International Security

Under the category of self-promotion:
the master’s degree program I was in at Harvard required that all students do a research thesis in order to graduate (many don’t graduate because they can’t get the thesis done; the work involved is more like doing a dissertation than a typical thesis).  I did mine on private security contractors [...]

This company takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Recently they made headlines because of allegations they bribed Iraqi officials after they killed 17 Iraqis in Nisour Square during a State Dept. security detail. And the commentary on that story begins. Scahill and Spencer Ackerman at the head of the line. Now an Indian news [...]

It seems that the USA Today,  AP, and The Billings (Montana) Gazette are the only MSM to cover this story (ok, not quite true). Some unknown CA outfit, the American Police Force (APF) (how generic can they be?) shows up in Montana to take over an empty prison with 464 beds. Its first story, “What [...]

An article in TIME magazine today continues the coverage of the sorry private security situation at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. First there were the photos of security contractors behaving ingloriously and the scathing report of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and its letter to Sec. of State Clinton. Yesterday (9/10) Spencer Ackerman of [...]

I’ve been following this story from POGO to Danger Room since it broke earlier this week.  Having written my master’s thesis on DOS’ private security in Iraq, I have to say I am taken aback at how willfully resistant State is to fixing these kind of problems with their private security. You’d think after the [...]

A couple of excerpts from my interview for IA-Forum with James Cockayne on his new book, Beyond Market Forces: Regulating the Global Security Industry.
When I asked him about private security in Afghanistan and possible lessons from Iraq, he replied

I think there are important lessons from Iraq for us in Afghanistan. The various actors in Afghanistan [...]

The Boston Globe reports that the DOD has decided no one can be held responsible for the death of Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth in January. He was killed because the shower system he was using was not grounded. The DOD found
KBR did not ground equipment during installation or report improperly grounded equipment during maintenance, nor [...]

The explosive story today reported by Jeremy Scahill in The Nation:
A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine* who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company’s owner, [...]

Walter Pincus reports in WaPo that the U.S. Army is considering using private security contractors at forward operating bases in Afghanistan.
The job listing states
The Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting, Afghanistan (PARC-A) is contemplating a solicitation for a theater-wide armed security guard (ASG)/private security company (PSC) contract. The contract would provide for a variety of [...]

[Follow up on post from June 9]
The State Department’s weekly Iraq Status Report (6/10/09):
The five were accused of being in possession of controlled items during a search of their place of residence as part of the investigation into the killing of James Kitterman, who was found dead in Baghdad’s Green Zone in May. On June [...]