January « 2010 « Feral Jundi

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Afghanistan: Canadian General Says Afghanistan To Regulate Private Security

Filed under: Afghanistan,Canada,Industry Talk — Tags: Afghanistan, Canada, government, private military companies, private security companies, security, security contracting — Matt @ 1:58 PM

I love this kind of stuff, because it is a prime example of the types of market forces that not only drive places like Afghanistan, but throughout the world. My thoughts on the matter is that if the police paid more than PSC’s and the Taliban, then more than likely, they will retain their officers. But that would take the government of Afghanistan actually coughing up that kind of dough, or I mean, the Coalition, and actually putting their money where their mouth is.

The other factor is free will. Men and women who are in this business throughout the world, all have families to feed, bills to pay and dreams to fulfill. You cannot tell a person in this industry, to work a job that pays them less than what they are worth, and especially if there is work that pays more or offers better benefits.

This is also about choice, and maybe working for a PSC is more convenient for these guys, as opposed to the military or police. Or they don’t trust the government or maybe they don’t like being cops. The other one could be time, and maybe the police force really doesn’t have a flexible enough schedule for these guys. Everyone has their reasons. –Matt

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Afghanistan to regulate private security: Canadian general

By Steve Rennie

25th January 2010

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The greener pastures of private-security firms lure away many an Afghan cop with the promise of bigger paycheques and relatively safer work.

But now the Afghan government is drawing up new rules for private companies as it tries to stop police from leaving the force.

Canada’s highest-ranking soldier in Afghanistan says the regulations will help put the country’s police force on an even playing field with security companies.

“I don’t think anybody wants to limit anybody’s ability to choose their own destiny,” Maj.-Gen. Michael Ward, deputy commander of NATO forces training the Afghan police, said Monday.

“But when AWOL and desertion are such a big problem in the security forces, then you don’t actually want to be stimulating it by letting the competition hire them away.”

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Bounties: $50,000 For The 20 Questions Bandits And $10,000 For The Blue Note Bandit, California

Filed under: Bounties,California,Law Enforcement,Los Angeles — Tags: Bank of America, bank robberies, Bounties, Crime, Los Angeles, private military companies, private security companies, security contractors, wells fargo — Matt @ 11:26 AM

I hope these thugs get caught, and it would be really cool if it was a FJ reader. It’s stuff like this, where a Bounty Hunter Mobile Application would totally shine. Both Bank of America and Wells Fargo could have easily signed on with mobile application, and updated the last known position as tips and information come in. It would be a way for their investigators to basically crowd source Southern California and the US in order to get these guys. –Matt

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$50,000 offered for violent bank robbers

By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ

January 25, 2010

The ’20 questions bandits’ are believed to be responsible for at least six violent take-over bank robberies across three Southern California counties, authorities said.

Bank of America is offering up to $50,000 in exchange for information leading to their arrest.

During the six armed robberies, the four unidentified men assaulted bank employees and at times, also robbed customers of their belongings, according to a statement released by the FBI.

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Industry Talk: Audit Hits State Department On Failures To Monitor Iraq Work

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: contracting officers, Industry Talk, Iraq, police program, security contracting, State Department — Matt @ 12:50 AM

Yet again, how come this does not surprise me? The one part that really stands out about this report, is the fact that they only had one contracting officer to monitor over a billion dollars worth of invoices. I am no expert on contracting officers, but it would seem to me that using just one guy to monitor all of that, is setting this up for failure. And seeing how this is government, I know there are manuals and studies that discuss the proper way to do this. Even so, commonsense would dictate that maybe, just maybe, State should have put some more folks in that department to help out.

It gets better though, because then the new kids on the block who are running DoS, have decided that ‘three’ contracting officers is sufficient to monitor these contracts. Oh, and they lack guidance, which is even more indicative of what is really going on. It takes leadership to make this stuff happen, and if you guys placed good leaders in those offices, increased the benefits and pay for the contracting officer positions, insure everyone has good guidance and training for the task, and properly fund the contracting office at State, you might actually get some good accountability out of the whole deal. State must do a better job about overseeing how tax payer’s money is spent. Anything else is unacceptable.

By the way, David Isenberg has a good article about this latest report here. –Matt

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Audit hits State on failures to monitor Iraq work

January 25, 2010

By RICHARD LARDNER

WASHINGTON (AP) – For nearly $4.5 million a year, the State Department in June assigned a 16-person security detail to protect six U.S. contractors in Iraq who already had a team of hired guards they didn’t really need.

The expensive miscue is one of many described in an audit issued Monday of a $2.5 billion State Department contract with DynCorp International for training Iraq’s police force.

The department repeatedly failed to oversee the contract properly, according to the audit by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. The findings also suggest the department remains ill-equipped to watch over the vast amount of U.S. money flowing into Afghanistan.

“I think they need to act quickly to remedy this long-standing concern,” the special inspector general, Stuart Bowen, said about the State Department’s shortage of people and resources to oversee work done by the private sector.

In comments included in the report, Assistant Secretary of State David Johnson disputed the audit’s central conclusion that weak oversight made the $2.5 billion vulnerable to waste and fraud. Johnson said payments are only made to a contractor after the invoices have been carefully checked.

But the report challenges that assertion.

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Industry Talk: Obama Administration Steers Lucrative No-Bid Contract For Afghan Work To Dem Donor

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: , Afghanistan, Bush, Checchi, no-bid contracts, Obama, PSC's — Matt @ 12:10 AM

How come this does not surprise me? For years, the media was slamming President Bush and his administration for this practice, and now here we have the Obama Administration doing the same thing? Didn’t President Obama run on a campaign saying he would not do this?

Although I am not too shocked by this stuff, because as we can see within the last year, Obama has been highly dependent on contractors for his war effort. He needs us, as much as he needs his military, in order to make his war plans successful before elections come up. Not to mention that if he wants to have a long term commitment in Haiti, then that is going to impact his plans for Afghanistan and Iraq as well. And guess who will make up the difference in the meantime?-Matt

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Obama Administration Steers Lucrative No-Bid Contract for Afghan Work to Dem Donor

January 25, 2010

By James Rosen

The Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a prominent Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

Sunday: U.S. Army soldiers patrol inside Pech Valley, Kunar province, in northeastern Afghanistan. Private consultants Checchi & Company won a no-bid contract from the Obama administration to ‘train the next generation of legal professionals’ in Afghanistan. (AP)

Despite President Obama’s long history of criticizing the Bush administration for “sweetheart deals” with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington-based firm owned by economist and Democratic donor Vincent V. Checchi, will pay the firm $24,673,427 to provide “rule of law stabilization services” in war-torn Afghanistan.

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