Big Corporations: Internal spies spy one everyone, even board of directors.

Mr. Gabbard, a 44-year-old Marine Corps veteran and former reserve deputy sheriff, spent 19 years at Wal-Mart, the last few in the Threat Research and Assessment Group. The team hunted computer hackers outside the company and regularly searched emails and monitored phones looking for misbehavior or leaks. It worked in a highly secure area nicknamed the Bat Cave.

Mr. Gabbard says he was tasked with the electronic monitoring of directors' meetings, in a hunt for anyone who might be spying on them. This gave him unusual access to information. He says that two years ago, while manning a countersurveillance desk during a board meeting in Puerto Rico, he listened as directors debated a multibillion-dollar settlement offer in a big lawsuit alleging sex bias in pay and promotions. The board voted to reject it for several reasons, including the bad publicity it would generate, Mr. Gabbard said in an interview in late March. Wal-Mart declined to comment.

Read the full story in the WSJ.

Wal-Mart's CIA and FBI agents.

Meet Mr. Senser, who runs Wal-Mart's security department, in front of his monitoring equipment. He formerly worked in internal security for the CIA and FBI.

If you think the image looks familiar, it is. Below is a very similar image of Jeff Kindler, CEO of the drug company Pfizer, in front of his monitoring equipment in Pfizer's security bunker, when he was chief legal officer and head of Pfizer's security department, which is led by a former FBI agent.



Clearly, based on these two pictures, both men are very PROUD of their snooping on employees. But there are limits, even for snoops.

So, back in 2003, when I brought to the attention of Pfizer management certain alleged inappropriate conduct among Pfizer's management, there was nooooooo way they found any way they could investigate. No way. Just couldn't do it. Or so they said. All the Pfizer FBI agents were helpless and suddenly rendered completely useless. Read all about that story in my book "The Whistleblower."

But Wal-Mart doesn't have any such qualms when it comes to looking into the conduct of its senior management. Or so Wal-Mart claims. Others claim Wal-Mart is just as selective as Pfizer when it comes to whom they choose to investigate. Says one former employee: “If it is someone they want to get rid of, they will go all out. If it’s somebody whose career they want to save, they won’t.”

From the front page article of New York Times today:

Bare-Knuckle Enforcement for Wal-Mart’s Rules

The investigator flew to Guatemala in April 2002 with a delicate mission: trail a Wal-Mart manager around the country to prove he was sleeping with a lower-level employee, a violation of company policy.

The apparent smoking gun? “Moans and sighs” heard as the investigator, a Wal-Mart employee, pressed his ear against a hotel room door inside a Holiday Inn, according to legal documents. Soon after, the company fired the manager for what it said was improper fraternization with a subordinate.

The article goes on to state:

But not all of Wal-Mart’s investigations involve money, or even high-stakes business matters, prompting employees to protest that the company’s investigative arm is, at times, used to intimidate employees who question authority or raise issues their bosses wish to remain secret.

Article continues here.

One final thought . . . ever noticed how the people who work for security organizations and who montior other people, suddenly end up in charge of all those people?

Examples:

1. George Bush I who headed up the CIA, who became President USA
2. Vladimir Putin, lieutenant colonel KGB, who became President Russia
3. Jeffrey Kindler, Pfizer Chief Legal Officer responsible for Pfizer Security Operations became CEO Pfizer.

Makes you go: Hmmm.