In the rugged high desert of northern New Mexico, members of Sikh Dharma founded Akal Security. At first, the company hired only Sikhs to guard shops and restaurants. Today, Akal is a $500 million-a-year company that protects federal courthouses across the country (and at least one U.S. embassy overseas), has more than 1,000 guards at government buildings in Washington, D.C., and, two months ago, expanded its transportation security business with a $150 million baggage-screening contract at the Kansas City airport. The founders donated the company to the church in 1980; it is now controlled by the defendants in the Portland lawsuit.