Making a Business Out of Tracking Terrorists

When trading ended Tuesday night at the New York Stock Exchange, the closing bell wasn't rung by a titan of finance or an imported celebrity. It was sounded by the CEO of an obscure defense firm with deep ties to the U.S. intelligence and special operations communities. The traders on the floor may not have recognized Mary Margaret "Peggy" Styer. But her company's products are well known by the small group of commandos and spies who hunt down top terrorists.

Over the last decade Styer's company, the Virginia-based Blackbird Technologies, has become a leading supplier of equipment for the covert "tagging, tracking and locating" of suspected enemies. Every month, U.S. Special Operations Command spends millions of dollars on Blackbird gear. The U.S. Navy has a contract with Blackbird for $450 million worth of these so-called "TTL" devices. "Tens of thousands" of Blackbird's devices have been sent to the field, according to a former employee. And TTL is just one part of the Herndon, Virginia firm's multifaceted relationship with the special operations, intelligence and traditional military services.

"Blackbird has hit the trifecta: They've got people to sell, people to perform the job, and people to keep it all secret," says one well-placed Defense Department contractor. "Everybody keeps their distance."

Blackbird helps hunt for missing troops, and pries information off the hard drives captured in military raids. The firm counts one of the CIA's most famous former operatives among its 250 or so employees. Its staff hackers specialize in infiltrating hostile networks without leaving a trace. Interest in the methods commandos and intelligence operatives use to track down leading targets may have spiked since the killing of Osama bin Laden; for Blackbird, it's old news. The company has spent years at the center of this secretive field.…