Mapping the Shadow Government: Booz Allen Hamilton

LittleSis

The recent and ongoing NSA surveillance revelations have shone a productive spotlight on the role of private contractors in gathering and analyzing national intelligence. Edward Snowden’s former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, was singled out for its role as an NSA contractor and the fact that almost all of its revenue comes directly from the federal government. But the exact breadth of its role in the intelligence community and how it maintains its powerful relationship with the government remains shrouded in mystery.

This is where Booz thrives – in the shadows – but here at LittleSis we have been working to shine some additional sunlight on Booz and the ways in which it cultivates influence and wins contracts.

 

By the end of the 2013 fiscal year Booz Allen Hamilton reported $5.76 billion in revenue, 99 percent of which came from government contracts, and boasted a win rate of more than 89% on re-competed contracts. The company’s dependence on contracts is so great that threats to their relationship with the US is the primary risk listed in their annual shareholder report. Some sample disclosures, all comically hinging on the fact that Booz is in a long-term, over-dependent relationship with the US government: [MORE]