣 Thanks for posting hopium.
So the area around UCF is a big modeling and simulation area. All of the military branches have a presence there and there are lots of contractors, big and small. Cole was a small business started years ago from a group of SAIC employees. They have grown and grown. My old lead is a millionaire now by taking the gamble and helping start that company. Primarily software engineering in this modeling and simulation realm.
PEO STRI is the Army organization that helps the Army manage the contracts related to modeling and simulation. These days the money seems to come from DEVCOM but they have PEO STRI engineers help manage the efforts.
Ms. Saunders is the equivalent of a one star general. She is the top civilian Army employee for the Army’s modeling and simulation efforts. We were planning a demo for her and her team next month but I’m thinking that may not happen now? 😁
Thanks for the explanation. So, modeling and simulation- like war game scenarios?
Yes, but also training software to help the soldiers/sailors/airmen perform their jobs better. The military branches create training requirements for each type of job. If software can be created to help perform that training, a lot of that is written in this area of Florida.
Flight simulators are very similar to the games created by the gaming companies. A lot of the same software architecture/design patterns are used.
Unfortunately most of the simulation software is very behind industry. The military moves at a snail’s pace most of the time. We need more Elon Musk types to think out of the box.
See, I thought military had software that was like playing call of duty but using a google interface to mock up which town/area was the target.
The soldiers always complain about the software that they have to train on. They play video games on the latest boxes and that level of software is not what is typically created for them to train on. I have watched billions of dollars poured down the drain with ridiculous requirements and poor management. Look up Future Combat Systems in Wikipedia. Run by Boeing. Billions spent and two pieces of hardware created. None of the software we wrote was ever used. What a waste.
I worked on a helicopter simulator that was designed in the 90s and still had some of the original Ada code. (military mandated the use of Ada in the 90s…) It is still being used as the Army tries to create its successor. It is very hard to create a simulator cheaply that the pilots are happy with. Meanwhile the aircraft get new radios/hardware/upgrades and the sims have to be updated to match. I worked so many extra hours over my career (unpaid) trying to help train the soldiers. I sleep well knowing I support them the best that I can, but I hate those that have constantly pushed us into thinking we have to build all of this…
Damn, I get where you’re coming from. It’s very difficult to make instruction as eye catching and appealing as the games they can play on x box and PlayStation. Why is it that the IRS can track every cent that we spend but government funds just can’t be traced?
Appreciate your posts and explanations fren.
quick search shows they get hundreds of $$$ millions in contracts yearly.
surely there are no kick-backs hidden in that cash flow. ;)
From https://peostri.army.mil/program-executive-officer
What does the “R” stand for in STRI?
I assume its Simulation, TRaining and Instrumentation.
Okay. Sounds good to me!
u/#q4532
The SES needs to be dismantled, they are unelected & unaccountable.
I was wondering if it was indeed that SES...
The SES IS the deep state. They are constant regardless of who is elected. They are the wheel that needs to be broken
It has begun
u/#q1591
Check out that delta
Who is JC in this?
The guns make sense, especially if they're doing a raid. You never know what a trapped CEO has in his (or her) top desk drawer. I mean criminal investigative service will take you to some unsavory places and leave you mixing with those who left their conscience along with their keys at the valet.
Interesting.
It sure dovetails in nicely with Menendez/Norcross in NJ
Thanks for the report. It's clear something's habbening, even if from this distance we can't tell the difference between garden variety embezzlement, treason, or something more mundane. We'll have to stay primed and look for the DOJ releases ... they usually like to crow about arresting big names.
thanks for the post op - and the info in the Comments
Valuable to reference such resources of Q interpretation such as The Men Behind the Curtain - Part 1 https://badlands.substack.com/p/the-men-behind-the-curtain-part-1
This is great thanks for sharing! And I’m glad you got to experience this up CLOSE
Crooked government contractors actually getting arrested???? Bestill my heart!
RTX corp be like.... OH SHIT.