A Book

Google has added a new feature, book search. A search shows there is a short reference to Kirk von Ackermann in a book published by Seven Stories Press, which is excerpted below. Book search showed no references to Ryan Manelick at this time.

Iraq, Inc.: A Profitable Occupation
by Pratap Chatterjee, Seven Stories Press, November 2004

Excerpt from page 144:

Certainly there are many intelligence contractors whose names have only become public once they were killed or disappeared. Kirk von Ackermann of Moss Beach, California was one such contractor; he disappeared on October 9, 2003. His car was found abandoned between the cities of Tikrit and Kirkuk. Found inside the vehicle were his satellite phone, a laptop computer, and a briefcase containing around forty thousand dollars, suggesting that he had not been the victim of a robbery.

His immediate employer was Ultra Services, a company based in Istanbul that furnishes supplies and logistics help for U.S. Army bases in Iraq. A former U.S. Air Force captain who worked for Impact Intelligence, he had been a member of a Pentagon group that provided intelligence on terrorism, espionage, information warfare, and other threats. Previously he had served as deputy director of intelligence for NATO operations in Bosnia.