The US has “created in ourselves a dependency on contractors that is greater than it ought to be...I think it doesn’t save money. I actually think it would be better to reduce the number of contractors involved, increase the number of military if necessary.” [General Stanley McChrystal]
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I encountered ISI operatives, all former Israeli soldiers, manning an armed check-point in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. At the time, in 2005, its website described ISI’s personnel as “veterans of the Israeli special task forces from the following Israeli government bodies: Israel Defense Force (IDF), Israel National Police Counter Terrorism units, Instructors of Israel National Police Counter Terrorism units, General Security Service (GSS or ‘Shin Beit’), Other restricted intelligence agencies.”
Today the website has
changed dramatically. Its main graphic is of US soldiers wearing American flag
patches, wielding automatic weapons in what appears to be Iraq. “After 9/11,
ISI was able to bring to bear all of its resources, expertise and experience to
work with U.S. military and government agencies in gaining a deeper
understanding of radical Islam and provide proven tactical techniques to
improve counter-terror operations,” according to the website. This would hardly
be ISI’s first US government contract. It has received many training and
security contracts since its founding in 1993. According to the company, it is
currently under a five-year contract with the US Army that began in November
2009.
Obama administration has
continued the Bush-era reliance on private contractors to sustain the US
occupation of Iraq and the US operations in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Obama
has surpassed Bush’s reliance on contractors with current contractor levels surpassing
100,000 Defense Department contractors deployed. In Iraq, Obama has maintained
the long-standing ratio of one contractor to every US soldier.
General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan/Pakistan, said
recently that he believes the US has “created in ourselves a dependency on
contractors that is greater than it ought to be.” He added: “I think it doesn’t
save money. I actually think it would be better to reduce the number of
contractors involved, increase the number of military if necessary.”
Despite such proclamations, the pattern of dependence on contractors is
continuing unabated—and not just within the Department of Defense.
This week the US State Department posted
a solicitation for armed private security contractors to deploy in
“critical or higher than critical threat areas” globally under its Worldwide
Protective Services program. Among the firms that have held these contracts are
Blackwater, DynCorp, Triple Canopy and Armor Group. ArmorGroup was exposed last
year by whistleblowers for a range of misconduct at the US embassy in Kabul,
Afghanistan. Among the actions revealed
by the Project on Government Oversight were hazing rituals involving nudity and
heavy drinking that at times included personnel urinating on each other. The whistleblowers
alleged that ArmorGroup personnel created a general atmosphere of fear and
intimidation. Last December, following POGO’s revelations, the State Department
said it was phasing
out ArmorGroup.
In its solicitation for contract bids this week, the State Department says it
will hire as many as six “qualified US firms” for “anticipated and
unanticipated personal protective, static guard, and emergency response”
functions. The contracts are slated to last one year with the potential for
four, year-long options.
To qualify for the
contracts, security companies must have a total annual value of at least $15
million in security contracts and must possess a valid “Final Secret Facility
Security Clearance.” After the contracts are awarded, the State Department says
that it will then sponsor the contractor for “Top Secret Facility Clearance.”
In addition, bidding companies must have at least two years of experience
operating in “austere and hostile environments overseas” such as Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Iraq and experience in “operating long term personal protective
security details for executive level dignitaries.” The solicitation indicates that
the work will include “a static guard and emergency response team requirement
in Baghdad, Iraq, a static guard and emergency response team requirement in
Kabul, Afghanistan, and a personal protective security service requirement in
Jerusalem.”
Among the companies listed as “interested vendors” to bid on the contracts are
the predictable list of industry giants: L-3 Services, SAIC, USIS, Northrop
Grumman, and DynCorp. Two lesser-known firms in particular that have expressed
interest in the contracts jump out: Instinctive
Shooting International and Evergreen
International Aviation.
Hiring Instinctive Shooting International for any type of armed contract in a
Muslim country, particularly to operate in Jerusalem with a stamp of US
government legitimacy, should be cause for serious concern and Congressional
inquiry. Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) was founded by Hanan Yadin, a
former member of the Israel National Counter-Terrorism Agency and a veteran of
the Israeli Defense Forces. According to his bio
[PDF], Hanan “received advanced training at the Israeli Anti-Terror Academy and
served as an instructor at the Israeli Military Intelligence Academy. As part
of a Special Ops unit he executed high-risk missions against terrorist’s cells.
Hanan is an expert marksman and has completed advanced training in crisis
response, Krav Maga (the Israeli unarmed fighting system), urban warfare and
tactical operations.”
Evergreen has had
long-standing ties to the CIA. “In 1980 an Evergreen plane flew the recently
deposed Shah of Iran from Panama to Egypt, hours before the Panamanian
government was due to receive an extradition request from the new government in
Tehran,” according to SourceWatch.
“Giving rides to dictators is something of a specialty for the company - it
also allowed El Salvador’s President Duarte to use its helicopter, which was
officially in the country to help repair power lines. And according to a series
of articles in The Oregonian in 1988, Evergreen’s owner and founder Delford M.
Smith ‘…acknowledged one agreement under which his companies provide occasional
jobs and cover to foreign nationals the CIA wants taken out of other countries
or brought into the United States.’”
Evergreen is perhaps best
known more recently for offering—unsolicited—its security services to Oregon
county clerks ahead of the 2008 elections. “During this crucial election
Evergreen Defense and Security Services has recognized the potential conflict
that could occur on November 4,” an
email from company president Evergreen president Tom Wiggins to election
officials stated. “Never has there been a more heated battle in the race for
president and voters seem more involved and determined to achieve their
respective goals. EDSS proposes to post sentries at each voting center on
November 4 to assure that disputes among citizens do not get out of control.
All guards will be unarmed but capable of stopping any violence that may occur,
and detaining troublemakers until law enforcement help arrives.” The offer was
suspect on several fronts, not the least of which being that Oregon has no
polling places and votes by mail.
According to State Department documents, among the projects up for bidding are:
—Private security teams in Jerusalem. The solicitation calls for 46 personnel,
including 36 “security specialists” and team/shift leaders for armed details.
—Embassy guards and an Emergency Response Team in Kabul. The solicitation calls
for 219 personnel, including a 142-member embassy guard force and 49
“emergency response” personnel.
—Embassy guards and an Emergency Response Team in Baghdad, Iraq. The
solicitation calls for 551 personnel, including 357 “armed guards” and an
Emergency Response Team consisting of 30 protective security specialists and
four “designated defense marksmen.”
The US embassy in Iraq, according to the documents, requires the greatest
number of contractors. This is likely because the embassy there is the largest
of any embassy of any nation in history.
