Feral Jundi

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Afghanistan: Quran Burning, Shooting Incident, Afghans Killing Troops And Contractors……And Who Said The APPF Was A Good Idea?

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 3:39 PM

I hope it is obvious to the readership here about my disdain for this APPF concept. It is a horrible idea and it will lead to folks getting killed or hurt. I would like to be wrong on this, but there are just too many factors building up to make it a really bad idea in this current environment.

Karzai is a corrupt leader and this force will be a tool to feed his corruption. Does anyone really think that the APPF will be the type of government sponsored security force that will really do a good job for the companies it is assigned too?  Does anyone really think that the APPF will do better than the police or military when it comes to competency or service? Does anyone think they will have any real recourse if a guard is caught using drugs or stealing from the company they are assigned to protect?  Think about it….because this force answers to Karzai and not to you the client and consumer of this forced service.

Also, why even create a separate force?  Just assign military and police to protect these companies, because at least they would have somewhat better training and competency than this force. But not much.

But the really big one here is that these companies will have Afghans with guns protecting them.  With the Quran burning incident and the latest shooting incident where a soldier went on a killing spree in a village, the environment for companies will not be that favorable. With these recent developments, Afghans have been killing western forces or enemy sympathizers have found their way into the system to make attacks. Politicians like Karzai are not helping things either with their outbursts against the west, and of course the Taliban is in the back just stirring the pot and loving it. That is the reality.

The other one that kills me is this fake re-assuring tone that some of these companies are communicating after signing these contracts with the APPF. Louis Berger-Black and Veatch made a classic statement.

“We welcome this security transition as a natural step for Afghanistan,” said Bill Haight, representing the Louis Berger – Black and Veatch joint venture.

Oh really?  lol And meanwhile companies are writing the New York Times and telling them how paranoid they are about this whole deal–and rightly so. Just read the article below. Here is another quote that says it all.

The executive also said he and others at his company’s Washington headquarters knew that some employees in Afghanistan were keeping weapons in their rooms in case their compounds were attacked, and that management had so far turned a blind eye to the practice, which goes against local law.

That stems from the idea that this company’s employees do not trust a force like the APPF to protect them, and they are probably paranoid about an APPF guard shooting them. That is what happens when you do not have a trusted force of western security that can come between you and your contracted local force.

That is the appropriate combination to have, and now with the APPF, it will be all local guards with very little insurance against them–if they decide to turn or had enemy combatants within their ranks.

On the brighter side, if you are wanting to track the progression of the APPF, then check out NATO’s website dedicated to training. They have posted quite a bit about the APPF, to include those companies signing contracts and gaining licenses to use this force.

If you have anything to add to this, definitely voice your concerns here because it will be read. I have yet to see any real comments posted at the NATO site with posts that discuss the APPF. But definitely comment there so they can read your concerns. Keep up the pressure with your company as well, and don’t let your safety become a non-issue. Also continue to communicate with the ISOA and with your elected officials in the US about your concerns. –Matt

 

Security Fears Lead Groups to Rethink Work in Afghanistan
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG and GRAHAM BOWLEY
March 10, 2012
WASHINGTON — The management at a company that does aid and development work for the American government knows that some of its employees in Afghanistan are keeping weapons in their rooms — and is choosing to look the other way. At another company in the same business, lawyers are examining whether the company can sue the United States Agency for International Development for material breach of contract, citing the deteriorating security in Afghanistan.
An Afghan government plan to abolish private security companies at the end of this month, along with the outbreak of anti-American demonstrations and attacks in the past month, has left the private groups that carry out most of the American-financed development work in Afghanistan scrambling to sort out their operations, imperiling billions of dollars in projects, officials say.

(more…)

Law Enforcement: Dozens Of Firms Register Interest In £1.5bn UK Police Support Contracts

Filed under: Industry Talk,Law Enforcement,United Kingdom — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 2:40 PM

Chris Sims, the West Midlands chief constable, said: “This is not about taking away the core responsibility for policing away from officers. I want to be clear that where a police power is needed a police officer will carry out that duty.
“The backbone of the service will remain unchanged but we are committed to finding a long-term transformational solution that is more cost-effective and improves the service we deliver,” said Sims.
“Our values remain at the heart of the service and our priority is to put the public first in everything we do.”

I will have to warn you that this is a Guardian article. lol But if you can look beyond that, this is interesting news. There is much debate going on about this, and it is a classic public versus private debate. You can also see that the unions are rallying around how dangerous of an idea this is and really pushing the narrative of that.

Personally, I think it is a great idea. Because this looks more like a public private partnership than a complete privatization of police work in the UK. The duties these companies will be performing are totally in line with what private industry can accomplish and accel at. Just look at what Bruce Power SWAT accomplished?  Look at how massively large and successful G4S is?  In both cases, private security and related administrative duties can definitely provide value to the client.

Best of all, these police departments can fire a company if it is a poor performer or if they violated the contract. A private company has incentive to do well in that kind of environment and they will fight to do it better/faster/cheaper than the next guy. That versus a government force who has no ‘real’ incentive to perform well–because there is no one that competes with them. Check it out.

My one bit of advice for these police departments is to ensure they have a strong contracting officer corps that can monitor and manage these contracts to the fullest extent. A contracting corps armed with a contract and policy that answers as many of the issues of principal agent problem as possible. That means having folks dedicated to holding these private companies accountable and ensuring the tax payer and local community does in fact get a good value for their pound sterling. –Matt

 

Police privatisation: dozens of firms register interest in £1.5bn contract
Surrey and West Midlands forces invite bids for services including investigating crimes and detaining suspects
By Alan Travis
Tuesday 13 March 2012
Delegates from private security companies were attending a “bidders’ conference” on Tuesday for a £1.5bn contract to run a wide range of policing services in the West Midlands and Surrey.
The contract notice drawn up for the groundbreaking contract invites bids from the private sector for services that include investigating crimes, detaining suspects and managing high-risk offenders.
The widely drawn West Midlands/Surrey contract notice says that all those services that can “be legally delegated to the private sector” have been put on the table while “preserving the integrity of the office of constable”.
The West Midlands police authority says there are “many household names” among the 64 firms but has declined to name any of them. Potential bidders will hear both chief constables and the outgoing chairmen of the West Midlands and Surrey police authorities detail the procurement process and outline what they hope to achieve from the “business partnership programme”.

(more…)

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Quotes: More Civilian Contractors Working For American Companies Than American Soldiers Died In Afghanistan, 2011

Filed under: Afghanistan,Quotes — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 10:13 AM

Last year, at least 430 employees of American contractors were reported killed in Afghanistan: 386 working for the Defense Department, 43 for the United States Agency for International Development and one for the State Department, according to data provided by the American Embassy in Kabul and publicly available in part from the United States Department of Labor.
By comparison, 418 American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year, according to Defense Department statistics compiled by icasualties.org, an independent organization that monitors war deaths.

Notice where the reporter collected this information? DoL for contractor deaths and icasualties.org for soldier deaths. Which is exactly why I put the DoL statistics at the top of the list on my page.  I also agree with the article that there are probably more deaths that have not been reported. Especially the local national companies that are working in the war zones either directly or indirectly for DoD. For American contractor deaths, I think the DoL stats are the best, even though there are Americans that have worked for companies that did not register through DBA. Especially in the early days of the war.

The other thing mentioned in this article that is significant is that there are more contractors in Afghanistan than soldiers. I posted the latest CENTCOM AOR numbers and the reporter referenced the same report.

There were 113,491 employees of defense contractors in Afghanistan as of January 2012, compared with about 90,000 American soldiers, according to Defense Department statistics. Of those, 25,287, or about 22 percent of the employees, were American citizens, with 47 percent Afghans and 31 percent from other countries.

Finally, they discussed the companies and contractor types that have seen the most losses. L 3 Communications has seen an amazing amount of losses. Most of those deaths were interpreters that worked in Iraq or Afghanistan. But 370 killed and 1,789 wounded is an immense sacrifice for a company and it’s subsidiaries.

The biggest contractor in terms of war zone deaths is apparently the defense giant L-3 Communications. If L-3 were a country, it would have the third highest loss of life in Afghanistan as well as in Iraq; only the United States and Britain would exceed it in fatalities.
Over the past 10 years, L-3 and its subsidiaries, including Titan Corporation and MPRI Inc., had at least 370 workers killed and 1,789 seriously wounded or injured through the end of 2011 in Iraq and Afghanistan, records show. In a statement, a spokeswoman for L-3, Jennifer Barton, said: “L-3 is proud to have the opportunity to support the U.S. and coalition efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We mourn the loss of life of these dedicated men and women.”

So I guess my final commentary is that contractors deserve more respect and recognition for their contribution and sacrifice in this war than we have been given–which is none. And yet the media and public largely ignored this contribution and sacrifice? Will there be monuments or holidays to remember this sacrifice one day, or do we only give such honors for soldiers?

Either way, we will remember them here and their sacrifice will never be forgotten….. –Matt

Risks of Afghan War Shift From Soldiers to Contractors
By ROD NORDLAND
February 11, 2012
Even dying is being outsourced here.
This is a war where traditional military jobs, from mess hall cooks to base guards and convoy drivers, have increasingly been shifted to the private sector. Many American generals and diplomats have private contractors for their personal bodyguards. And along with the risks have come the consequences: More civilian contractors working for American companies than American soldiers died in Afghanistan last year for the first time during the war.

(more…)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Iraq: Several Hundred Contractors Have Been Detained And Harassed In Iraq Since US Troop Withdrawal

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 10:24 PM

“While private organizations are often able to resolve low-level disputes and irregularities, this issue is beyond our ability to resolve,” the International Stability Operations Association, a Washington-based group that represents more than 50 companies and aid organizations that work in conflict, post-conflict and disaster relief zones, said in a letter on Sunday to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Doug Brooks, president of the organization, said in a telephone interview that the number of civilian contractors who have been detained was in the “low hundreds.” 

Not good. I have received several emails from contractors working for different companies in Iraq that have said this is happening. Ever since that story came out about the Triple Canopy guys getting detained, similar deals have been happening to not only security contractors but all types of contractors and foreigners.

The thing here that I have to emphasize with Iraq is that they are going to do whatever they want. Of course the State Department is working on trying smooth this stuff out, but I just don’t see things moving fast with this one. So if Iraq wants to implement a campaign of ‘controlled harassment’, or they cannot control their various agencies and departments, then all contractors can do is either leave the country, or somehow work with the situation as best you can.

My message to Iraq is the same message I had for Afghanistan. Private investors and business is vital to the reconstruction and growth of your nation. What you are doing to these foreign investors and businesses, by poorly treating their security or workers, is in essence shooting yourself in the foot. Many of these companies are already taking a huge risk in a country that is still being attacked by enemies and ravaged by war. Iraq should be focused on creating peace and stability in their country, and not focused on insulting or detaining those that will eventually bring prosperity to their country.

The other thing that Iraq should know is that many of these contractors that they are harassing or looking down upon, are their own people. Just look at how many Iraqi contractors have been killed over the years, either as security contractors or as interpreters? Department of Labor puts those deaths at 1,560 and their sacrifice is just as significant as any Iraqi soldier or policeman’s sacrifice. (that number is just the DoL statistic, and I am sure it is way more than that if you count all the local Iraqi security companies over the years)

Either way, we will see how this develops and I encourage other contractors to keep contacting me about this or put a heads up in the comments section of posts like this one. Also, get your congressional representative involved, or whomever elected officials that represents you in whatever country you are from, and use that political leverage to help out your situation. That is what worked for the Triple Canopy guys at least, and definitely play it smart out there. –Matt

 

Flexing Muscle, Baghdad Detains U.S. Contractors
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and ERIC SCHMITT
January 15, 2012
Iraqi authorities have detained a few hundred foreign contractors in recent weeks, industry officials say, including many Americans who work for the United States Embassy, in one of the first major signs of the Iraqi government’s asserting its sovereignty after the American troop withdrawal last month.
The detentions have occurred largely at the airport in Baghdad and at checkpoints around the capital after the Iraqi authorities raised questions about the contractors’ documents, including visas, weapons permits and authorizations to drive certain routes. Although no formal charges have been filed, the detentions have lasted from a few hours to nearly three weeks.
The crackdown comes amid other moves by the Iraqi government to take over functions that had been performed by the United States military and to claim areas of the country it had controlled. In the final weeks of the military withdrawal, the son of Iraq’s prime minister began evicting Western companies and contractors from the heavily fortified Green Zone, which had been the heart of the United States military operation for much of the war.
Just after the last American troops left in December, the Iraqis stopped issuing and renewing many weapons licenses and other authorizations. The restrictions created a sequence of events in which contractors were being detained for having expired documents that the government would not renew.
The Iraqi authorities have also imposed new limitations on visas. In some recent cases, contractors have been told they have 10 days to leave Iraq or face arrest in what some industry officials call a form of controlled harassment.

(more…)

Publications: Journal Of International Peace Operations, January-February 2012

Filed under: Industry Talk,Publications — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 10:54 AM

Excellent. This is a great JIPO and I love the focus on women in the PMSC industry. Check it out. –Matt

 

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