5 FIRMS TO JOIN ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN

The Defense Department has picked five companies, four of them from
the Washington area, for a contract to support the Pentagon's
counter-narcoterrorism activities. The government may spend as much as
$15 billion through the five-year contract.

The local companies are Arinc of Annapolis, Lockheed Martin of
Bethesda, Raytheon Technical Services of Reston and Northrop Grumman
Information Technology of McLean. The fifth company is Blackwater USA
of Moyock, N.C.

The companies will provide equipment, material and services to the
Defense Department's Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office
(CNTPO). The office's mission is to attack the narcotics trade and the
flow of money and support from drug traffickers to terrorist groups.

Drug trafficking provides money for terror organizations in various
ways. According to a 2002 report that the Library of Congress's
Federal Research Division prepared for the Defense Department, the
drug trade funds guerrilla groups in Latin America and Islamic
fundamentalist organizations -- including Al Qaeda -- around the
world. The funding comes directly, from proceeds of drug sales, and
indirectly, through use of drugs to bartering for weapons or other
supplies.

The contract is broad in scope and could involve several divisions of
the winning companies, said Kerry Beresford, senior director of
advance aviation applications at Arinc. That unit, based in Oklahoma
City, is likely to handle many task orders that come through the
contract, but other Arinc divisions specializing in intelligence
gathering and other disciplines would be better suited for other
demands, he said.

Although the companies on the contract have diverse capabilities,
Beresford said he didn't expect them to carve out niches. "All of the
[prime contractors] that are given the award are fully capable of
satisfying any requirement," he said. "I expect there to be a lot of
competition" for each task order.

The Army Space and Missile Command awarded the contract on behalf of
the counter-narcoterrorism office, which is based at the Naval Surface
Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va.

The work that could come through the contract includes specialized
aircraft, advanced communications technologies, security training and
other equipment and support services. About 80 percent of the work be
outside of the United States.

Raytheon Technical Services specializes in mission support,
counterterrorism and counter-proliferation activities, said Tom
Arnsmeyer, vice president of the Homeland Security Solutions product
line of the Raytheon subsidiary's integrated support systems businesses.