kgb, you make a convincing case, re this represents their “legit” work, i.e., drumming up fear about hostages, kidnappings, terror for the locals. FSA had a contract, for instance, to train Idaho National Guard.

My question is: when will FDL hold a conference in Maui?

It’s 12 to 17 hours of travel from DC to Hawaii, depending on connections, across five time zones. Not exactly a piece of cake on an old dog like Inouye, even if he’s been doing it for years. He probably does it less often, but maximizes the amount of time he’s home.

My guess is this was an elbow-rub networking opportunity where the various companies (RSI, FSI, etc.) could pitch their specialty programs. I think the idea was to sell state government agencies on use of the services to train their workers. I’ll bet 90% of the trip was presentations describing the course offerings and how they could be applied in state settings. Then they’ll get a mini-course on hostage isolation (maybe with a 4-hour unannounced hostage/isolation situation while the spouses golf/spa).

I don’t doubt Inouye had a hand in helping to arrange it, the idea of a conglomeration of private security-training schools had decent support among gitmo-y types. My bet is the Maui conference was about drumming up business for the more legitimate contracting businesses run by these guys(If for no other reason than to provide cover for Torture Inc.). Besides, Mitchell Jessen & Assoc. had an office in Ft. Belvoir (basically Fairfax, VA). If they wanted to have a secret get together with a senator or a member of their staff, it seems far more low key to do it around D.C.

I wish we could re-create the schedule for Inouye or DeLeon from 03, but probably impossible (w/o subpoena).

Meanwhile, did I mention that Inouye was always a big supporter of Gitmo? Big surprise. The Welch article has more on that topic.

Having traveled to Hawaii, having family there, and having a spouse who travels regularly to Asia, I’d have to say there were other business reasons for this trip. It’s a write-off, for starters, but it’s conveniently a good place to get one’s body clock reset before or after a trip many time zones apart. It can take as long as ten days to get one’s body clock re-acclimated if a final destination is more than 5 time zones away from point of origin. (Thailand is about four hours west of Int’l date line, Hawaii another three hours east of date line…)

And then there’s the Maui bit. The bulk of Inouye’s constituents aren’t on Maui, they’re on Hawaii, has at least three offices on the Big Island. Inouye does have an office on Maui, though — the one on Maui looks like it’s in the middle of BFE. Nice place to have a private meeting without any unanticipated visitors, I imagine.

My money is on DeLeon being in the Maui office that week. Convenient.

I’m guessing the Maui location was intended to make the cocktails more, um, poignant?