Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

If you are concerned about covert eavesdropping or wiretapping then it would be wise to contact Granite Island Group, or another TSCM firm and schedule a "Bug Sweep" or TSCM Inspection. However, do not call from a suspect telephone, cellular telephone, or cordless phone and understand that it is critical that you should get someone out to your location as quietly, and as quickly as possible.

Click Here to Order a Segway Scooter
(AKA: Ginger or ACROS Stirling Scooter)

Purpose of the Analysis

In January of 2001, Granite Island Group prepared an extensive and independent counter intelligence analysis on the "Ginger" or "IT" leak and pinpointed the exact person, and agency responsible for the unauthorized leak. In a nutshell the leak was caused by a public relations stunt that went bad, and as a result the company tipped their hand a year before they should have.

As the analysis of the leak progressed we were easily able to determine what Segway/Ginger/IT was, how it will be produced, the technology it uses, and the hurdles it faces. We were further able to develop the developmental timetable, production capabilities, detailed market data, man power requirements, materials lists, and obtain detailed blueprints of the factory site.

The Segway/Ginger/IT leak represents a textbook example of a typical weak corporate counter intelligence program that was responsible for the disclosure of highly sensitive and proprietary information. Poor management of confidential information such as this causes billions of dollars in losses per year to US corporations.

On the one hand those trying to keep the secret got people to sign restrictive (and silly) non-disclosure agreements, and yet on the other hand they were dropping detailed hints every time they turned around. Long confidentiality documents provide nothing more then an illusion of secrecy, and they actually do virtually nothing to actually keep the secret.

Summary of the Analysis

In brief, Segway or Ginger is actually a small personal scooter for consumers and is loosely based on the iBot transporter (basically a baby version of it). Ginger also includes a computer controlled stabilization system called "Dynamic Stabilization" which helps to keep the user in an upright position (which is interesting, but by no means revolutionary). The story really isn't so much the scooter, but the power source and the emerging hydrogen economy that it may try to leverage. It is likely that Ginger may use a Stirling engine with potential for a hydrogen based fuel cell as the power source. The initial consumer version may not include the Stirling engine or fuel cell, but may instead use simple batteries.

The proper name of Ginger (as of Jan 2001) appears to be "ACROS Stirling Scooter" or the "ACROS Flywheel" with ACROS being the name of the top secret company created to conceal the project. The final consumer product is supposed to be called "Segway" [Once the formal rollout has passed further details of how the Ginger analysis was performed will be shared. ]

About an Intelligence or Counter Intelligence Analysis

1. An intelligence (or counter-intelligence) analysis consists of several cycles where small pieces of information are collected or "gathered" and evaluated for fragments that make up a part of the puzzle (this is called "Collecting or Extracting Raw Information"). This stage involves obtaining some kind of a seed, or an initial lead which is broken down into smaller essential elements.

2. The "raw information" is then evaluated, graded or ranked to indicate it's value, relevance, source, and accuracy. In most cases this will involve extracting essential elements from a "seed".

3. These essential elements are then placed into a series of tables and/or matrices and examined for any kind pattern, linkage, or relationship between the various "small pieces of information".

4. The above "gathering" cycle is repeated until some kind of pattern starts to form, or the analysis is deemed to be inconclusive (resulting in the analysis project being terminated).

5. Once the patterns begin to form or relationships are found between specific fragments of information the next step is to index and explore everything the pattern points towards and to find related information which may provide further details for the analysis.

6. At this point the analyst will draw their "Initial Inferences" and will develop their hypothesis about the bigger picture.

7. This then leads to hunting down information that could prove or disprove the inference and hypothesis in the form of "Confirming Intelligence".

8. This cycle is then repeated a number of times until the analyst is confident that all of the inferences are mostly correct, and that the larger puzzle has been at least successfully solved.

9. To maintain objectivity the analyst then takes his work to a disinterested third party who plays the devil advocate and forces the analyst to prove each of his hypothesis and inferences (usually with hard documentation).

10. It's important to remember is that any intelligence analysis is a constant loop that feeds back onto itself until patterns being to form.

11. Additional materials are collected based on the pattern formation until an inference can be made. Once the inferences start to form a hypothesis can be built which must be proven or disproven.

12. The entire cycle is then repeated any number of times until the entire puzzle has been solved and a final presentation is made in the form of a product called an "Intelligence Analysis".

Back in December 2000 and January 2001 (when the "Ginger" hysteria started) most journalists were just reporting on the reports of other journalists. Due to this, a huge amount of media hype got churned up, with the mystery and illusion of secrecy just creating a feeding frenzy that created even more hype. Outside of the leaked book proposal the reporters (except one) simply were not turning up any new information, and the people at DEKA refused to talk to anybody about anything. Had these journalists taken even a few minutes to chart out an analysis, or even pick up the phone and make a few phone calls (instead of trying to find a "deep throat" at DEKA and bombarding Dean Kamen with interview requests) they would have quickly found out that Ginger was little more then a scooter that does a cute balancing act.

Note: All of the materials and information analysed was collected from completely public sources, and nobody at DEKA or any of their related companies were contacted in anyway, nor was any kind of insider information obtained, or any kind of proprietary databases accessed. Neither James M. Atkinson, nor Granite Island Group has had any previous contact with DEKA or any of their related companies, and has not provided them with any kind of service, bug sweeps, consulting, or advice.

About the Spy Hunter Who Wrote the Analysis of Ginger

Founded in 1987 and located near Boston Massachusetts, Granite Island Group, is an internationally recognized leader in the field of Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (also known as "Bug Sweeps"), Electronic Surveillance Technology, Telecommunications, Communications Security (COMSEC), Counter-Intelligence, and Technical Security Consulting... Simply put, we hunt spies, and help clients plug leaks.

James M. Atkinson (the President, and Senior Engineer of Granite Island Group) is a government trained spy hunter, engineer, and intelligence analyst. Mr. Atkinson ferrets out bugs, wiretaps, and other technical mischief for clients, and helps prevent the leakage, disclosure, or theft of classified, confidential, or sensitive information.

About the Journalist Who Broke the Story on 03/06/01

A copy of the detailed analysis was shared with Adam Penenberg (a well-known and respected investigative journalist) and contributor at Inside Magazine.

Spooked: Espionage in Corporate America

The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA

Physical Location of the ACROS Factory Site

The above map shows the immediate area around the ACROS factory site, with the Merrimack River on the right side of the page. The actual factory location is at the very top of the image at almost the exact center (up where is says wildlife sanctuary), and is oriented to the North.

The location is formally know as Lot Number 35, Plot number 1-2, with a street address of "Technology Drive" (the actual number of the address has not yet been assigned).

Just to the south of the factory location is a town house development, which you can see in the center of the page along the river before the road curves to the left on the map.

If you look very closely at the map you can see a utilities easement along the east side of the property, as well as a path for "heritage trail" along the river.

On the very north segment of the parcel there is a state mandated 5.78 acre wildlife sanctuary easement against the property.

The above images have actually been reduced by 400% for display but it can be viewed full size by simply clicking on it.

Photographs of the Factory Site

The following are a few photographs of the "Top Secret Ginger/IT Factory" construction site in the hills of New Hampshire including photographs of the construction equipment as it is just beginning to sculpt the raw land, clear away the trees, and prepare the site for construction of the factory.

To be contacted for a confidential consultation please E-mail: jmatk@tscm.com or call: (978) 381-9111 Granite Island Group 127 Eastern Avenue #291 Gloucester, MA 01930 URL: http://www.tscm.com/