Several shareholders have contacted Shee Atiká, Incorporated (SAI) about a web posting by Frank Hopper entitled “Court records show Shee Atika and TigerSwan both aided interrogations during Iraq war.” This web posting contained several inaccuracies, which we correct and clarify below.
Shee Atiká, Incorporated did have a subsidiary Shee Atiká Languages, LLC (SAL), which operated from 2005 through 2012. SAL provided interpretation and translation services to the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan under the 8(a) Small Business Program both as a prime contractor and as a subcontractor. Over the years, SAL employed several thousand interpreters overseas, most of whom were U.S. citizens who spoke various Middle Eastern languages.
One of SAL’s interpretation and translation contracts was as a subcontractor to Global Linguist Solutions, LLC (GLS) from late 2007 to 2012. GLS had a prime contract to provide various services to the U.S. military, primarily in Iraq, and SAL was a subcontractor to GLS. During this same period GLS also had a subcontract with a company known as “TigerSwan” for similar interpretation and translation services in Iraq. TigerSwan had its own subcontract with GLS, just as SAL did. SAL has never had any contractual relation of any kind with TigerSwan and the only connection between SAL and TigerSwan is that both happened to be subcontractors to GLS at the same time.
As sometimes happens, litigation has arisen out of the GLS contract with the U.S. military, and this litigation now involves many plaintiffs and defendants, including SAL and TigerSwan. Various claims have been made in the litigation, including that the defendants, including SAL, engaged in “human trafficking” in their employment of adult interpreters. However, the human trafficking claims against SAL under the law known as Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (or TVPRA) were thrown out by the court last year.
The web posting by Frank Hopper claims that TigerSwan has somehow been involved with the Standing Rock situation, and further claims that SAL may have also been involved at Standing Rock along with TigerSwan. Neither Shee Atiká, Inc. nor Shee Atiká Languages has had any involvement against Standing Rock at any time, whether with TigerSwan or anyone else.
The web posting by Frank Hopper then shifts to a discussion about the recently-completed Cube Cove transaction, in which approximately 23,000 acres of remote surface estate land on Admiralty Island were sold by SAI to the Forest Service. This transaction took a decade (from 2010 to 2020) to negotiate between SAI and the Forest Service. The decision to sell the Cube Cove lands was made based on the fact that Cube Cove became a non-income producing property once it was logged. Any future logging for second growth timber or future development in that area would be fought by environmental groups again because the Cube Cove property is surrounded by the Admiralty Island National Monument/Kootznoowoo Wilderness.
SAI’s Board conducted shareholder surveys concerning Cube Cove in 2003 and 2010 with over 60% of shareholders responding. Of those who responded in 2003, over 60% (a clear majority) felt that the Cube Cove land should generate income for Shee Atiká. Of those who responded in 2010, over 60% felt that Shee Atiká should transfer ownership of Cube Cove lands to the federal government if full and fair value is received.
Contrary to what is suggested in the web posting by Frank Hopper, the sale of the Cube Cove lands had nothing to do with SAL. The Cube Cove sale was a multi-year process that began in 2010 and was completed in January 2020. The proceeds from the Cube Cove sale are being used to grow our operating companies to help achieve the Shee Atiká mission, which is to “preserve and enhance our culture for all generations of shareholders, and to provide benefits to shareholders consistently and on an equitable basis.”
If you would like to read more about the real history of Shee Atiká, please read our history book, “Earning a Place in History.” Shareholders were sent their own copies of this book several years ago, and you can still download this book at our website at the following web address: http://www.sheeatika.com/earning-a-place-in-history-second-edition.html.