Former CIA or FBI intelligence expert? Want to train your eye on more… “innocent” suspects than you did during your days in law enforcement? Look no further than Walmart’s Global Security division, which is headed by former senior CIA and FBI senior officer Kenneth Senser and Army Special Operations veteran David Harrison.

Don’t think that your days at Walmart won’t be filled with lots of investigating! Job postings on Walmart.com called for individuals to collect information from “professional contacts” and public data to anticipate and assess threats stemming from “world events, regional/national security climates, and suspect individuals and groups,” according to the AP.

“Familiarity with a broad spectrum of information resources and data-mining techniques” is listed among the skills sought, along with a foreign language, preferably Chinese or Spanish.”

Walmart has probably already seen our special “Walmart Spying Operation” Twitter account (provided for their benefit and edification and so they don’t have to tap our phones), so what are they doing with all this data and intelligence gathering? They’re spying on their customers, of course!

From the AP (emphasis ours):

Harrison told a meeting of security professionals last year that Wal-Mart was learning to defend itself by using the vast information it routinely collects about its employees, shoppers and suppliers.

The only public comment to date on the work of the Analytical Research Center, the speech was reported on by the trade magazine Government Security News. Wal-Mart did not dispute the report when contacted by The Associated Press this week.

Harrison told the meeting that Wal-Mart tracks customers including those who use its pharmacies, buy propane tanks and anyone making “bulk purchases” of prepaid cell phones, which some law enforcement officials have tied in the past to terrorist or criminal activities.

Harrison did not elaborate on how that information could be better used, except to say the data could be shared with law enforcement.

My, that’s a ringing endorsement for Walmart’s pharmacy… —MEGHANN MARCO

Wal-Mart Recruits Intelligence Officers [Forbes]
(Photo: aforero)

PREVIOUSLY: FBI Investigation: Is Walmart Reading Your Email?
How Did The Walmart Spy Intercept Text Messages?
New York City Comptroller Requests Investigation Into Walmart Spying Operation
Walmart Granted Gag Order Against Former Spy
Fired Walmart Spy Says He Felt Pressured To Find The Information Leak

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