Austin PD put on pyrotechnic show for private intelligence firm Stratfor

The Austin Chronicle has a brief story based on emails leaked in 2011 about links between the self-described private intelligence firm Stratfor and the Austin PD, whose bomb squad apparently put on demonstrations for the company and accidentally started a pair of brush fires in the process during one of Austin's "burn bans" three ago. See also the Chronicle's earlier coverage and a Grits post detailing the company's close ties to Texas Department of Public Safety muckety mucks. An Aug. 2012 Wired magazine article ("Trapwire: It's not the surveillance, it's the sleaze") revealed that the company used its high-level Texas DPS connections to convince the agency to install an expensive surveillance tool called "Trapwire" along the Texas border for which Stratfor got a cut for referrals.