Academi is obviously mindful of some of the past controversies its ancestral companies were embroiled in and has taken steps, as much as humanly possible, to make a repeat of such incidents impossible.

Gee, with all due apologies to Stephen Ambrose's famed book, the whole Band of Brothers concept of bonding may have gained new meaning when it comes t...

For those who work on private military and security contracting issues one longstanding, and still vexing, issue is encapsulated in just three words: "inherently governmental functions"

Is there an appropriate role for Private Military Companies (PMCs) in the contemporary security context? Maybe, but less than you may think, accordin...

Admittedly, just one of many factors affecting Afghanistan, but an important one nonetheless, is the state of its substantial private security contrac...

Those who follow the issue of attacks by Somali pirates on commercial shipping are likely aware that many shipowners' firms have turned to private sec...

Evidently, the ICoC, to paraphrase Captain Barbossa of the Pirates of Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl movie, is more of a guideline than an actual rule. Welcome aboard the Black PSC, Miss Turner.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.