The period immediately after the military withdrawal may be especially sensitive, as extremist groups test the new defenses and attempt to demonstrate their own relevance. Current planning calls for 5,500 security contractors to be employed by the State Department in Iraq, roughly double the current number and not including the Office of Security Cooperation. Roughly four thousand of these will be third-country nationals serving as static perimeter security for the various installations, a continuation of current practice at both civilian and military sites.
Though the numbers remain in flux, current plans call for about 600 guards in Irbil, 575 in Baghdad, 335 each in Kirkuk and Mosul, and about 3,650 in Baghdad. Most of State’s security contractors, both perimeter and movement, will be hired through the Worldwide Protective Services (WPS) contract, the successor to the current Worldwide Personal Protective Security (WPPS II) contract. However, some of the specialized security functions described in this section will be contracted separately. –SFRC–Iraq: The Transition From A Military Mission To A Civilian-Led Effort
Very cool and it is nice to get some more numbers on what this will look like. In my Scribd I posted the report if anyone wants to read it. It mostly rehashed a lot of the same issues in past conversations and reports about WPS and the civilian mission in Iraq.
As far as news with the companies and WPS, all I can suggest is to follow the latest reports in the forums. There are plenty of threads discussing the rumors and the legitimate news about what is going on with the stuff. All I can say is have patience with the process and do all you can to get that WPS certification. That kind of thing will make you very marketable in this industry. –Matt
Top diplomat defends size, cost of State Dept. presence in Iraq
Report Lists Perils for Envoys After U.S. Leaves Iraq
Top diplomat defends size, cost of State Dept. presence in Iraq
By Walter Pincus
February 1, 2011
The top U.S. diplomat in Iraq on Tuesday defended the size and cost of the State Department’s operations in that country, telling lawmakers that a significant diplomatic footprint will be necessary after the withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of this year.
James F. Jeffrey, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that his staff of 8,000 will grow in the coming year to about 17,000 people, the vast majority of whom will be contractors.
And while the State Department is spending about $2 billion annually on Iraq operations now, it plans to spend an additional $1 billion on the construction of facilities in each of the next several years.
“We face a critical moment now in Iraq, where we will either step up to the plate, finish the job and build on the sacrifices made,” Jeffrey said, “or we will risk core U.S. national security interests, be penny-wise and pound-foolish and cede the field to al-Qaeda and other dangerous regional influences.”
After the military pullout, the State Department will also take over a police training program for the Iraqis. The cost of that program and others should be reduced in the future, Jeffrey said, as the Iraqis, who currently spend $8 billion a year on their security forces, take over more of the burden.
“While all U.S. government work is expensive in Iraq due to the security situation, a robust civilian presence represents a significant savings for taxpayers from the bills they have been paying for the past eight years,” Jeffery said in his prepared statement.
The U.S. mission will also need to expand its fleet of four fixed-wing transport aircraft and a fleet of 37 helicopters operated by State’s Bureau of International Narcotics out of three airports in the country.
The State Department asked the Pentagon to transfer 24 Black Hawk helicopters to the mission, but the military needed them in Afghanistan, Jeffrey told the senators. As a result, State has had to purchase 20 additional Sikorsky helicopters and four more Hueys.
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the panel, asked whether it would have been less costly if some U.S. military personnel remained to provide security instead of private security contractors.
“For the kind of security threats we have, we think we have a model that will work,” Jeffrey said.
Despite earlier problems, Jeffrey and Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III , the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, assured the senators that they were working together to transfer to the embassy activities such as military sales and funding of Iraqi security forces.
An Office of Security Cooperation is being planned to mentor the Iraqi military. The office will be run by State officials but will include Defense personnel, along with about 800 contractors. The office will also handle the $13 billion worth of military equipment that Iraq is buying through the Pentagon’s military sales program.
The office will occupy space at the embassy and at five other sites across the country, according to a staff study released Tuesday by the Foreign Relations Committee. That study warned that the withdrawal of U.S. troops could jeopardize the security and political gains made in Iraq.
“Given the prohibitive costs of security and the capacity limitations of the State Department, the United States should consider a less ambitious diplomatic presence in Iraq,” the study says.
Story here.
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Report Lists Perils for Envoys After U.S. Leaves Iraq
By MARK LANDLER
January 31, 2011
WASHINGTON — The United States will not be able to protect its diplomats in Iraq adequately if it sticks to the plan to withdraw its last 50,000 troops by December, potentially hindering American efforts to reach out to the Iraqi people, according to a new report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The report, to be released Tuesday, contends that if the Obama administration leaves only a token contingent of troops behind in an advisory role, as currently planned, “security and political gains could be jeopardized.”
Without thousands of additional soldiers — a prospect that seems untenable, given political pressures in both countries — the report recommends rethinking the American civilian presence, which is projected to number 17,000 diplomats, contractors and others in 15 sites in Iraq.
“The administration may be forced to choose between scaling back the diplomatic mission or accepting a degree of physical risk familiar to military personnel but normally unacceptable for diplomats,” said the report by two committee investigators, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times.
On Tuesday, the two top American officials in Iraq, Ambassador James F. Jeffrey and Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, the senior American military commander in the country, are scheduled to testify before the Senate about the handover to civilians from soldiers.
In remarks prepared for the hearing, Mr. Jeffrey said that “gutting our civilian presence” in Iraq would embolden Iran to interfere with its neighbor and destabilize the region. “The U.S. military has performed admirably,” he said in the statement, “but they cannot stay forever.”
While the report says that Mr. Jeffrey and General Austin have built a healthy relationship, it found evidence of bureaucratic squabbles between the Pentagon and the State Department — making it easier, for example, for the military to deliver helicopters to foreign countries than to the State Department.
Among the report’s most startling conclusions is the formidable security detail needed to protect new American consulates in the cities of Basra and Erbil, as well as tiny outposts in Kirkuk and Mosul. Securing the consulates will require 1,400 security personnel for the 120 civilians, the report concludes, while the outlying offices will need a security staff of more than 600 for only 30 staff members.
All this could cost between $25 billion and $30 billion over the next five years, the report estimates.
The State Department has been bulking up for months for the postwar era in Iraq, when it will take over the lead role from the Pentagon, training the Iraqi police and overseeing an Office of Security Cooperation, staffed with a few hundred American soldiers who will help Iraqi troops with defensive operations.
The department plans to hire 5,500 private security contractors, roughly double the current number; most will guard the embassy in Baghdad and the four satellite outposts. The security of the installations themselves is adequate, the report says, although it questions whether contractors should take over delicate assignments like bomb disposal and aerial surveillance.
But protecting diplomats as they move around Iraq is a much bigger problem, the report says. The issue is not one of armed bodyguards, but the loss of intelligence, surveillance and rapid response capability that the military has been providing.
The Senate staff report does not estimate how many soldiers will be needed to provide adequate security. Military officers have suggested 5,000 to 10,000. But President Obama and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq have each vowed to stick to the December 2011 deadline for a total American troop withdrawal.
Given that reality, the report concludes, “the United States should consider a less ambitious diplomatic presence in Iraq.”
Story here.