Urban Shield and Cytel Group Connections to Sheriff's Office

Urban Shield and Cytel Group Connections to Sheriff's Office

By Lynda Carson - September 8, 2014

Oakland - As Urban Shield is wrapping up its war games in Oakland and the Bay Area with their militarized intimidation tactics, training exercises and military hardware sale convention for agencies seeking military weapons to suppress their local populations with S.W.A.T. Teams, neighborhood lock-downs and Martial Law, there seems to be very little coverage lately by the media in regards to who is behind the Urban Shield program.

In Oakland, Urban Shield was hosted by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, but is being promoted by the for profit corporation known as Cytel Group Inc. The Cytel Group also promotes Urban Shield conferences/events in Austin, Texas, Boston, New Orleans and countries abroad.

According to public records with the Secretary of State in California, the incorporation papers for Cytel Group Inc., were filed on August 6, 2010. James Lester Baker who resides at 912 Redhaven Street, in Brentwood, California, is listed as the Agent For Service Of Process for the corporation, with the Secretary of State in California. The entity number for Cytel Group Inc., is C3311002. Anne Marie Baker, the wife of James Lester Baker, is part owner of the corporation and is listed as the "Secretary" of the corporation by Linked In.

A contract document from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office involving the Cytel Group in a business transaction worth more than a half-million dollars to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise, lists Anne Marie Baker as the President of the Cytel Group, even though "Linked In" has her listed as the "Secretary" of the corporation.

What is also intriguing about the contract situation with the Cytel Group and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office that involved two contracts worth $275,000 each to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise to the Sheriff's Office, is that James Lester Baker and his wife Anne Marie Baker both used to work for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.

As an employee of the Sheriff's Office, James Baker used to be the assistant sheriff at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. His wife used to be a sheriff's technician at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, according to Linked In. This was before they were awarded two contracts worth $275,000 each, to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. Originally, each contract was worth $250,000, but at a later date the contracts were changed to add an additional $25,000 to each contract beginning November 1, 2011 through March 1, 2013.

What is even more intriguing is that the Oakland Tribune reported on this situation in a 4/27/2012 article about the Cytel Group, in which James Baker claimed that he is the president of the Cytel Group, and that his wife Anne Marie Baker is the chief operating officer. Additionally the article mentions that James Baker sent an email to the Tribune in which he claims that he retired after 22 years with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to found the Cytel Group as a way to promote the anti-terrorism Urban Shield program in the U.S. and abroad.

Oddly enough, during 2012 the Tribune also reported that the Cytel Group payed the full cost of $13,000 for air-fare for 11 members of the S.W.A.T. Team from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to make a trip to Amman, Jordan, to participate in a U.S. funded Warrior Competition that included elite counterterrorism and special operation units from other countries. It appears that there may have been a conflict of interest in this transaction between the Cytel Group and the Alameda County Sheriff's Office for this venture, when the Cytel Group paid the air-fare for the S.W.A.T. Team from the Sheriff's Office.

What gets even more interesting about the relationship between the Cytel Group and the Sheriff's Office is that despite the fact that James Baker claims that he founded the Cytel Group as a way to promote the anti-terrorism Urban Shield program in the U.S. and abroad, and claims to be the president of the corporation, in the Tribune article they report that the Sheriff's Office stated in a report to county supervisors that the Cytel Group (a consultant group) is owned by a woman, namely Anne Marie Baker, the wife of James Baker. A woman owned business with two $275,000 contracts with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office to provide anti-terrorism tactical training and expertise.

Regardless that James Baker claims to be the founder and the president of the Cytel Group, in a February 28, 2012 contract document from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office regarding contracts #7095 and #7096, in the very first paragraph on page one of the document it clearly mentions that Anne Marie Baker is the president of the Cytel Group, not her husband James Baker. In part it appears that the contract may have been awarded because it was a woman owned company, despite the fact that James Baker claims that he founded the Cytel Group in the Tribune article of 4/27/2012.

Its nothing new for people to make a bundle of money from getting involved in the so-called war on terror, and in addition to Urban Shield there are more than 1,200 government organizations and more than 1,900 private companies working on counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence, with around 854,000 people that have top-secret security clearance in America, according to The Washington Post.

Additionally, according to whistle-blower Edward Snowden, he leaked the information revealing that the federal government spent as much as $52.6 billion in it's "black budget" during fiscal year 2013.

In response to the latest venture of Urban Shield in Oakland during the past week, hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets and blocked the streets in recent days to show their opposition to the military demonstration exposition, police training exercises and the militarization of our nation's police forces that have been taking place. California Partnership which is a statewide coalition of groups advocating for policies and programs to bring an end to poverty, organized the protests against Urban Shield.

In the wake of the nation being horrified by rampant police shootings/killings and the militarization of the police, including the recent militarized police actions in Ferguson, and the notorious police actions that have been taking place in New Mexico, Oakland, and cities all across the nation, on Friday, September 5, 2014, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan announced that Urban Shield will not be back in Oakland next year.

In an announcement, Urban Shield is no longer welcome in Oakland, according to Mayor Jean Quan. According to Mayor Quan, the City Administrator's Office will be asking their agent not to pursue another contract with Urban Shield to have their conference in Oakland.

Click on the link below for the Cytel Group contracts with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department

http://tinyurl.com/mwu2sow


Click on the link below for Anne Marie Baker from Linked In

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/anne-baker/69/737/48a


Click on link below for James Lester Baker

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jameslesterbaker‎


Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com