What's A Booz Allen Hamilton?

(Editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich and published 6/13/13 in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.)

So, we seem to know an awful lot about Edward Snowden (except for where he's actually heading), and we're gradually learning a little bit about the domestic spying done under the Patriot Act, but most of us are unfamiliar with the civilian contractor at the center of this all.  With that in mind, I paid a visit to the corporate web page (located here) and learned some interesting stuff.  First, the corporate "mission statement":

We focus in many arenas, including national and international security, economic well-being, health, environment, and public infrastructure. Our deep expertise in technology, engineering, and analytics helps us serve a broad constituency of clients, ranging from cabinet-level departments of the U.S. government to corporations, institutions, and organizations.

Booz Allen’s major clients include global corporations in the health, energy, and financial services sectors, as well as nearly all departments and agencies across the U.S. federal government. These clients face a wide range of complex and pressing challenges such as combating global terrorism, improving cyber capabilities, transforming the healthcare system, improving energy usage, and protecting the environment. ...

As the needs of our clients have grown, Booz Allen Hamilton has responded and expanded beyond the traditional management consulting foundation to meet and exceed those needs.
In civil government, we serve several key areas and clients:

    Financial sector
    Health and human services
    Environment and sustainability
    Infrastructure (transportation, energy, telecommunications)
    Law enforcement and homeland security
    International funding institutions (World Bank, USAID)
    Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

In Defense, we serve several key areas:

    U.S. Armed Services
    Department of Defense
    Joint Commands
    Intelligence agencies
    Foreign military programs of U.S. allies

In the commercial market, we serve these key sectors:

    Energy
    Health
    Financial Services

[Emphasis added]

That's a pretty wide range of clients.  Oh, and they also do "pro bono" work for charitable organizations and they are consistently voted a great place to work.

With that range of clients, you'd expect that the corporation would be doing pretty well.  Oh, the share prices have dropped since Snowden's bomb shell, but according to the financial pages at the site, their revenues are quite healthy. First, fiscal year 2012:

Over the past year, despite a challenging and unpredictable marketplace, Booz Allen’s revenue increased 4.8 percent to $5.86 billion.  In addition, Booz Allen was recently named by Fortune magazine to its list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies,” which complements numerous other awards the firm received last year in recognition of its high standing as a business, employer, and community supporter. The approximately 25,000 people of Booz Allen are proud of these achievements, but even more proud of the trust clients place in the firm, year after year, to help them with their most important missions.   [Emphasis added]

Next, fiscal year 2013:

Booz Allen Hamilton’s Annual Report for fiscal year 2013, “Excellence at Work,” recounts the important role we play helping the federal government and commercial enterprises accomplish their most important work—work that protects our nation and drives our society and economy forward—as well as our thought leadership and corporate citizenship initiatives.   [Emphasis added]

Note:  you can download the full financial reports in pdf format at the sites.

So, there's a brief snapshot of the company which is grinding out the meta data on each and every one of us.

And we're paying for that honor.