STOP THE PRESSES

Hokay I figured a cool way to check the history ( Ctrl+H ) found the link to the New York Times article referenced in yesterday's post A MODERN MERCENARY ARMY.


Anyway if you'd clicked on the bold sub-headline it takes you right to the NYT article - D'oH!


If I had time right now I'd go on about the challenges Erik Prince faces in standing up indiginous armies, based on my twenty+ years of experience in this field - subject matter for a future post - all I'll say right now is the hardest thing I know how to do is to manage human beings; everything and anything under the sun will happen right before your eyes and you can take nothing for granted. Erik Prince wants to turn eight hundred Third Worlders into a sort of CAG-for-hire? To that I say good luck in finding eight hundred even if you recruited solely from the modern, industrialized FIRST World - it ain't the same as fielding a security force full of ex-Marine Corps Lance Corporals who actually know the basics of soldiering.

Having said all that, STORMBRINGER wishes the best to Erik Prince and his team in this endeavor.

SEAN LINNANE SENDS


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A MODERN MERCENARY ARMY

Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder


This story is amazing . . . S.L.

Erik Prince has a new project.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — A plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touches down in this glittering seaside capital; whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boards an unmarked bus and drives roughly 20 miles to a windswept military complex in the desert sand.

Entering the United Arab Emirates posing as construction workers, the Colombians are in fact soldiers for a secret American-led mercenary army assembled by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom.

According to former employees on the project, American officials and corporate documents obtained by The New York Times, Prince resettled here last year after facing mounting legal problems in the United States. He's been hired by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the U.A.E.

“The gulf countries, and the U.A.E. in particular, don’t have a lot of military experience. It would make sense if they looked outside their borders for help,” said one Obama administration official who knew of the operation. “They might want to show that they are not to be messed with.”

A satellite image of the camp in the United Arab Emirates built to train an 800-member military unit.


Still, it is not clear whether the project has the United States’ official blessing. Legal experts and government officials said some of those involved with the battalion might be breaking federal laws that prohibit American citizens from training foreign troops if they did not secure a license from the State Department.

Mark C. Toner, a spokesman for the department, would not confirm whether Mr. Prince’s company had obtained such a license, but he said the department was investigating to see if the training effort was in violation of American laws. Mr. Toner pointed out that Blackwater (which renamed itself Xe Services ) paid $42 million in fines last year for training foreign troops in Jordan and other countries over the years.

To help fulfill his ambitions, Mr. Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, obtained another multimillion-dollar contract to protect a string of planned nuclear power plants and to provide cybersecurity. He hopes to earn billions more, the former employees said, by assembling additional battalions of Latin American troops for the Emiratis and opening a giant complex where his company can train troops for other governments.

Prince has masked his involvement with the mercenary battalion. His name is not included on contracts and most other corporate documents; company insiders refer to him by the code name “Kingfish.” Three former employees, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements, and two people involved in security contracting said that in recruiting the Colombians and others from halfway around the world, Mr. Prince’s subordinates follow his strict rule: hire no Muslims.

Muslim soldiers, Mr. Prince warned, could not be counted on to kill fellow Muslims . . .


Read the rest of it HERE




Today's Bird HERE




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THE SAGA OF THE MERCENARY SOLDIER PART II

Mercenaries are in the headlines again, this week in the madness and insanity that is Qaddafi's Libya. My initial thoughts when I first saw this was that the North African Nutjob had a cadre of Eastern European professional soldiers as a sort of Varangian Guard, but as it turns out Qaddafi's personal foreign legion are basically a pack of thugs from Zimbabwe:

Tooling around in Tobruk, looking for some ass to kick.

Suspected African mercenaries stand in a room in a court in Benghazi as they are held by anti-Qaddafi protesters, February 24, 2011


If these guys are anything like any and every African soldier I ever trained, worked with or encountered on the battlefield; they've all got malaria, half of them can't read or write, and their only understanding of the Law of Land Warfare is that they're breaking every law in the book. No matter how hard you train them, in contact they revert to the "spray-and-pray" school of gunfighting and the safest place to be when they're shooting at you is right out in the middle of the street because they can't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside.

A dead Zimbabwean, formerly in the hire of Muammar Qaddafi


These are heathen savages, capable of the most horrific atrocities. To call them barbarians is an insult to all barbarians everywhere and the only thing professional about Qaddafi's mercenaries is the fact that they've been doing what they're doing for a prerequisite period of time. Their knowledge of tactics or gunnery starts at the buttstock of their Kalishnikov and ends at the business end.

Amongst Africans, the term "mercenaries" has mystic, almost supernatural connotations.


Despite the public's fascination with the subject, there's a lot of misunderstanding about the term "mercenary". Most people consider a mercenary to be a soldier that serves merely for wages. According to this broad definition, practically every member of every standing, professional army in the world is a mercenary - and I've actually heard American soldiers referred to in this vein.

A more selective definition is found in Webster’s Dictionary: "a mercenary is a soldier hired into foreign service serving merely for pay or sordid advantage." According to this criteria, every foreign national serving in the U.S. military - including yours truly - is a mercenary.

According to the definitions found within the Hague and Geneva Conventions; a mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of the sovereign state of which he is a citizen, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the Armed Forces of that Party" (Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention of August 1949).

Non-conscript professional members of a regular army are not considered mercenaries even though they get remuneration for their service. Under this definition, even members of the French Foreign Legion and the Gurkha Regiment are technically not mercenaries under the Laws of Land Warfare, even though they meet many of the requirements of Article 47 of the 1949 Additional Protocol I; they are exempt under clauses 47(a)(c)(d)(e)&(f). Journalists tend to describe these soldiers as mercenaries regardless.

There ARE mercenaries out there; I have known a few. Adventurers, guns-for-hire, some of them I even consider professional counterparts, but more often than not their activities are of questionable legal or ethical nature. I myself have been called a mercenary but this is a stretch; I retired honorably from the military, and I work in the security profession. I am certainly not a criminal, and there are some things that I simply will not do for pay.

The notorious Thahan Phran (ทหารพราน; literally "Hunter Soldiers") - an irregular light infantry force which patrols the borders of Thailand - are considered mercenaries, although they are technically part of the Royal Thai Army, and they certainly are not foreigners.

Thai Tahan Prahn soldier on security perimeter.


The private security contractors in the hire of the U.S. Department of Defense or State Department are not mercenaries; they are technically no different than the private security manning the gates at U.S. government facilities throughout the United States - they not mercenaries anymore so than postal inspectors are Federal Law Enforcement.


On the other hand, Qaddafi's goons ARE mercenaries, although I consider them professionals only in that they serve for pay. And in light of the way these brigands are conducting themselves, they are not soldiers any more than the Khmer Rouge or Hitler's SS were; "uniformed organized crime" is how I refer to this kind of scum.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . SEAN LINNANE SENDS


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MERCENARIES . . .

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC ARRESTS SLOVAKS ON COUP PLOT

BANGUI - Agence France - Security forces in the Central African Republic arrested a group of Slovakian nationals last week for involvement in an alleged coup plot, a government spokesman told AFP Monday.


or . . . ? ? ?


SLOVAK TOURISTS MISTAKEN FOR COUP PLOTTERS

A group of Slovak citizens who were seized by the army in the Central African Republic (CAR) last week have been released, the authorities in Bratislava said Monday. The armed safari hunters had apparently been mistaken for coup plotters.


Read more HERE

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TALIBAN USING MERCENARY SNIPERS?

This is from the worthy site WEASEL ZIPPERS









(Telegraph)- A British soldier killed while manning a watchtower in Afghanistan may have been the latest victim of a hired Taliban sniper stalking the town of Sangin, it has been claimed.

Sapper Darren Foster of the Royal Engineers was shot as he passed a narrow slit in a bulletproof glass screen around a lookout post in the northern Helmand town.

US forces have disclosed that he is thought to have been one of three victims of a sniper at work in the area in just a week. One US marine was killed as he momentarily stepped out of an armoured vehicle to drop off a rubbish bag and another was injured on a bridge nearby.

The shootings raised fears that the Taliban may have hired a mercenary sniper to target Nato forces in the town which is now considered the most dangerous in Afghanistan.

There have been claims that at least three snipers trained in Iran or Pakistan are thought to be at work across Afghanistan.

Earlier this year it emerged that the SAS had been sent out to track a Taliban sniper operating around Sangin.

A senior officer disclosed that a single gunman was thought to be responsible for the deaths of up to seven soldiers from 3rd Battalion, the Rifles, stationed in Sangin.

Sapper Foster, 20, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, was on duty in a lookout post at Patrol Base Sangin Fulod on August 13.

The post is protected by thickened glass with only small gaps through which those on guard can point their weapons.

US forces, working alongside British troops at the base, disclosed that it is thought the gunman timed a single shot for the moment he walked past the opening.

“He hit a moving target in a space this big,” Captain Jim Nolan, a company commander serving with the US Seventh Marine Regiment told the Wall Street Journal, holding his hands about nine inches apart.


more . . .


(Daily Mail)- Four foreign snipers hired by the Taliban, thought to be responsible for the deaths of ten British soldiers, have been hunted down and killed.

The mercenaries were found by British special forces in Helmand province in Afghanistan after a tip-off from locals. They were put under close surveillance until their identities were confirmed, then air strikes were called in.

The operation ended a killing spree that lasted weeks and could have led to the deaths of up to ten British soldiers.

Recruited from Pakistan, Egypt and Chechnya, the snipers could kill from up to 650 yards away and were considered a serious threat by British commanders.

Their victims included Sapper Darren Foster, 20, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, who was killed by a single shot from 600 yards, which went through a 9in gap in a look-out post near Sangin.

When their identities were confirmed and their exact locations ascertained, pilots of U.S. F-16 jets were sent precise coordinates to ensure their high-explosive bombs killed the enemy without hurting innocent civilians.

In both cases, elite SAS and SBS troops, working with crack US and Afghan Special Forces, were involved.


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SAGA OF AN AMERICAN WARLORD

In keeping with a military tradition that dates back to at least the Roman Empire, a grateful nation rewards a competent warrior with punishment and exile.

Consider the case of Erik Prince, founder of the world’s largest private army - now known as “Xe” but still commonly referred to as Blackwater. It is reported that Prince is considering a permanent move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).






Recent developments that suggest Prince’s motivation involve the 15-count indictment served to five top Blackwater executives by a federal Grand Jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince's longtime number two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy, and Prince's former legal counsel Andrew Howell.

Prince’s plan to move to the UAE might be motivated to the lack of an extradition treaty between the UAE and the United States. Furthermore, last week Prince abruptly announced that Xe (Blackwater) is up for sale.

Prince’s alleged crime? His country called, and he was too successful at providing the services he was contracted to perform.

Struggling to deal with a two front war in the wake of the 9-11 terror attacks, the United States military exponentially increased the use of private contractors – a feature of US military operations in war and peace since the Revolution. While the majority of contractors deliver construction, logistics, telecommunication, transportation, and medical services, it is security contractors that have drawn close scrutiny.





Of the many security / paramilitary firms that filled this requirement, Prince skillfully steered Blackwater to the forefront. Recruited from the ranks of Special Operations and elsewhere, and trained at their facility in Moyock, North Carolina (within AO STORMBRINGER) the most visible Blackwater role was PSD – Personal Security Detail. Prince himself has claimed a more extensive role, however, stating that Blackwater operators have called in NATO air strikes and performed operational functions for the CIA in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

If this is the case, then this is nothing new; the CIA’s paramilitary wing has made use of contract personnel since its inception. While Blackwater’s presence on the battlefield may or may not be in violation of the Law of Land Warfare (Hague & Geneva Conventions), this is also besides the point; the CIA itself does not enjoy the protection of these legal definitions. Besides, when you’re dealing with an enemy that has no national identity, wears no uniforms or distinctive insignia, routinely commits war crimes as a major tactic and beheads prisoners, the Geneva Convention becomes an increasingly archaic piece of legislature.

Despite the fact that I have worked as a security contractor for two firms – one a well-known competitor of Blackwater, the other providing services within a narrower market niche - and have founded my own defense contracting company, I am not a personal fan of Blackwater.

We are often called mercenaries, although I believe ‘professional soldier’ or ‘security professional’ more correctly describes our role. Examply: the client I am currently working for requires prior service on a Special Forces Operational Detachment 'Alpha', and a working knowledge of the principles of Sun Tzu as prerequisites. This hardly fits the commonly held concepts of a ‘gun for hire’; there are certain parties I outright refuse to work for, and some things I will not do for any money.

Despite my feelings regarding the Blackwater phenomenon, I feel the legal actions of the Holder Justice Department represent nothing less than the Obama Administration’s personal war on its own irregular assets. This is tantamount to a commander directly ordering his own men to shoot themselves in the foot – self-inflicted wounds – as a furtive means to resolve a difficult and challenging military campaign.

A CASE FOR MERCENARY ARMIES

Secret Blackwater Tape Exposed
Jeremy Scahill - The Nation - May 3, 2010



Erik Prince, the reclusive owner of the Blackwater empire, rarely gives public speeches and when he does journalists are banned from attending; recording or videotaping of his remarks is verboten.

Despite these attempts to shield himself from public scrutiny, The Nation magazine obtained an audio recording of one of Prince's recent speech delivered in a private venue to a friendly audience. The speech provides a stunning glimpse into his views and future plans and reveals details of previously undisclosed activities of Blackwater.






In earlier posts, I have insisted that private contractors operating within narrow constraints as security personnel are NOT mercenaries per se. In this post there is no fig leaf - we're talking private contractors deployed in full-mission profile; defensive AND offensive operations; employed as snipers, conducting raids and ambushes, the whole enchilada.

Prince proposes armed private soldiers (like Blackwater contractors) be deployed throughout the sand countries to counter Iranian influence and Iranian-supported insurgents, specifically in Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia and Saudi Arabia. There's a lot to be said for this approach.

He expresses disdain for the Geneva Convention and describes Blackwater's secretive operations at four Forward Operating Bases (FOB's) he controls in Afghanistan. He called those fighting the US in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan "barbarians" who "crawled out of the sewer."







Despite the disparaging things I said about Blackwater in the past - and I meant every word I said - I find myself agreeing with Prince here. The United States has employed private armies in every war we've fought, dating right back to the Revolution; they have a role, albeit a specialized one.

As far as the Geneva Convention goes - has it ever occurred to anybody that we are the only ones who abide by this anachronism? And even we don't go by it all the time; if we had lost World War II, Winston Churchill and President Truman would have been sitting in the dock for all those cities we vaporized.

Wars are won by doing what needs being done. In the former Yugoslavia I observed (Allied) Special Forces soldiers operating in civilian clothes, passing themselves off as journalists. By the time I retired I'd been operating in and out of uniform for about half of my career, and I made it all the way to Belgrade.


"War is simple, direct and ruthless." - General Patton's Maxims.


I'm not suggesting we lower ourselves to the degree of savagery displayed by our enemies on a daily basis, but think about it for a minute - if the Post Office could accomplish it's mission, UPS and FedEx wouldn't be able to survive as commercial enterprises. Why should we constrain ourselves in warfighting?

Once we decide to win this Hundred Years War we are currently fighting, necessity will dictate our conduct. To prevail against irregular insurgents and terrorists, we need irregular, unconventional counter-insurgents and counter-terror soldiers, and we should be open-minded and imaginative when the rule book gets in the way.






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INTELL UPDATE

Bin Laden's last confirmed presence was at the siege of Tora Bora, in eastern Afghanistan, in December of 2001 when the al-Qaeda chief and dozens of his men bribed Afghan mercenaries hired by U.S. Special Forces to let them escape into the Pakistani mountains directly across the border. A Pakistani intelligence officer who was the main liaison with the Taliban before 9/11 claims that he informed then President Pervez Musharraf that most likely bin Laden, said to be gravely ill, died several weeks after Tora Bora and was buried in a hastily dug, unmarked grave in the Ghazni desert of eastern Afghanistan. "He was too sick to walk on his own two legs or even ride a horse. His men had to tie him to a donkey," says Brigadier Amir Sultan Tarar, better known to his Taliban confederates by his nom de guerre, "Col. Imam".


SKULLHEAD SENDS

THE SAGA OF THE MERCENARY SOLDIER, Part I

My intent was to write a brief history of mercenaries throughout the ages. The story of the World's Second Oldest Profession is anything BUT brief, however, and as I researched it the project grew; large and exhaustive. Despite my inside knowledge of the trade, I was still surprised by what I learned.

I tried to organize the information I gained in chronological order, but this is difficult. It seems the role of the private soldier has had far-reaching effects from the Dawn of History into our modern civilization. When you think about it, this only makes sense; War is the punctuation of History.

What follows is Part I; an overview of what a Mercenary is, as defined by the International Law of Land Warfare, and the United State Uniformed Code of Military Justice.

- Sean Linnane, January 2010



Modern mercenary sniper, Siege of Sarajevo, circa 1993

From Webster’s: mer•ce•nary, noun, plural mer•ce•nar•ies: one that serves merely for wages; especially : a soldier hired into foreign service adjective: Function: adjective 1 : serving merely for pay or sordid advantage : venal; also : greedy, 2 : : hired for service in the army of a foreign country, 3: having or marked by an eager and often selfish desire especially for material possessions "a mercenary urge to own the latest and most expensive item in home electronics" Etymology: Middle English, 14th century, from the Latin mercenarius, irregular from merced-, merces wages






A mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of the sovereign state of which he is a citizen. He takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the Armed Forces of that Party" (Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention of August 1949). A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he gets remuneration for his service.

As a result of the assumption that a mercenary is essentially motivated by money, the term "mercenary" usually carries negative connotations, though that can be a compliment in some contexts. There is a blur in the distinction between a "mercenary" and a "foreign volunteer", when the primary motive of a soldier in a foreign army is uncertain.




French Foreign Legionnaire, Bosnia circa 1995


For instance, the French Foreign Legion and the Gurkhas are not mercenaries under the laws of war, since although they may meet many of the requirements of Article 47 of the 1949 Additional Protocol I, they are exempt under clauses 47(a)(c)(d)(e)&(f); some journalists describe them as mercenaries regardless.



Nepali Gurkha soldiers in the service of the British Army


The Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 provides the most widely accepted international definition of a mercenary, though not endorsed by some countries - including the United States. The Protocol Additional to the Geneva Convention and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, (Protocol I), 8 June 1977 states:

Article 47. Mercenaries

1. A mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war.

2. A mercenary is any person who:

(a) is especially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;

(b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities;

(c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party;

(d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;

(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and

(f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.

According to the Geneva Convention, all of the above criteria (a - f) must be met for a combatant to be described as a mercenary.






According to Geneva, a captured soldier must be treated as a lawful combatant and, therefore, as a protected person with prisoner-of-war status until facing a competent tribunal (GC III Art 5). That tribunal, using criteria in APGC77 or some equivalent domestic law, may decide if that soldier is a mercenary. At that juncture, the mercenary soldier becomes an unlawful combatant but still must be "treated with humanity and, in case of trial, shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial", being still covered by GC IV Art 5. The only possible exception to GC IV Art 5 is when he is a national of the authority imprisoning him, in which case he would not be a mercenary soldier as defined in APGC77 Art 47.d.

If, after a regular trial, a captured soldier is found to be a mercenary, then he can expect treatment as a common criminal and may face execution. As mercenary soldiers may not qualify as PoWs, they cannot expect repatriation at war's end. The best known post-World-War-II example of this was June 1976 when an Angolan court sentenced three Britons and an American to death, and nine other mercenaries to prison terms ranging from 16 to 30 years. The four mercenaries sentenced to death were shot by a firing squad on July 10, 1976.



Costas Georgiou (Greek: Κώστας Γιώργιου, alias "Colonel Callan") was a Greek Cypriot mercenary executed following the Luanda Trial for activities during the civil war phase of the Angolan War of Independence.



On 4 December 1989 the United Nations passed resolution 44/34, the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. It entered into force on 20 October 2001 and is usually known as the UN Mercenary Convention. Article 1 contains the definition of a mercenary. Article 1.1 is similar to Article 47 of Protocol I, however Article 1.2 broadens the definition to include a non-national recruited to overthrow a "Government or otherwise undermining the constitutional order of a State; or Undermine the territorial integrity of a State;" and "Is motivated to take part therein essentially by the desire for significant private gain and is prompted by the promise or payment of material compensation..." — under Article 1.2 a person does not have to take a direct part in the hostilities in a planned coup d'état to be a mercenary.

Critics argue that the convention and APGC77 Art. 47 were directed to mercenary activities in post-colonial Africa and do not adequately address the use of private military companies (PMCs) by sovereign states.

The situation during the Iraq War and after the United Nations Security Council sanctioned hand-over of power to the Iraqi government shows the difficulty of defining a mercenary soldier. While the United States governed Iraq, no U.S. citizen working as an armed guard could be classified as a mercenary, because he was a national of a Party to the conflict (APGC77 Art 47.d).




The legal status of civilian contractors depends upon the nature of their work and their nationalities with respect to that of the combatants. If they have not "in fact, taken a direct part in the hostilities" (APGC77 Art 47.b), they are NOT mercenaries but civilians who have non-combat support roles and are entitled to protection under the Third Geneva Convention (GCIII 4.1.4). This includes armed civilians authorized to use deadly force in self-defense.


BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT DEPARTMENT:

Contrary to widespread popular misconception, Private Military Companies and private security contractors ARE subject to the legal constraints of the
Uniformed Code of Military Justice:


New U.S. law on Private Military Companies:

According to the FY2007 Defense Budget Appropriation Bill, the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) has been amended to allow for prosecution of military contractors who are deployed in a "declared war or a contingency operation."

"SEC. 552. CLARIFICATION OF APPLICATION OF UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE DURING A TIME OF WAR. Paragraph (10) of section 802(a) of title 10, United States Code (article 2(a) of the UCMJ), is amended by striking 'war' and inserting 'declared war or a contingency operation'."

Previously, the code applied to "persons serving with or accompanying an armed force in the field" only during a war, which US courts interpreted to mean a war declared by Congress. No such declaration was made in the Iraq conflict. In 2006 Congress amended the code to apply to persons accompanying an armed force during a "declared war or contingency operation."




General Data on the Number of Private Security Contractor Personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan

(Source: Operational Contract Support "State of the Union" May 2009; Office of the Deputy Under-Secretary of Defense, Logistics & Materiel Readiness)

o Private security contractors perform personal security, convoy security, and static security missions. Not all private security contractor personnel are armed.

o USCENTCOM reports, as of 10 May 2009 , the following distribution of private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan:

o There was a 23% increase (from 8,701 to 10,743) of armed DoD PSCs in Iraq compared to the 1st quarter FY 2009 census. This increase can be attributed to our improved ability to account for subcontractors who are providing security services.

o There was a 29% increase (from 3,184 to 4,111) of armed DoD PSCs in Afghanistan compared to the 1st quarter FY 2009 census. The increase correlates to the build up of forces in that AOR.

General Conditions Regarding Contracts and Contractor Personnel

The Combatant Commander has provided specific guidance on arming contractor personnel and private security contractors in the USCENTCOM AOR through a series of Fragmentary Orders (FRAGOs) and other authoritative guidance, including the following:

Private security contractor personnel are not authorized to participate in offensive operations and must comply with specific USCENTCOM Rules for the Use of Force (RUF). Under these RUF, private security contractor personnel are authorized to use deadly force only when necessary in: self-defense, defense of facilities / persons as specified in their contract; prevention of life-threatening acts directed against civilians; or defense of Coalition-approved property specified within their contract. The Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) issues to approved private security contractor personnel a weapons card authorizing them to carry a weapon. This weapons card also contains the guidance for the RUF and the contractor personnel’s signature acknowledging the difference between the RUF and the Rules of Engagement.




Private security contractor personnel in Iraq must be properly licensed to carry arms in accordance with host nation law and must receive USCENTCOM / Coalition Forces’ approval of their operations. Coalition Provisional Authority Order 17 (CPA 17), Status of the Coalition, Foreign Liaison Missions, Their Personnel and Contractors (June 23, 2003), is still in effect. It addresses Private Security Contractors operating in Iraq and requires the contractor’s understanding of and compliance with all applicable:

o U.S., host nation, and third country national laws;

o Treaties and international agreements;

o U.S. regulations, directives, instructions, policies; and

Orders, Standing Operating Procedures, and policies issued by the Combatant and / or Operational Commanders:

o MNF-I forces are authorized to stop, search, seize weapons, and detain civilians armed under MNF –I Fragmentary Order (FRAGO) 07-428 (Armed Contractors / DoD Civilians and PSCs), if MNF-I forces observe a RUF violation, exhibitions of criminal behavior, or conduct that threatens security.

o DoD contractor personnel armed by DoD authority must report any use of force, including the firing of a weapon. This requirement and the required information to be submitted are identified within the terms of the contract and MNF–I FRAGO, 07-428. MNF-I forces must report any use of force by a civilian armed under the requirements of this FRAGO to their chain of command.






To Be Continued . . . . . . S.L.


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THE PROFESSIONALS

In the extremely lethal overseas environment post 9/11, the role of private security contractors has expanded from guard forces to services outside the perimeter, such as Personal Security Details (PSDs) for diplomats, etc. It is this security function that has generated controversy.

Amongst the general public there is a great deal of confusion regarding the practice of the US Department of Defense (DoD) contracting out logistics and security services. Although largely viewed as a phenomena of the post-9/11 conflicts in the Middle East, the practice is not new.

Traditionally providing supplies and materiel, private contractors have been involved with the US military since the Revolution. Following the end of the first Gulf War, the DoD contracted Halliburton subsidiary Kellog, Brown & Root Services (KBR) to study the use of private military forces with American soldiers in combat zones. The rationale was to free up military personnel for the pure military mission by contracting out services such as running mess halls, service functions such as garbage collection, etc, and base security.





Modern security professionals have been referred to in the media as "mercenaries". This is a derogatory reference, and is innacurate; a mercenary sells his services to the highest bidder - a purely mercantile relationship - and their activities may cover the entire operational spectrum, outside of legal constraints. In serving the US DoD overseas, independent contractors are limited to a defensive role, and - contrary to commonly-held belief - are fully accountable under US and international law.

There is an unwritten code of ethics amongst security professionals; we are not criminals or "soldiers of fortune". Amongst my colleagues, an operator who conducts himself as some kind of flamboyant gunslinger is regarded as a potential loose cannon, to be avoided.

We possess a unique skill set and we perform a vital service. Like professional athletes, we are paid exactly what we are worth and it is never enough - for example: try to get a life insurance policy in this line of work.





Currently the largest of the US State Department's three private security contractors, Xe Services LLC is a privately owned security services firm founded as Blackwater USA in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark. Erik Prince previously served as a Navy SEAL officer on deployments to Haiti, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, including Bosnia.

In Iraq, Blackwater became poster boys for excess. A "photo cartoon" circulating in Baghdad among security contractors and some U.S. soldiers – and the laughter it generated – speaks for itself:




"Blackwater has become a symbol of testosterone-fueled excess," one security contractor stated, who like most remains unnamed because the industry is under such scrutiny.

In February 2009 Blackwater USA, was renamed "Xe", reflecting a change in company focus away from the business of providing private security. A company spokesman stated that it was felt the Blackwater name was too closely associated with the company's work in the occupation of Iraq.



Based in North Carolina, Xe operates a tactical training facility which the company claims is the world's largest, and at which it trains more than 40,000 people a year, mostly from US and other military and police services. The training consists of military offensive and defensive operations, as well as smaller scale personal security.

Of the 987 contractors Xe provides, 744 are US citizens. Xe has provided security services in Iraq to the United States federal government, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency on a contractual basis. They no longer have a license to operate in Iraq: the new Iraqi government made multiple attempts to expel them from their country, and denied their application for an operating license in January 2009.



Based in Alexandria, Virginia, MPRI is a private military contractor that provides a wide range of services to both public and private customers, most notably the US DoD. MPRI specializes in various professions such as law enforcement, security, military training, logistics, etc. By its own account MPRI operates in over 40 countries.

A member of International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), MPRI was founded in 1987 by eight retired officers of the US Army. In June of 2000 MPRI was acquired by L-3 Communications.


Triple Canopy is a private military contracting company headquartered in Herndon, Virginia that provides global security and risk management services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East. The company's website claims that it delivers "a broad range of security and risk management services including assessments, training, crisis management, protective, and support services."



Triple Canopy was founded in 2003, and it is best known for its work in the Iraq War. Since April of 2009 the Obama administration signed contracts for Triple Canopy to work in the Middle East.

The name Triple Canopy was initially chosen to refer to the layered canopy jungle of Southeast Asia and Central America, where some of the key founding members received their military training and operational experience; it also refers to the distinction among U.S. Army personnel of wearing the Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces tabs, if authorized, when assigned to Special Forces units.

Under the tab “Careers” the Triple Canopy website proclaims, “Quiet Professionals Wanted”. Quiet Professionals is a military buzzword that specifically implies US Army Special Forces soldiers (Green Berets). It is rumored that leadership at Triple Canopy has roots from the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta (commonly referred to as Delta Force).




CACI International Inc founded in 1962, is a professional services and information technology (IT) company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. A member of the Fortune 1000 Largest Companies, CACI has approximately 12,700 employees in over 120 offices in the U.S. and Europe.

Abu Ghraib Controversy

In 2004, CACI was linked to the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse along with another US Government contractor, Titan Corp (now owned by L-3 Communications). 2 CACI employees were investigated in the Taguba inquiry. The US Army found that "contractors were involved in 36 percent of the (Abu Ghraib) proven incidents" and identified 6 employees as "individually culpable", although none have faced prosecution.

CACI Response:

According to CACI’s website, "the company provided a range of Information Technology (IT) and intelligence services in Iraq. These services included intelligence analysis, background investigations, screenings, interrogation, property management and recordkeeping, and installation of computer systems, software and hardware. Only a small portion of these employees worked as interrogators. The company states that "no CACI employee or former employee has been indicted for any misconduct in connection with this work, and no CACI employee or former employee appears in any of the photos released from Abu Ghraib".

CACI interrogation services in Iraq concluded in the early fall of 2005 upon the conclusion of a contract with the Department of the Army.

In 2007 CACI acquired Wexford Group International:



Operating from offices in the southeastern and midwestern US, Wexford offers management consulting services to the federal government (including the US Department of Homeland Security, US Army, and various other US Department of Defense agencies), as well as clients in the private sector. Its services cover acquisition management, organizational and performance management, risk mitigation, strategic communications, and tactical training.

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