Israel Star Chronicle

BY LAURA COHEN

VIRGINIA - W. Edward Griffith, one of the most popular private intel bosses in the industry, has started to shake things up at Griffith Colson Intelligence Service and its subsidiaries. Griffith was named “highly influential” by ProfileEngine.com recently.

The announcement came Tuesday morning as a memo was issued stating:

“…We have achieved what we have achieved because many of us sacrificed and worked together toward the same goals. We have had a brilliant team that has looked first at the mission and placed personal profit on the back burner to get to where we are. We have also had those who have done very little over the course of our growth and those individuals will be replaced. This agency will be operated with ambition, drive, integrity and a common purpose. If some have failed to get that spirit by now, they are useless to our objectives”.

That statement was issued by Griffith to top management at GCIS. The memo also hit the desks of DefenseTech Systems Group CEO Dave Wessman, who works for Griffith.

Griffith came out swinging on the heels of news last month that a series of contracts had reached closure and that GCIS and its units would be fluid in this quarter. With the success of those contract negotiations, Griffith immediately centralized his power base, assuming the directorships of Machaseh Security Service and the DefenseTech Office of Intelligence Services, both roles in addition to his job as director of GCIS. He kept Wessman as CEO at DefenseTech and most of his deputy directors in place.

But Griffith said he can not take the agency to the next level with “those who refuse to show any interest in their mission. We have been doing this for nearly six years and while we have suffered some set-backs due to this economy, we have never quit. This credit goes to our team who did what had to be done to stay afloat. Now we’re on our way to the next level. I am disappointed in those who had so much to gain and did so very little. Even moral support was lacking in some of these individuals”.

On another front at the agency, Griffith’s office confirmed reports that a probe into mortgage fraud committed by several banks, including Chase, is nearing completion and that he will disclose the findings in an internet televised broadcast soon.