Keenie Meenie Services
Keenie Meenie Services was created by Maj. David Walker upon leaving Control Risks Group in 1977. The name has been thought to be Swahili for the movement of a snake through the grass, or Arabic for covert operation.
Walker, a former captain in the Special Air Services, first registered the company in Jersey as "Executive International" to hide the identities of fellow board members Col. James "Jim" Johnson (who went on to become a broker for Lloyds of London), Brig. Mike Wingate Gray and John Martin Southern of the Blackwall Green, Ltd. insurance firm.
In 1984, KMS was approved by the British government to train the Special Task Force arm of the Sri Lankan military against the Tamil rebels. The STF was widely reported to have been committing atrocities against the Tamil population and by 1987 KMS had moved their two hundred personnel to Latin America. The British press had reported, though the company denied it, that employees for KMS were quitting their jobs because the Sri Lankan troops were out of control.[1]
During the Iran-Contra investigations, KMS was accused of repeatedly carrying out sabotage operations in Nicaragua that included mining the Managua harbor and destroying enemy camps, buildings and pipelines.[2]
On November 22, 1987 the London Observer's Simon de Bruxelles published a three page proposal from KMS to the CIA suggesting sending small teams of instructors into Afghanistan to train rebels in "demolition, sabotage, reconnaissance and para-medicine."[4]
KMS was accompanied by Saladin Security (a subsidiary) and Defence Systems Limited in their training programs in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
KMS closed down in the early 1990s, and Saladin began operating more internationally.[3]
