POTENTIAL ABT ASSOCIATES SENIOR ASSOCIATE NUMBER FOUND IN PALFREY PHONE RECORDS

Cambridge, Massachusetts--This could be something. J-7 may have located the phone number of an Abt Associates Senior Associate. Who? They're a think tank, and they're even known for doing research alongside the RAND corporation (created by the CIA). They do an awful lot of research on all of us, and from the look of it, it's pretty intrusive. Just take this example from May of 2003:

Cambridge-based Abt Associates Inc. has landed a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense to monitor members of the military who receive the smallpox vaccine. Abt, along with the Arlington, Va.-based think tank RAND Corp. and Washington, D.C.-based Voxiva Inc., will use their technologies to alert the DOD to adverse reactions that vaccine recipients may have. (Boston Business Journal, 05.20.2003)

That's just one situation they can cover, gathering information, then issuing reports to their clients (frequently, the government, but also the corporate sector). Their "scope" is pretty stunning.

The Company applies its expertise in research, consulting, technical assistance, data collection and medical and life sciences to a wide variety of problems in the public and private sectors. In the United States, Abt Associates has helped shape many important and complex public programs, including Medicaid, welfare reform, Head Start, crime reporting, and housing experiments. The Company is also a recognized leader in providing technical assistance to facilitate policy reforms in countries moving to market oriented economies. It has extensive experience in advising countries on economic growth and health systems strengthening. Working with the U.S. Agency for International Development, our experts in health, economic growth, the environment, and trade have helped governments improve service delivery and implement sustainable market-based reforms.

Examples of Abt Associates' work include research, evaluation and technical assistance related to improving the effectiveness of government programs, the efficacy of new pharmaceuticals, the cost-effectiveness of environmental regulations, the usefulness of new education strategies, the efficiency of healthcare systems, the incidence and prevalence of diseases, and the effectiveness of customer satisfaction and market positioning strategies. (Abtassociates.com, 2007?)

Right. Most of their studies are very fundamental in their approach. They just tell institutions--generally government and business, but also other NGOs--what the reality on the ground is, be it in the economic realm, health care, workforce dynamics, addictions treatment--even reports on terrorist threats. They also do studies for the World Bank. Their reports are solid, and extremely valued and credible. Abt Associates are often the last-word on an area of study.

Of course, some studies can be used to prove almost anything, especially in the Capitol. In April of 2003, at the height of post-9/11 hysteria, Abt Associates issued their report commissioned by the Department of Transportation entitled "The Economic Impact of Nuclear Terrorist Attacks on Freight Transport Systems in an Age of Seaport Vulnerability." Their solution? Not an illogical one, but not exactly one that attacks the origins of terrorism (American economic & foreign policy): tighten port security and "transportation efficiency" In short, start counting the boxes for once, monitoring them. This isn't the area of study of the individual in the Pamela Martin & Associates phone records, however. This could be a dead-end, but there could also be something here.

Boston Business Journal on Abt's smallpox-tracking program (05.20.2003): http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2003/05/19/daily16.html

Abt Associates site: http://www.abtassociates.com/

At the World Bank (OECD): http://www1.worldbank.org/sp/safetynets/Wkshop_OECD_Thinktanks_4-05.asp

Abt's April 2003 report on port vulnerability: http://www.abtassociates.com/reports/es-economic_impact_of_nuclear_terrorist_attacks.pdf