Above: Simon Sole, Chief Executive Officer Specialist Subjects: Al-Qaeda, Terrorism, Political Risk, Military. Security Languages: French, German.

New evidence of private sector companies seeking ‘intelligence’ on protest organisations was revealed by documentary photographer and investigative journalist, Marc Vallée, at a recent Netpol (Network for Police Monitoring) conference. Speaking on the subject of Olympic policing, Vallée explained how he had been approached for information on protest groups by intelligence-gathering firm, Exclusive Analysis. He was sked to provide information about direct action and protest groups, particularly the groups No Tar Sands, Rising Tide UK, Climate Camp and UKuncut.

Richard Bond (possibly a pseudonym), who stated he was an employee of Exclusive Analysis, told Vallée that EA had clients that ‘had interests in’ the Olympic games. Asked whether there was an Olympic context to the information they were after, Bond replied, “We have followed these groups for a long time. Yes, we are looking at them for the Olympics.”

Exclusive Analysis is a specialist intelligence company that forecasts commercially political and violent risks, worldwide. They are a multinational and their core intelligence team consists of 60 senior forecasters based in London, 210 in-country analysts and 1,000 human sources who report unique information into a highly-systemised intelligence methodology. The company website claims that as well as dealing with global terrorism threats, “Our regional teams analyse data and risk indicators on other groups (from violent single-issue groups focused on animal rights, the environment and pro-life activism to politically motivated groups such as anarchists and the extreme right and extreme left.” Exclusive Analysis work with a range of private sector and government clients, including Government intelligence and national security agencies.