Private Security Contractors

The Rise of Private Maritime Security Companies

David Isenberg | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Private Security Contractors, Maritime Piracy, Maritime Security Contractors, Maritime Security, Piracy High Seas, Business News
David Isenberg

The emerging economic paradigm indicates that use of maritime armed guards will only increase. That means the private security companies that combat the pirates were earning much more than the pirates themselves. Thus piracy is good for at least some businesses.

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Dan Froomkin

Afghan Reconstruction Efforts Mired In Corruption

HuffingtonPost.com | Dan Froomkin | Posted 04.30.2012

Read More: Corruption, Sigar, Afghanistan, Private Security Contractors, Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, Afghan Public Protection Force, World News

WASHINGTON -- Afghan reconstruction efforts remain severely hampered even after nearly $100 billion in spending over the last 10 years, according to ...

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Andrea Stone

Ex-TSA Chief Opposes Privatizing Airport Security

HuffingtonPost.com | Andrea Stone | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Tsa, Video, Terrorism, Private Security Contractors, Privatization, John Mica, John Pistole, Airport Security, TSA Security, Transportation Security Administration, Kip Hawley, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- Former Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley said Wednesday that privatizing screening at airports -- a pet cause of a...

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We're Not Mercenaries. Oh, Dear

David Isenberg | Posted 04.21.2012

Read More: Mercenaries, International Treaty, Private Security Contractors, Mercenary, Soldiers, Definition of a Mercenary, Private Security Contracting, Defining Mercenaries, World News
David Isenberg

For many years those in the private security contracting industry have argued loudly that the people who carry guns in the field are not mercenaries. And they are exactly right, as I have noted many times in the past.

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Repress U, Class of 2012: 7 Steps to a Homeland Security Campus

Michael Gould-Wartofsky | Posted 05.23.2012

Read More: Cia, University of Puerto Rico, Homeland Security Campus, University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, University of Arizona, City University of New York, Occupy Wall Street, Ice, UC Irvine, Ows, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Civil Liberties, Department of Defense, Nypd, UC Davis, Stratfor, Surveillance, Muslim Students Association, University of North Carolina, Dhs, Homeland Security, UC Berkeley, Twitter, New York Police Department, Department of Homeland Security, University of California, DREAM Act, Private Security Contractors, SWAT Team, Repress U, Fbi, Sevis, College News
Michael Gould-Wartofsky

Since 9/11, the homeland security state has come to campus just as it has come to America's towns and cities, its places of work and its houses of worship, its public space and its cyberspace.

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PSC = Privateering Security Contractor

David Isenberg | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Piracy, Letters-of-Marque, Privateers, Private Security Contractors, Business News
David Isenberg

Privateers will be motivated by a bounty whether funded by the public coffers or via collections from civil penalties against pirate assets. Issued in tandem with bounties, letters of marque provide an efficient way to confiscate pirate vessels prior to attacks.

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The State Department Tells Us How They Really Felt: Part 3

David Isenberg | Posted 05.01.2012

Read More: Basra, Tallil-Air-Force-Base, Iraq, Triple Canopy, State Department, Private Security Contractors, Business News
David Isenberg

From a taxpayer's perspective we can accept a company may try its best but it may still screw up. That is why any government contract must have sufficient, qualified contracting officers riding herd on the company.

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The State Department Tells Us How They Really Felt: Part 2

David Isenberg | Posted 04.22.2012

Read More: State Department, Private Security Contractors, Dyncorp, Business News
David Isenberg

Today we look at Dyncorp's work in Pakistan during the November 25, 2009 to July 7, 2010 time period. There is good and bad news for Dyncorp.

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The State Department Tells Us How They Really Felt: Part 1

David Isenberg | Posted 04.18.2012

Read More: Iraq, Blackwater, State Department, Private Security Contractors, State Department Blackwater Review, Blackwater Iraq, Blackwater Performance Review, Business News
David Isenberg

These documents provide information on how the State Department rated its contractors on criteria such as quality, cost control, business relations, timeliness of performance and customer satisfaction.

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The Risky Business Of Post-War Contracting

Project On Government Oversight | Posted 04.03.2012

Read More: Defense Contractors, Government Contracting, Iraq, Blackwater, National Security, State Department, Private Security Contractors, Politics News
Project On Government Oversight

Given current security conditions in Iraq, including a string of bombings since late December more lethal to civilians than any seen in the last year of the U.S. presence, many could be nervous enough to be trigger-happy. Is this war really over or have we just outsourced it?

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Say What? You Talking About Me?

David Isenberg | Posted 03.18.2012

Read More: Memoirs, Iraq, Professionalism, British, Private Security Contractors, Blackwater, Iraq Contractors, World News
David Isenberg

In the modern private security contractor industry, some Brits have been quite outspoken in chronicling what they see as their superior professionalism, compared to their American counterparts.

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Putting the [(P)op Culture] in PMC

David Isenberg | Posted 02.04.2012

Read More: Pop Culture, Movie Villains, Private Security Contractors, Business News
David Isenberg

For an industry which, ignoring historical antecedents as the British East India company, is only a couple of decades old, the private military and security contracting industry has made a very big impression in popular culture.

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From PMC to CMSP: Thinking Strategically About Private Contractors

David Isenberg | Posted 01.28.2012

Read More: Commercial Military Service Providers, Private Military Contractor, Private Security Contractors, Business News
David Isenberg

While the quantity and quality of literature on the subject has both increased in volume and improved in quality, it is still rare to find publications which focus on the strategic impact of private military and security contractors.

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Making the Relationship Work: PSC and the Military

David Isenberg | Posted 01.17.2012

Read More: Iraq, Commission on Wartime Contracting, Counterinsurgency, Private Security Contractors, Politics News
David Isenberg

The PSC/PMC industry desperately needs the equivalent of the Center Army for Lessons Learned so that all firms can take advantage of the lessons, many of them dearly earned at the price of blood, limbs, and lives of numerous contractors, learned from their operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.

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It's Two Lanterns for the Maritime PSC Industry

David Isenberg | Posted 01.11.2012

Read More: Maritime, Piracy, State Department, Private Security Contractors, Business News
David Isenberg

In case you haven't noticed, all of a sudden maritime security contracting seems to have turned a corner in gaining both industry, and more importantly, governmental approval.

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Immunity: Disastrous Decisions in 2007 Return to Haunt 2012

Peter Van Buren | Posted 01.04.2012

Read More: Iraq War, Nisoor Square, Diplomacy, Iraq Sofa, Sovereign Immunity, Private Security Contractors, Nisour Square, Iraq War Ending, Iraq Drawdown, Iraq Troop Withdrawal, Iraq Withdrawal, Politics News
Peter Van Buren

It was the 2007 Nisour Square Blackwater killings, not Wikileaks, that derailed plans for U.S. troops to stay on in Iraq.

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Good Luck to the U.S. State Department: You're Going to Need It

David Isenberg | Posted 01.02.2012

Read More: Iraq, State Department, Private Security Contractors, Iraq War Ending, Iraq War, Iraq Troop Withdrawal, Iraq Withdrawal, Politics News
David Isenberg

Given the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and the transition to a State-Department-led mission for all remaining U.S. personnel in Iraq, this is a good time to focus more closely on what exactly is happening.

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Andrea Stone

John Mica Has No Legal Power Over TSA, But Pushes The Jurisdictional Boundaries

HuffingtonPost.com | Andrea Stone | Posted 12.29.2011

Read More: Peter King, Department of Homeland Security, Aviation Safety, Tsa, House-Transportation-Committee, Homeland Security, Private Security Contractors, John Pistole, John Mica, 9/11 Commission, TSA Security, Transportation Security Administration, Dhs, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- The powerful chairman of a key congressional committee is expected to release another scathing report on the federal agency that protect...

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Obama to Create Thousands of Jobs: In Iraq

Peter Van Buren | Posted 12.14.2011

Read More: Iraq, Job Training, Police, State Department, Unemployment Crisis, Private Security Contractors, Iraq Reconstruction, Jobs in Iraq, Iraq Work Force, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Politics News
Peter Van Buren

The U.S. is prepared to spend up to five billion dollars to create more jobs for police officers, paying $100-$150k a year. One catch: the jobs are for Iraqis, in Iraq. No Americans need apply.

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Dear U.S. State Department: Less BNS and More PNS, Please

David Isenberg | Posted 10.01.2011

Read More: Iraq, State Department, Sigir, Private Security Contractors, World News
David Isenberg

In other words, if there is to be effective oversight of private security contractors in Iraq in the future, the State Department needs to man up and step up to the plate.

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Trust But, Incompetently, Verify

David Isenberg | Posted 09.27.2011

Read More: Oversight, Iraq, Private Security Contractors, Business News
David Isenberg

Although COR duties are critical to the U.S. government's oversight of the TWISS contracts, almost 40% of the CORs it surveyed said the training they received did not prepare them for their duties and 25% said they lack sufficient time to conduct effective oversight.

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Eliminating Waste, Fraud and Abuse in Defense Contracts

Rep. John F. Tierney | Posted 09.25.2011

Read More: Pentagon, Corruption, Private Contractors, Afghanistan, Darrell Issa, Private Security Contractors, Afghan Warlords, Social Security, Washington Post, Medicare, Politics News
Rep. John F. Tierney

We cannot continue to ask the brave men and women of our Armed Forces to put their lives on the line while we jeopardize their safety by failing to ensure that Defense Department funds are not siphoned off to warlords in Afghanistan.

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PMC und Drang in the Persian Gulf

David Isenberg | Posted 08.24.2011

Read More: Uae, Erik Prince, Private Security Contractors, Business News
David Isenberg

This post was originally written June 5. It's now been three weeks since the New York Times published its story on the United Arab Emirates busine...

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Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Deserve Compensation

Gabor Rona | Posted 07.13.2011

Read More: National Security, Private Security Contractors, Guantanamo, Detentions in Afghanistan, International Law, Law and Security, Afghanistan, Bush Torture Memos, Politics News
Gabor Rona

Are Abu Ghraib torture victims entitled to compensation? Not one victim of official cruelty in U.S. custody has had access to an enforceable, effective remedy because the government has argued that allowing these claims to be heard would endanger national security.

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PSC and R2P in Libya

David Isenberg | Posted 06.14.2011

Read More: Libya, Humanitarian Intervention, Private Security Contractors, Business News
David Isenberg

It has been suggested since NATO began intervening in the Libyan civil war this is an opportunity for private security contractors to show their utility. But before we start issuing contracts, we should look at some of the possible implications.

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