Feral Jundi

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Maritime Security: Insurance Firms Plan Private Navy To Take On Somali Pirates

Filed under: Industry Talk,Letter Of Marque,Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:01 AM

Sean Woollerson, a senior partner with JLT, told The Independent: “We are looking at setting up a private navy to escort vessels through the danger zones. We would have armed personnel with fast boats escorting ships and make it very clear to any Somali vessels in the vicinity that they are entering a protected area.

“At the moment there is a disconnect between the private security sector and the international naval force. We think we can help remedy that and place this force under the control of the multi-national force. We look after about 5,000 ships and have had 10 vessels taken in total, including a seizure where one crew member was shot and killed. Piracy is a serious problem, these are criminals basically extorting funds, so why not do something more proactive?” 

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Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT), which insures 14 per cent of the world’s commercial shipping fleet, said the unprecedented “private navy” would work under the direct control of the military with clear rules of engagement valid under international law. Early discussions have also been held with the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Transport and the Foreign Office. 

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     I posted an article back in April that hinted at this private navy concept, and I had no idea that it would get to this level.  This is fantastic news and I totally support such a thing.  Mr. Woollerson is right and companies must do something more proactive.

    Now on to the control mechanism for this force. Perhaps now would be a time for Britain to re-evaluate their position on the Letter of Marque and Reprisal?  The Declaration of Paris might have been a nice concept at the time of ratification, but it removed a tool of the British government for dealing with non-state actors like pirates? They could actually license this private navy to do what it is doing.

     Within the terms of the license, that is where they can define who the companies answer too and what legal mechanisms they are to abide by. They can also put fail safe measures on this private navy, like an expiration date or something similar. Because if this private navy ‘would work under the direct control of the military with clear rules of engagement valid under international law’, then you guys might as well go all the way and issue the LoM?

    Another thing that I was thinking about here is that if JLT is successful with this insurance/private navy model, then will other insurance companies get the hint and be ‘proactive’ as well?  I guess time will tell and if the action does equate to a cost savings and safer voyages for the shipping industry, I am sure it will catch on.

    Finally, there is the cost factor.  It is extremely costly for the navies of the world to continue these anti-piracy operations using these large vessels/expensive air assets to go after pirates armed with AK’s in little motor boats. How is this sustainable economically? Eventually, the work load would have to be shared in order for it to continue, and perhaps private industry is looking into the future here. They are also looking at the fact that boats are still being taken, and all these fancy high tech navies are not able to stop these pirates. Nor is there anything being done on land, and the profitable piracy industry has no where to go but up.  Being proactive makes sense given the current state of things.

    Interesting stuff and I would like to know what company JLT will go through for raising this private navy?  If any readers, or even JLT can answer that one, that would be very cool. Hell, I will even post the recruitment ad for this ‘private navy’, and I will guarantee that JLT’s contractor will get a huge response. –Matt

Edit: 10/01/2010 -Be sure to check this show out in regards to the story. They discuss how the LoM could be used as a legal mechanism for this private navy.

Insurance firms plan private navy to take on Somali pirates

Somali Pirate Attacks Sink Premiums as Insurers Leap Aboard

Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Plc

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Insurance firms plan private navy to take on Somali pirates

By Cahal Milmo

September 28, 2010

Patrol boats crewed by armed guards to protect valuable ships in Gulf of Aden

Insurers have drawn up plans for the world’s first private navy to try to turn the tide against Somali pirates who continue to plague the global shipping industry by hijacking vessels for ransoms of more than £100m a year, The Independent has learnt.

The new navy, which has the agreement in principle of several shipping groups and is being considered by the British Government, is the latest attempt to counter the increasingly sophisticated and aggressive piracy gangs who operate up to 1,200 miles from their bases in the Horn of Africa and are about to launch a new wave of seaborne attacks following the monsoon season.

A multi-national naval force, including an EU fleet currently commanded by a British officer, has dramatically reduced the number of assaults in the Gulf of Aden in recent months. But seizures continue with 16 ships and 354 sailors currently being held hostage. The Independent has seen Nato documents which show both ransom payments and the period that pirates are holding vessels have doubled in the last 12 months to an average $4m and 117 days respectively.

In response, a leading London insurer is pushing ahead with radical proposals to create a private fleet of about 20 patrol boats crewed by armed guards to bolster the international military presence off the Somali coast. They would act as escorts and fast-response vessels for shipping passing through the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean.

(more…)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Jundism: ‘Have The Courage To Do What Is Right’– Security Contractor Shane Schmidt Rest In Peace

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq,Jundism — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:56 AM

     I wanted to post this story as an example to us all.  ‘Have the courage to do what is right’ is a Jundism concept that I have hit on before here on the blog, and Shane Schmidt is a prime example of what this means.

     For circumstances like this when a co-worker or leader has crossed the line, it is your responsibility and moral obligation to do what is right and turn that bastard in. If you don’t, who will?  And if you don’t, then these heathens will take you, your company, and your customer down with them and everyone in the company and industry suffers.

     Do not listen to those in your company who are weak minded and lack that moral standard to do what is right. Listen to your heart and listen to your soul and do what you have to do. That is all.

     Bravo to Shane Schmidt (and Charles Sheppard) and Semper Fi. –Matt

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Shane Schmidt

Shane Schmidt, shown in Iraq, and others with Triple Canopy said a colleague fired unprovoked into an occupied taxi and pickup truck. (Courtesy Of Shane Schmidt)

Sued U.S. defense contractor in Iraq

By Emma BrownFriday, September 24, 2010

Shane Schmidt, a private security guard in Iraq who raised questions about lax government oversight of U.S. defense contractors when he accused his boss of randomly shooting at, and perhaps killing, civilians in Baghdad, died Sept. 19 at a hospital in Marshfield, Wis. He was 33.

Mr. Schmidt, a Haymarket resident who was visiting family in Wisconsin, was crossing a road near Marshfield just after midnight when he was struck by a vehicle. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died, according to a news release from the local sheriff’s department. The incident was under investigation.

Mr. Schmidt was a Marine Corps sniper who served two tours in Afghanistan before taking a job in 2004 with Triple Canopy, a Herndon-based company and one of the largest defense contractors working with the U.S. military in Iraq.

For $500 a day, he provided protection for American bases and visiting military personnel and contractors.

On July 8, 2006, the former Marine was one of four Triple Canopy employees traveling in an armored sport-utility vehicle to the Baghdad airport.

(more…)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Industry Talk: Dept. Of State Daily Briefing–Contractors And The Challenge Of Iraq

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:30 AM

QUESTION: Does the Department intend to hire enough private contractors to make up the shortfall of what the military now provides in terms of security, transportation, communications, and all the other services?

MR. TONER: Well, Charley, the responsibility of security, obviously, on the ground there falls under our Bureau of Diplomatic Security. And it’s up to them, obviously, to provide a safe and secure environment. And that’s going to involve, obviously, the use and participation of contractors. These contractors will provide protective services, advice, training, support. And in terms of actual numbers on the ground, I’ll leave that for them to sort of decide what’s appropriate for the security situation. 

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     Despite the grilling that congress gave DoS the other day about this very ambitious new phase, it sounds like they are still pressing forward.  Some of the issues they are coming up against is that DoD has not committed to giving them the stuff they want (Blackhawks, MRAPs, etc.).  Their past history with managing contracts is giving congress a pause as well.  And finally, the missions that contractors could potentially be presented with is causing congress to raise some inherently governmental questions. David Isenberg had a post on the matter.

    No word yet on who got what for WPPS/WPS.  If this is the current position of DoS though, I would assume that it is all systems go. Although I am sure they would like to do as much as they can to give congress some confidence in their mission. Good luck. lol –Matt

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Mark C. Toner

Acting Deputy Department Spokesman

Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

September 24, 2010

(a portion of the briefing is posted below)

QUESTION: Can we stay on Iraq for a second?

MR. TONER: Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah.

QUESTION: Yesterday on Capitol Hill, the State Department came up against some pretty sharp criticism about its ability to oversee reconstruction once the U.S. military pulled out. Special Inspector General Bowen said the State Department had failed so far to oversee a lot of these projects. And today he repeated that and said as far as he could see, the State Department did not have the core ability to oversee reconstruction at, say, tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money. What’s the State Department going to do?

MR. TONER: Well, we cooperated, actually, on that report and have made every effort to keep Congress informed of additional resources needed or required, rather, for the transition. That is, in fact, ongoing. Certainly we recognize the enormous challenge of, and are devoting considerable effort to, the military-to-civilian transition, working in close collaboration with the Department of Defense. And we’re – obviously, our overarching goal is to ensure the safety and security of our personnel in Iraq, but also ensure an appropriate level of contract and operational oversight, and then thirdly, to make sure that the mission there – our mission, rather, succeeds.

And then finally, I just would say that this is a tremendous challenge, but the State Department does have experience in this. Looking back from an historical perspective, from post-war Germany and Japan, to the unrest in Central and South America in the 1970s, to more recently East Timor and Bosnia, we’ve put staff, personnel in these challenging locations. Their goals were to stabilize the governments, provide foreign assistance, promote stable and functional host governments. And so we believe that we are up to the challenge in Iraq.

(more…)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Industry Talk: More Contractors Than Troops Killed During Past Year In Iraq And Afghanistan

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 11:38 PM

Indeed, the total number of what might be termed “total U.S. fatalities” now should exceed 7,500. That’s because, as of June 2010, more than 2,008 contractors have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another 44 contractors killed were in Kuwait, many of whom supported the same missions. On top of that, more than 44,000 contractors have been injured, of which more than 16,000 were seriously wounded. 

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     This is probably the most under reported and least known aspect of this war. And these are just the deaths that can be identified through the Labor Department’s insurance claims database.  I would speculate that the amount of deaths is much greater if there was a full accounting of all Iraqi and Afghan contractor deaths. In my view, those lives mean just as much as any other contractor’s life. These figures also do not take into account those families that did not file an insurance claim for the loss of their loved one.

    The wounded figures are startling as well. Especially the seriously wounded.  Do we have double, triple or even quad amputees? How many TBI cases? How many burn victims? I imagine we have many of the same types of injuries as the military. For that, if there are any wounded contractors reading this, thank you for your sacrifice and I hope the pain diminishes and healing continues.

     Probably the most elusive numbers out there about our wounded, are the mentally wounded contractors.  Many veterans come into contracting with a brain filled with their past military experiences–to include PTSD. But what happens to contractors who might have PTSD caused by their time on contracts? Or how about the suicide rates for contractors?

     I know Propublica/T. Christian Miller has done some great reporting on these types of subjects, but what I would really like to see is the government get more involved with this stuff. That is the right thing to do in my view, and it has been severely lacking. –Matt

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More contractors than troops killed during past year in Iraq and Afghanistan

By Katherine McIntire Peters

September 22, 2010

Recent data show that more contractors were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan than U.S. troops during the first six months of 2010, according to a George Washington University law professor.

“Contractors supporting the war effort today are losing more lives than the U.S. military waging these wars,” wrote Steven L. Schooner, co-director of the Government Procurement Law Program at The George Washington Law School, and Collin D. Swan, a student there. Their article appeared in the September issue of Service Contractor magazine, a quarterly publication of the Professional Services Council, an industry group.

The data show that in the first half of 2010, contractor fatalities in Afghanistan for the first time exceeded troop fatalities — 232 and 195, respectively. Contractor deaths in Iraq surpassed military deaths there beginning in 2009. Between January 2009 and June 2010, there were 204 contractor deaths and 188 troop deaths in Iraq.

(more…)

Industry Talk: Is The UK Preparing To Scrap The Security Industry Authority?

Filed under: Industry Talk,United Kingdom — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 10:44 PM

     This is odd, and it is kind of funny to read. Here is the US trying to regulate and license our guards to keep a check on the industry, and yet here is the UK trying to ‘reduce burdensome regulation’. lol

     I will not say too much about this because it is a little out of my lane.  In the past, we had some guest authors and readers discussing the pros and cons of the SIA and I really don’t know how effective it is right now? Maybe it is not needed or that it is not effectively screening folks and too costly? Perhaps government is not able to regulate it because of how inefficient and slow it can be?

     Who knows but either way, the whole world is watching the UK and how it treats this issue.  I have mentioned the US, India, and China as three countries looking hard at regulating this industry and the UK is one of the few places that has actually done this.  Imperfect–maybe, but none the less they have licensed and regulated their industry.

     The other thing I was thinking about was how this might impact contracts throughout the world?  If the SIA is no longer in existence, then British and commonwealth type companies would have one less means of sifting through folks. It would be interesting to hear what Andy Bearpark and others have to say about this one? –Matt

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Security sector quango faces axe in cost drive

By Glenn Campbell Scotland correspondent

22 September 2010

The Home Office is preparing to scrap the body which regulates bouncers and other security workers across the UK.

The Security Industry Authority has been placed under the axe as part of a wider plan to cut the number and cost of public bodies.

Abolishing the SIA will not save taxpayers money because it is largely self-financing, but a Home Office document, seen by the BBC, suggests the move would save security firms money and contribute to “reducing burdensome regulation”.

The document suggests the industry has matured enough to police itself.

A Home Office spokesman said no final decision had been made but the department expected to “make an announcement in due course”.

(more…)

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