As Edward Snowden showed us, government surveillance is largely—and powerfully—conducted by private contractors such as his former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton. (According to one reckoning, seventy percent of the US intelligence budget is spent on private contractors.)

Now the Department of Homeland Security is on the cusp of awarding billions of dollars to contractors to help with the "continuous monitoring" of federal cyber systems the Obama administration has been pushing for. (That link is a .pdf of a White House report, by the way.)

And who's on the list of doing such a great job with "continuous monitoring" for internal security purposes? Snowden's bosses at Booz Allen Hamilton:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has made awards to 17 vendors in what could turn out to be one of the largest cybersecurity contracts in history. The contract aims to leverage technology to continuously monitor federal systems and networks for cyber risks. Booz Allen Hamilton was one of the contractors chosen in this round despite recent leaks from now infamous, former Booz Allen employee Edward Snowden.

Other winners include IBM, General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. The contract is the next phase in a federal effort directed by Executive Order to maintain continuous monitoring of federal computer systems for threats. However, according to a recent Inspector General report, approximately one-third of federal agencies went without monitoring last year. Monitoring at the state government level is equally as inconsistent.

DHS has been tasked with oversight of systems monitoring and will use this contracting vehicle to build out those systems. The General Services Administration also has a new website up for agencies to reserve monitoring solutions according to their needs.

It's strangely comforting, in a liberal-artsy way, to be reminded that even the most mammoth, complex, and expensive security systems are at the mercy of the vagaries of human behavior.