Private Military Contractors as Buzz Lightyear: To Afghanistan and Beyond

This is hardly surprising. The Obama Administration’s surge strategy inevitably means more US and NATO member troops, which, in turn, means more bases needing to be built, more facilities to be managed, and more people to guard them, as well as the convoys that bring in supplies by truck. Remember that the 30,000 extra US troops being deployed to Afghanistan could be accompanied by up to 56,000 additional contractor personnel.

These contractors are involved in Base Support, Construction, Translator/​Interpreter, Security, Transportation, and Communications Support functions.

A January 19 report by the Congressional Research Service states:

From the viewpoint of ensuring accountability over contractors this is obviously not the best of all possible worlds. But it may be of some small comfort, at least to Western firms, that local, Afghan owned and operated, private contractors may be the ones most likely to run afoul of the law.

Still, some U.S. firms have already created their own controversies. Just last week US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, said he will review allegations of misconduct in Afghanistan by the firm formerly known as Blackwater. The company is mired in allegations that it has previously misappropriated government weapons and hired people with violent backgrounds.

But in the meantime it is still getting contracts. Just yesterday the Pentagon announced that Xe subsidiary Presidential Airways, Inc. was awarded a $39,084,532 task order for rotary wing aircraft, to perform passenger and cargo air transportation services in Afghanistan, to be completed by Nov. 30, 2010.

And despite the recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing into various misdeeds committed by contractors working for Paravant, a Xe Service subsidiary or shell company, depending on how you look at it, that was working for Raytheon Technical Services, Xe may well win later this month a new Pentagon contract that could be worth as much as a billion dollars to train the Afghan police. Although how that could happen given Xe/Blackwater’s history remains a mystery.

Spencer Ackerman at the Washington Independent notes that the military command responsible for training Afghan security forces said that good‐​government contract rules prevent them from banning Blackwater.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), as of September 2009, there were 11,423 private security contractors in Afghanistan, of which 10,712 (94%) were armed. Of the armed security contractors, 90% were local nationals. Less than one percent was American, and the rest were third country nationals.

Of course, in recent years the trend has been rising. According to DOD, from September 2007 to December 2008, the number of armed security contractors increased from 2,401 to 3,184, an increase of 33%. But from December 2008 to September 2009, the number of armed security contractors increased from 3,184 to 10,712, an increase of 236% DOD attributed the increase in security contractors to increased operational tempo and efforts to stabilize and develop new and existing forward operating bases.

According to DOD, from September 2007 to June 2009, the number of armed security contractors increased at a slower rate than overall contractor and troop levels. However, from June to September 2009, armed security contractors increased at a faster rate (107%) than total contractors (43%) or troop levels (16%). As of September 2009, armed security contractors made up 10% of all contractors. However, armed contractors make up only about 6% of DOD’s workforce in Afghanistan.

But anyway you look at it contractors are everywhere in Afghanistan. This was the case even before the Obama Administration announced its surge strategy. In December 2008, contractors represented 69% of DOD’s workforce in Afghanistan, which apparently represented the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by DOD in any conflict in the history of the United States. According to DOD officials, contractors are expected to make up approximately 50%-55% of the total workforce in Afghanistan in the future, although such an estimate could change if conditions in Afghanistan change

An under‐​appreciated aspect of PMC working in Afghanistan is that due to their manpower, representation at the headquarters of inter‐​allied organizations, and their international connections, the PMCs are in a position to influence military decisions on operational matters. Employees of MPRI can be found throughout the hierarchy of International Security Assistance Force ((ISAF) and the Afghan security forces. They serve as mentors to armed forces general staff and to governments, help to draft doctrine for the Afghan National Army (ANA) as part of the Combined Training Advisory Group (CTAG), train officers at the Kabul Military Training Centre (KMTC) and provide instruction to specialists.

Marie‐​Dominique Charlier was political adviser to the commander of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan from February to August 2008. Last month she wrote in Le Monde diplomatique:

It is already clear that corruption with respect to contracts in Afghanistan is a significant problem.

Earlier this week the Independent newspaper in Great Britain reported that a major investigation has been launched into contracts awarded by coalition forces in Afghanistan that are worth hundreds of millions of pounds. The probe into construction and logistics contracts of the ISAF has been ordered by Major General Nick Carter, commander of ISAF forces in the south of the country.

Reportedly a third of the costs of supplying the armed forces in Afghanistan is spent on paying protection, bribery and safe passage fees, and everybody is complicit. One wonders if this is the sort of standard operating procedure PMC trade groups have in mind when they talk about private contractors making the U.S. military the “best supported, supplied military in any military operation in history.”