Private Military Contractors - Data Dump

[Jan Klimkowski]

My emphasis in bold:

Grenier called the system of allocating funds to US agencies the "most illogical process ever devised by the mind of man." He described Congressional funding restrictions that provided huge sums of money to the CIA post-9/11 to purchase goods and services, but not to hire new employees. Instead, he said, Congress provided one year supplemental funding packages to the CIA for "non-personal services." That funding, Grenier asserted, "you can spend for anything."
"You can buy armored vehicles, you can buy drones, or you can buy contractors. Contractors are not considered persons in the context of the federal budgeting process," Genier added. The CIA, therefore, got creative. "So, here was the Congress saying, 'What can we do for you, what can we give you?' Money was not the object—they'd give us anything we asked for and what we got was non-personal services dollars on a supplemental basis. And so, what did we have to do? We went out and bought contractors."

An extremely apt metaphor revealing the hypocrisy and cant of the fraudulent War on Terror....

[Ed Jewett]

Ms. Sparky aims at KBR, electrifies war-contractor scrutiny with blog

Published: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 8:00 PM Updated: Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 8:02 AM



Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian

Debbie Crawford manages the mssparky.com website from her Washington home while grandson Keelen Goldsworth studies nearby. The journeyman electrician spent two years working for war contractor KBR in Iraq.



Debbie Crawford was playing with her grandson at her Battle Ground home two years ago when she heard a news report on a Green Beret who died in Baghdad. The water pump in his Army shower was not properly grounded, and when he turned the faucet, a jolt of electricity killed him.

Crawford cried, her worst professional fear realized. She went to her laptop and began to type:

"As a licensed electrician who worked for KBR in Iraq for two years, I find this UNACCEPTABLE!!!! How did this happen? Let me give you my opinion from first-hand experience...."

Five weeks later, after a Senate staffer saw her post, Crawford testified before Congress to poor management and poor workmanship by Kellogg, Brown & Root in Iraq, including subcontracting electrical work to locals not skilled to U.S. standards and failing to check electricians' credentials.

Two years later, the blog she started that 2008 day --mssparky.com – is the largest online catalog of news articles, opinion, leaks and lawsuits regarding war contractors. The site has drawn more than 10.8 million page hits since Jan. 1. [Emphasis by EJ]

When Oregon veterans of the Iraq war appear in federal court in Portland today in their chemical-exposure lawsuit against KBR, they join a wide group of plaintiffs suing KBR -- over electrocutions, burn pits and sexual assault.

Much of what connects them all is Ms. Sparky.

"She's allowed people to speak that otherwise would be too afraid to do so," says Todd Kelly, a Houston attorney who represents six clients suing KBR alleging they were sexual assaulted while working in Iraq. "I would characterize her as pretty courageous in her own right, being willing to blog about the things she's willing to blog about. She has the sense that someone has to speak out."

Hexavalent Chromium
Read The Oregonian's continuing coverage of the problems with Hexavalent Chromium.
Crawford says, "This just took on a life of its own. My blogging is the least interesting part about it."

Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, the federal government has paid private companies $150 billion to do what the military once did -- support daily life for the troops. KBR has been the single largest provider of meals, housing, recreation, mail delivery, laundry and fuel.

KBR maintains there is no evidence that its work caused or contributed to the Green Beret's electrocution and that its military contract for his building was for on-call repairs, not preventative maintenance and inspections. KBR also denies responsibility for exposing troops or employees to carcinogens at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant, "There was no hazardous exposure and there has been no documented illness related to the facility."

Today, Magistrate Judge Paul Papak will hear arguments on whether an Oregon Army National Guard veterans' case against KBR should go forward in U.S. District Court in Oregon. Twenty-six Oregon vets -- and soldiers in three other states -- have sued, saying they were sickened by hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing chemical, as they guarded KBR employees working to restore Iraqi oil in 2003.

Crawford has assembled an online library about the suits.

"This wasn't done so a child could drink safe water. This was done to pump water into wells to get oil flowing. All these soldiers and civilians exposed, for oil."

To meet Ms. Sparky -- the slang for female electrician -- drive past Vancouver's suburban blocks to the hobby farms beneath Mount St. Helen. The 49-year-old wife, grandmother and blogger answers the door in black jeans and a pink plaid cotton top. She homeschools her 7-year-old grandson and takes Tae Kwon Do lessons with him.

Crawford says she is not a disgruntled KBR employee. The journeyman electrician says she went to Iraq six years ago out of patriotism and the same spirit of adventure that took her to contract jobs in Antarctica and China. She did not realize until she returned that problems she saw in Iraq were systemic, including what she saw as poor management and a lack of government oversight.

Growing up near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Crawford applied for an electrical apprenticeship after graduating Benton City High and became the first female journeyman out of IBEW Local 112 in Kennewick. She met her husband, Cal Crawford, at Hanford and talked him into moving to Seaside, then to Portland where she is a member of Local 48.

Crawford liked the math and technology in being an electrician and working with people who can visualize a problem and design solutions. She also liked that she could get a job anywhere. She spent 10 months in Antarctica, then traveled the country with her husband performing maintenance on nuclear plants.

They signed on in 2004 for Iraq. At $14.90 an hour, the salary was less than half what she made at home, but she felt she could contribute to the war effort.

"I thought I was doing the right thing," Crawford says.

The couple were housed at different camps. Both threw themselves into their work, surviving rocket and mortar attacks, heat and family disapproval. (Both of Crawford's parents died while she was overseas and her only daughter Tiffany went in prison for burglary.) Cal returned home after a year, but Crawford reupped for a second, with a raise and management opportunities. She returned to the Northwest July 28, 2006.

She was blogging about her travels and struggles with her daughter, when she heard the news report about Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth's death. Since then, Crawford's writing has almost exclusively focused on war contractors.

She rises every morning at 4:30 and logs on, often working well after her husband and grandson she is raising go to bed. Crawford posts anonymous tips, aggregates related news and videos, expresses her opinion, tips journalists and breaks news such as the death of State Department contractor who was electrocuted in his shower in Iraq in 2009. Categories on her website include "Chemical and other Exposures"; "Contractor Deaths"; "Electrocutions/"; "Indictments, Convictions and Arrests"; "Human Trafficking"; "Rape, Hazing, Discrimination and Harassment"; and "Rants."

Crawford has expanded her scrutiny to include contractors DynCorp, Fluor and Triple Canopy.

She works without pay but takes donations and advertisements on her website. She has had to bring on another person to handle the information flowing through the site. Still, she says the biggest payoff has been meeting all the special people affected by their service or work in the war zones.

Jill Wilkins was a young Florida widow desperate for information after her Air Force reservist husband, a registered nurse, died of a brain tumor in 2008. Wilkins found Ms. Sparky and within weeks of posting her questions about her husband's exposure to burn pits in Iraq on mssparky.com, Wilkins was featured on CNN, found other plaintiffs suing over the use of burn pits and was awarded her husband's veterans benefits.

"It was a lifeline," says Wilkins, who was so inspired she started her own Facebook site on burn pits.

Crawford says what she wants most is for the federal government to police war contractors.

"I have a 7-year-old who is bound and determined to be a soldier and I have to get this fixed before he is in the Army."

-- Julie Sullivan


Related topics: electrocutions, hexavalent chromium, Iraq, KBR, Ms Sparky, Oregon Army National Guard, Qarmat Ali, sodium dichromate

[Ed Jewett]

U.S. Special Forces Selected Lockheed Martin for $5 Billion Soup to Nuts Treatment

July 16th, 2010 Via: Zacks:
Lockheed Martin Corp. won a contract from the U.S. Special Operations Command to provide full-scope logistics support to warfighters around the globe. The company will provide a wide range of mission-critical services, from aircraft and vehicle maintenance to IT and electronics support. The contract has a potential value of $5 billion spread over 10 years.
Under the contract, Lockheed Martin will repair and maintain the fleet of special operations aircraft, ground vehicles, weaponry and electronics equipment as well as manage a global supply chain of parts, warehouses, and depots. The company will also manage and upgrade the command’s critical infrastructure, from secure IT networks to worldwide facilities. Lockheed Martin will work with the Special Operations Forces Support Activity to implement leaner and more efficient business processes that will deliver more reliable, responsive support at lower costs and on shorter timelines.

[Ed Jewett]

Dov Zakheim retires from Booz Allen Hamilton

Jerry Mazza
Online Journal
Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:22 EDT



For those of you who don't know who Dov Zakheim is, let me refresh your memory. The ordained rabbi served as comptroller of the Pentagon from May 4, 2001, to March 10, 2004, when he resigned to go to Booz Allen Hamilton, a leading consulting firm.

I documented his days before, during and after his Pentagon stint, during which a total of $3.2 trillion went missing from Pentagon coffers, in an article for Online Journal, Following Dov Zakheim and Pentagon trillions to 9-11 and Israel, which you should all read in full.

In fact, the second loss of $2.3 trillion was announced on September 10, 2001, by Donald Rumsfeld and the story was buried the next day under the rubble of 9/11.

News of the dual Israel-US citizen/rabbi's retirement came to me from a reader in an email that contained Mr. Zakheim's retirement announcement above the original invitation from his sec EA (Executive Assistant).

Subject: FW: announcement

After more than six years at Booz Allen, I have decided to retire effective July 31st. This has been a most interesting time in my career. I have worked with some wonderful people and made some lasting friends.

I plan to devote more of my time to writing on policy matters, especially international security issues; serving on boards; working with think tanks with which I have had decades-long relationships; and contributing to the important policy debates that will come to the fore in the years to come.

I wish you the best and am sure I will see many of you in the future.

Dov

From: Koronowski, Cynthia [USA]
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 11:25 AM
To:
Subject: Dov Zakheim Retirement Celebration

Good Day Everyone -

I hope that you will be able to attend the Celebration. If you have any questions/concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me at XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Thank you,

Cynthia

As you read, Mr. Zakheim plans to stay politically active:

"I plan to devote more of my time to writing on policy matters, especially international security issues; serving on boards; working with think tanks with which I have had decades-long relationships; and contributing to the important policy debates that will come to the fore in the years to come."

God help us. In his lucrative capacity at Booz Allen Hamilton, which I described as "one of the most prestigious strategy consulting firms in the world," "one of its clients then was Blessed Relief, a charity said to be a front for Osama bin laden. Booz Allen Hamilton then also worked closely with DARPA, the Defense Department Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is the research arm of the Department of Defense. So the dark card shifted to another part of the deck."

I also mentioned that "the ordained rabbi had been tracking the halls of US government for 25 years, casting defense policy and influence of Presidents Reagan, Clinton, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. He is as I described him earlier, the bionic Zionist." In fact, "Most of Israel's armaments were gotten thanks to him. Squads of Us F-16s and F-15s were classified military surplus and sold to Israel at a fraction of their value."

More important is that "in 2001 Dov was CEO of SPS International, part of System Planning Corporation, a defense contractor majoring in electronic warfare technologies, including remote-controlled aircraft systems, and the notorious Flight Termination System (FTS) that could hijack even a hijacked plan and land or crash it wherever," including the Twin Trade Towers.

Mr. Zakheim is "also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and in 2000 a co-author of the Project for the New American Century's position paper, Rebuilding America's Defenses, advocating the necessity for a Pearl-Harbor-like incident [9/11] to mobilize the country into war with its enemies, mostly Middle Eastern Muslim nations."

Mr. Zakheim's grandfather, "was born in 1870, Julius Zakheim (Zhabinka), in the Ukraine, a Russian rabbi who married a relative of Karl Marx. He was a Menshevik/Bolshevik and played a leading role in the 1905 turmoil that paved the way for the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. The Bolshevik master plan called for the state of Israel, which was chosen for its proximity to the world's oil and an area of religious significance."

The torch was carried on by "Dov's father, Rabbi Jacob I. Zakheim, who was born in 1910 and reared in Poland's swarm of Zionist hard guys, read assassins and bombers. His Polish town, near Bilaystok, also brought us Yitzhak Shir, and family friends included Menachem Begin and Moshe Arens. Dov's father was an active member of Betar, formed in 1923 in Riga, Latvia. Its goal was to control the Middle East (and its oil). It was known that the Jewish people needed their own country and they chose Palestine and claimed it a Jewish state 'on both sides of the Jordan.'

"Betar was in essence a terrorist organization formed because Zionists were sick of being chased from and arrested in country after country. They wanted both a place to escape and a base for their power. Betar joined forces with the Haganah, Irgun, and Stern gangs. With no prospect of a Jewish state in sight, they argued that armed struggle against the British was the only way. Since Britain occupied Palestine and was containing them they went on a blood feast of bombings that killed hundreds of British soldiers. The British pulled out, but the Zionists continue to maul the Arabs to this day."

"Returning to Dov: he was born in Brooklyn in 1943 and attended exclusive Jewish schools, spent summers in Israel Zionist camps, which trained the Zionists of the future. As to Dov's formal education, he graduated from Columbia University in 1970 and the University of Oxford in 1972. From 1973 to 75, he attended the London school of Jewish studies, described as a 'Harry Potter' type cauldron; among the subjects Jewish supremacy, Advanced Bible, Talmud, Jewish Mysticism, Holocaust, Anglo-Judaica, and Zionism. After, he was ordained a rabbi. From 1975 to 80, Zakheim was an adjunct professor at the National War College, Yeshiva University, Columbia University and Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.

"As he stepped into the Reagan administration, he talked them into funding development of the Lavi Fighter at a cost of $3 billion. The Lavi was a total flop and Israel dropped it, though it owed $450 million in contract fees that were cancelled. Israel, according to Judicial Inc, also created a story that China was eager to buy the Lavi. Zakheim convinced Reagan that China had to be sandbagged. Reagan gave Israel $500 million for its lost contracts. Reagan then threw in a wing of F-16's as a bonus and sign of good will. Do we see a pattern here, personal, familial, career-wise, of over-the-top Israeli advocacy?

"Again, during Zakheim's tenure as Pentagon controller from May 4, 2001, to March 10, 2004, over $3 trillion dollars were unaccounted for. Additionally, military Information was jeopardized and military contractors billed the US for Israeli items: $50 million dollar fighter jets were rated as surplus and the list rolls on. As the scandal of the missing trillion dollars surfaced and Dov resigned, Israel was handed the finest fighter jets in the US inventory while 15 percent of US jets were grounded for lack of parts. In whose best interest was this?

"But Dov is not alone. He is one of an elite group of Jewish Americans/Israelis who inter-marry and enter government. They and their Christian counterparts are called neocons and their sole purpose is directing US policy. Most of them are dual citizens and few serve in the US military. Think of Paul Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrams, Richard Pearle, Ben Wattenberg, to mention a few. Whether their motivation is anger at the Muslim world, seen as a religious and territorial enemy, or a deep-rooted reaction to the Holocaust, the culmination of European anti-Semitism, their reactionary militarism becomes a world-threatening force unto itself. Hence our concern.

"Dov and the World Trade Center

"Perhaps not coincidentally in May 2001, when Dov served at the Pentagon, it was an SPS (his firm's) subsidiary, Tridata Corporation, that oversaw the investigation of the first 'terrorist' attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. This would have given them intimate knowledge of the security systems and structural blueprints of the World Trade Center. From the '90s through 2001, WTC Security was handled by Securacom, a Kuwait-American firm, on whose board Marvin Bush, the president's brother, sat. After 9/11, Securacom was let go, changed its name to Stratosec, and was delisted from the Stock Exchange in 2002.

"According to Conspiracy News.net writers Shadow and 'Pax' in Dov Zakheim and the 9/11 Conspiracy. (and I suggest you look at this link) "According to the SPC website (4), a recent customer at that time was Eglin AFB, located in Florida. Eglin is very near another Air Force base in Florida-MacDill AFB, where Dov Zakheim contracted to send at least 32 Boeing 767 aircraft, as part of the Boeing /Pentagon tanker lease agreement.

"As the events of September 11, 2001 occurred, little was mentioned about these strange connections, and the possible motives and proximity of Dov Zakheim and his group. Since there was little physical evidence remaining after the events, investigators were left only with photographic and anecdotal evidence.

"There is a photograph of the Flight Termination System module, from their site.(5). Note it has a cylindrical shape, and is consistent with the size and shape of the object observed under the fuselage of flight 175.

"The Boeing lease deal involved the replacement of the aging KC-135 tanker fleet with these smaller, more efficient Boeing 767s that were to be leased by Dov Zakheim's group. The planes were to be refitted with refueling equipment, including lines and nozzle assemblies."

"(Remember both Flight 175, that hit the South Tower, and Flight 11, that hit the North Tower, were Boeing 767s. Flights 77 and 93 were 757s.)

"In the enlargement of flight 175's photo, we can clearly see a cylindrical object under the fuselage, and a structure that appears to be attached to the right underside of the rear fuselage section.

"When seen in comparison, it is obvious that the plane approaching the Trade Center has both of these structures-the FTS module and the midair refueling equipment, as configured on the modified Boeing 767 tankers. Of particular interest is the long tube-like anomalous structure under the rear fuselage area of flight 175-this structure runs along the right rear bottom of the plane, as it also does on the Boeing 767 refueling tanker pictured.

"After considering this information, I [the author/s] am convinced that flight 175, as pictured on the news media and official reports, was in fact a refitted Boeing 767 tanker, with a Flight Termination System attached. Use of this system would also explain the expert handling of aircraft observed in both New York and Washington investigations, which has been officially credited to inexperienced flight school students.

"Since the refitted 767s were able to carry both passengers and a fuel load, as shown in this photo, it is likely that the plane designated Flight 175 was in fact a refitted 767 tanker, disguised as a conventional commercial passenger plane.

"As shown in this photo of a 767 being serviced, the FTS unit, when in position, would be small and unobtrusive enough to be fairly innocuous (at least to casual observers, such as passengers). The smallest circle indicates the size and position of the anomaly depicted in the photos of Flight 175. The larger circle, which is the size of the engine housing, shows the size of the anomaly in relation to the engine. Note the size and position of the open hatches on the engine housing, which would tend to discredit the widely held theory that the anomaly is an open hatch or cargo door.

"As the . . . diagram shows, all flights involved in the events traveled very near many military installations, and appear to have traveled in a manner suggesting guidance and possible transfer of the control of the planes among the bases.

"Since the evidence from the World Trade Center site was quickly removed, there is little concrete evidence of the involvement of Dov Zakheim, who has since left his position at the Pentagon. However, the proximity of Eglin AFB to MacDill AFB in Florida and Dov Zakheim's work via SPC contracts and the Pentagon leasing agreement on both of these installations, combined with SPC's access to World Trade Center structural and security information from their Tridata investigation in 1993 is highly suspicious. Considering his access to Boeing 767 tankers, remote control flight systems, and his published views in the PNAC document, it seems very likely he is in fact a key figure [if not the mastermind] in the alleged terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001."

"EDITORIAL RESPONSE TO READERS' COMMENTS:

"In response to some of our readers who have questioned our premise that it was rabbi Dov Zakheim who 'called for' the Pearl Harbor type of incident, we here at Conspiracy News Net acknowledge that the PNAC document was written by the likes of William Kristol and Donald Kagan, and therefore as the real brains behind the agenda they are the ones calling for it in a literal sense. However, we do stand by our assertion that the rabbi called for it as well, insofar that he signed his name onto this document. If he signed it he agrees with it and therefore he is calling for it.

"Some of you have argued that we are singling out rabbi Zakheim because he is Jewish, implying that we are pushing some sort of twisted anti-Semitic agenda while noting that he is not the only one who signed the PNAC document and therefore wondering why our article is about him and not the others. We do not mean to imply that the rabbi acted alone, our article simply points out that rabbi Zakheim had access to things like structural integrity, blueprints and any number of important facets of information about the WTC through his work with TRIDATA CORPORATION in the investigation of the bombing of the WTC in 1993.

"That he had access to REMOTE CONTROL Technology through his work at System Planning Corporation (SPC). That he had access to BOEING AIRCRAFT through a lease deal HE BROKERED while working at the Pentagon.

" . . . Finally that he was part of a group of politically radical Straussian Neo-Conservatives, who, through their association with PNAC, called for restructuring of the Middle East, noting that a Pearl Harbor type of event MAY BE NEEDED to foster the frame of mind required for the American public to accept such a radical foreign policy agenda. In light of all this information we here at Conspiracy News Net stand by our statement that Mr. Zakheim not only called for the slamming of the WTC Towers on 9-11, but he actively took part in their demolition by providing the logistics necessary for such an attack to occur."

"Coda, a bitter frosting on the cake

"Whether or not you agree in whole or in part with these findings, here is an eye-opening article originally from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Milan Simonich. It is titled Army unit piecing together accounts of Pentagon attack, and from it comes this striking information in paragraph six . . ."One Army office in the Pentagon lost 34 of its 65 employees in the attack. Most of those killed in the office, called Resource Services Washington, were civilian accountants, bookkeepers and budget analysts. They were at their desks when American Airlines Flight 77 struck. (Itals mine)"

"Apart from the question of whether it was F 77 that struck the Pentagon, it is more than ironic that accountants, bookkeepers and budgets analysts, the very people who could pick up the financial frauds were targeted and struck. Especially since the hit was directed supposedly at the Office of Naval Intelligence."

Returning to the present

Bottom line, Mr. Zakheim was never questioned by the 911 Commission on his activities and beliefs, nor by the Department of Justice or any other government law enforcement or intelligence agency to the best of my knowledge. But one of the websites (located in the UK) in the article that showed the 767 aircrafts was asked by Mr. Zakheim's lawyers to take down the link. The lawyers said that "the information offended Mr. Zakheim." Well, his actions offend me.

Unfortunately, libel laws in England favors the complainant versus the USA's, where the burden of proof of libel rests on the accuser. Even then, Zakheim would need to prove that this was done out of malice rather than informing the public of important information.

So, there sits Mr. Zakheim now, freed of his BAH responsibilities but not of the stigma of this information. And my concern still remains. When is the Department of Justice or a new 911 Commission, the FBI, the CIA, DOD, or someone in any position of power going to sit down and ask Mr. Zakheim about his involvement in the masterminding of 9/11?

Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer and life-long resident of New York City. Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net. His new book, "State Of Shock: Poems from 9/11 on" is available at www.jerrymazza.com, Amazon or Barnesandnoble.com.

[Ed Jewett]

8-Year-Long Ban on Sex Trafficking in War Zones Never Enforced
Tuesday, July 20, 2010

U.S. government contractors may be engaging in sex trafficking in Iraq and Afghanistan, but officials in Washington appear to be taking no action despite a law created to discourage the illicit behavior.

According to the law approved eight years ago by President George W. Bush, the government is supposed to prosecute contractors who buy or sell humans, and then ban the contractors from doing federal work.

Agencies claim they don’t have the resources to pursue companies accused of such charges. Human rights groups refuse to believe the inaction on the part of the government is due solely to limited resources.

“Zero prosecutions suggests zero effort to enforce the law,” Martina Vandenberg, a lawyer and former Human Rights Watch investigator, told The Washington Post.

The State Department has acknowledged allegations of contractors paying for prostitution, but no convictions or contract terminations have come about from them.

About 10 years ago, employees of Dyncorp International, a major defense contractor, were accused of buying and selling women throughout Eastern Europe.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

U.S. Policy a Paper Tiger Against Sex Trade in War Zones (by Nick Schwellenbach and Carol Leonnig, Washington Post)
KBR, Partner in Iraq Contract Sued in Human Trafficking Case (by Dana Hedgpeth, Washinton Post)

http://www.allgov.com/US_and_the_World/V...ced_100720

[Ed Jewett]

SUV with American Embassy Contractors Strikes and Kills Afghans

July 30, 2010 by legitgov

[url=javascript:void(0)]ShareThis[/url]SUV with American Embassy Contractors Strikes and Kills Afghans 31 Jul 2010 In Kabul on Friday, a crowd of hundreds of Afghans rioted after a sport utility vehicle carrying American Embassy contractors mercenaries struck a car of Afghans, killing at least three of them, the Afghan police said. The riot happened early Friday afternoon on the busy road that connects the American Embassy and military headquarters in Kabul with the city’s airport. The crowd chanted "Death to America" and "Death to foreigners." Four contractors were in the vehicle, the embassy said. An Afghan police officer on the scene said the contractors traded fire with the police, but spokeswomen from their company, DynCorp International, and the United States Embassy said that the contractors did not fire any shots. [Yeah, right! I wouldn't believe anything *DynCorp* said if their tongues came notarized. --LRP]

[Ed Jewett]

[url=javascript:void(0)][/url]'These men were senselessly tortured by a company that profited from their misery.' Iraqis to sue US firm at Abu Ghraib31 Jul 2010 A US court has given the green light to 72 Iraqis to proceed with a lawsuit against a private contractor accused of complicity in the alleged abuse of detainees at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. US District Judge Peter Messitte ruled that the Iraqis can proceed in their case against L3 Communications and its unit formerly known as Titan Group, which provided interpreters to the US army in Iraq after the US invasion. The 72 former prisoners released after being imprisoned for between one month and four years from 2003 to 2008, accuse L3 employees of beatings, torture, sexual aggression, the use of electric shock, mock executions and hangings from their feet.

[Jan Klimkowski]

[url=javascript:void(0)][/url]'These men were senselessly tortured by a company that profited from their misery.' Iraqis to sue US firm at Abu Ghraib31 Jul 2010 A US court has given the green light to 72 Iraqis to proceed with a lawsuit against a private contractor accused of complicity in the alleged abuse of detainees at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. US District Judge Peter Messitte ruled that the Iraqis can proceed in their case against L3 Communications and its unit formerly known as Titan Group, which provided interpreters to the US army in Iraq after the US invasion. The 72 former prisoners released after being imprisoned for between one month and four years from 2003 to 2008, accuse L3 employees of beatings, torture, sexual aggression, the use of electric shock, mock executions and hangings from their feet.

L-3 Communications, eh?

L-3 (named for Frank Lanza, Robert LaPenta, and Lehman Brothers) was formed in 1997 from the purchase of ten former business units of Lockheed Corporation when Lockheed merged in 1996 with Martin Marietta[3]; the ten units were those which the new Lockheed Martin was uninterested in owning.

L-3 has continued to grow since then through numerous acquisitions to become one of the top ten U.S. government contractors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-3_Communications

Intelligence in Iraq: L-3 Supplies Spy Support

by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
August 9th, 2006

The official headquarters for a 300-person intelligence support operation in Iraq is discreetly located in a two-story red building in a business park in Chantilly, Virginia, just outside the border fence of Washington, DC's Dulles airport. From its nondescript corporate offices, Government Services Incorporated (GSI) supplies staff for an operation that spreads over 22 military bases in the Middle East.

Walk through the entrance and to the left of the reception desk, next to a glass case showcasing electronic surveillance gear, is an announcement congratulating employees on winning a $426.5 million intelligence contract from the Pentagon last year.

GSI is a major subsidiary of L-3 Communications, a Fortune 500 company. Retired Lieutenant General Paul Cerjan took GSI's helm in May, after spending a year running Halliburton's multi-billion dollar military logistics contract in Iraq and around the world.

GSI is only one of several L-3 subsidiaries enjoying the Bush administration's largesse. On March 10, Titan won a no-bid contract worth $840 million over 12 months to supply translators for intelligence and regular military operations in the "global war on terror." Yet another L-3 subsidiary, MPRI, manages the recruitment of U.S. military advisors to key Iraqi ministries such as defense and interior.

Military "prime" contractors such as L-3 extend the complex web of contracts by farming out work to smaller subcontractors, sometimes disabled- or minority-owned businesses. Its partners on the intelligence contract include Florida-based, disabled-owned Espial Services and Virginia-based Gray Hawk Systems. Both are currently advertising for interrogators. Other L-3 subcontractors on the project include Future Technologies Incorporated, a South Asian-owned company which is hiring Middle East regional intelligence analysts; and Operational Support and Services, an obscure North Carolina company seeking counter-intelligence agents.

"The government is desperate for qualified interrogators and intelligence analysts so they are turning to industry," says Bill Golden who now runs IntelligenceCareers.com, one of the biggest intelligence employment websites in the business. "Over half of the qualified counter-intelligence experts in the field work for contractors like L-3."

Trends in Military Intelligence

Over the last five years, the Pentagon, in an apparent turf war with the CIA, has been expanding its intelligence work and relying increasingly and heavily on private contractors. Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone, for example, created a new high-level office where 100 private contractors work with 130 government employees to oversee domestic counterintelligence, long-range threat planning, and budgeting for new technologies.

Officially, L-3 works for the U.S. generals in Iraq and not with Cambone's office, but some military observers see the arrangement with both the private company and the DOD as part of an effort by senior military officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, to sideline the existing Pentagon bureaucracy.

W. Patrick Lang, who used to run worldwide intelligence collection for the Defense Intelligence Agency in the mid 1990s, says that explaining the privatization of military intelligence in Iraq is easy. "The military intelligence bureaucracy is incompetent; many intelligence general officers are mere bureaucrats who are incapable of dealing with real world intelligence problems. Also, many of them are so wrapped up in their own careers that they are afraid to do anything that might be controversial and won't think outside the box," he told CorpWatch.

"The commanders on the ground are reaching out to the private sector to get good people, and I say more power to them. But is this a good trend, the fact that the military is incapable of doing its own work? No, it's a terrible trend."

The possible downside of using private contractors to gather and analyze intelligence ranges from waste and compromised national security, to a deliberate strategy to avoid accountability and establish plausible deniability.

Larry Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense who oversaw most of the Pentagon contracting under Ronald Reagan, is sharply critical. "The privatization of what should be inherently government functions is growing by leaps and bounds. It's one thing to outsource food, but then it was security and now intelligence. What next, private companies running Stryker brigades?" he said, referring to the ubiquitous armored vehicles that patrol Iraq.

Indeed the military increasingly relies on private contractors to do just about everything in Iraq except make decisions and shoot weapons. Halliburton cooks the food and cleans the toilets, Bechtel fixes roads and schools, DynCorp trains the police, Blackwater provides security, and now companies like L-3 are taking over what were once considered core government work such as intelligence.

Who is L-3?

Despite being in business for less than a decade, L-3 is now the sixth-largest military contractor in the nation. Based in Manhattan, it is headquartered on the upper floors of a skyscraper on Third Avenue, a few blocks from the United Nations.

The company was created as a spin-off of several Lockheed Martin and Loral manufacturing units that specialized in advanced electronics. These small business units were having a hard time selling their products to major military manufacturers such as Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrup Grumman and Raytheon, because of perceived competition with Lockheed. L-3 was created as an independent "mezzanine" or middle company, not linked to Lockheed or Loral, that would supply advanced electronics to anyone.

The deal was engineered in 1997 by Wall Street investment bankers, the Lehman brothers, with the help of two former Loral executives, whose name coincidentally began with the letter L: Frank Lanza and Robert LaPenta. (L-3 stands for Lanza, LaPenta and Lehman).

Lanza told a reporter at the time that their plan was "to build one big company, that would be like a high-tech Home Depot."

The company quickly expanded through an aggressive acquisition strategy of buying up some 70 small advanced technology manufacturers. As it grew, it recruited big names to its senior management and board: General John Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Army and General Carl Vuono, the former deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Army, among others.

Within eight years, this new company had ousted other older companies including General Electric from the list of top ten military contractors. In the last few years, L-3 has been aggressively taking over prime contracts, especially in the field of intelligence. In 2005 alone it won $4.7 billion in Pentagon contracts.

Border Failure, Iraq Bonanza

Along with success has come a record of badly completed projects that makes L-3 an odd choice for intelligence gathering in Iraq. Only three months before the government awarded it the huge $426.5 million contract, it busted the company not once, but twice, for supplying faulty surveillance electronics.

In April 2005, the Pentagon placed L-3 subsidiary Interstate Electronics Corporation under criminal investigation for concealing test failures and providing flawed parts for emergency radios used by Special Forces and Air Force teams in Iraq and elsewhere. The investigation is ongoing.

hen on June 16, 2005, Joe Saponaro, then the head of GSI, was hauled before a Congressional committee to testify about the company's $257 million contract to install cameras and sensors for the Border Patrol along remote areas of the Mexican and Canadian borders. The project not only cost a fortune but the system didn't work. In 2004 for example, investigators found that at three sites on the U.S.-Mexico border–Naco, Nogales, and Tucson, not one of GSI's remote surveillance systems was functioning properly. (see box)



Nonetheless, on July 8, 2005, three weeks after Saponaro testified to Congress, L-3 subsidiary GSI sealed a contract worth $426.5 million over four years for intelligence support in Iraq. The paperwork on the contract was not signed in either the United States or Iraq, but, in a move that made the deal harder to track, by Cindy Higginbotham, operations chief of Division B of the United States Army Contracting Agency office at the Amelia Earhart hotel in Wiesbaden, Germany.

An elated Saponoro issued a press release a week later: "We are very proud to have been selected to support our warfighters in Iraq. This award reflects the U.S. intelligence community's continued confidence in L-3 Communications' ability to solve its complex problems and challenges."

The contract extended L-3's intelligence contracting in Iraq with the Pentagon. That relationship began at least as far back as January 2005, when L-3 was tasked with providing advisors to the Special Forces under an older no-bid contract. It was also one of four companies invited to bid on a five-year, $209 million contract to provide information technology, management, and intelligence support services to the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

After L-3 won the $426.5 million intelligence contract for Iraq just over a year ago, the company ramped up its work in Iraq, deploying dozens of people across the battle-scarred nation. The private intelligence analysts report to Major General Richard Zahner, the top intelligence officer in Iraq.

The L-3 contract appears to represent an evolution in the privatization of intelligence. There were almost no private interrogators in Afghanistan or Guantanamo in 2001 and 2002 but with the invasion of Iraq, the government secretly hired CACI, a Virginia-based company, to supply intelligence personnel to Iraq. When one of its employees was implicated in the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal, investigators discovered that the government had covered up the outsourcing by hiring the interrogators through an information technology contract with the Department of Interior in southern Arizona.

The ensuing scandal prompted the government to hire Sytex, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, which supplied interrogators until late last year. (see CorpWatch article) Both CACI and Sytex apparently dropped out of the business after L-3 signed its new contract and offered to hire their former workers.

Asked to comment on the investigations and the current contract in Iraq, GSI spokesman Rick Kiernan referred queries to Cynthia Swain, L-3 vice president for communications at the company headquarters in New York. Swain did not return multiple calls and emails information.

The military was equally tight-lipped. "We're not going to talk about intelligence contracts," Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson, spokesman for the Multi-National Force Command in Baghdad, told CorpWatch.

Troubling Translators

Four months before L-3 signed the $426.5 million contract for intelligence support in Iraq, it made its biggest acquisition yet, paying $2.65 billion for Titan, a San Diego-based military contractor. "This acquisition is very strategic for L-3 because Titan is a major provider of intelligence services to the Department of Defense and key U.S. intelligence agencies," said Frank Lanza, chief executive officer of L-3 at the time.

Titan's most important contract, providing translators to the U.S. military in Iraq, earned it more than a billion dollars, a sixth of the company's total revenue over the past three years. Titan translators, many of whom were recruited through a sub-contractor, SOS International as far back as November 2002, were part of the initial planning for the invasion of Iraq. (see related story)

Several Titan employees have been implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal where they translated for the interrogators. A report by Major General George Fay cited one detainee's charge that an interpreter "allegedly raped a 15-18 year old male detainee." According to the report, this same interpreter was also allegedly "present during the abuse of detainees depicted in photographs." A detainee told investigators that this interpreter "hit him and cut his ear, which required stitches."

U.S. Army records show that, of 15 Titan or SOS translators working at Abu Ghraib prison last fall, only one held a security clearance. Most had no military background at all. Khalid Oman WAS a hotel manager in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Emad Mikha, a Chaldean from Basra, managed the meat department at a supermarket in Pontiac, Michigan, before signing on for Iraq.

A Titan supervisor in the Sunni Triangle, interviewed by CorpWatch, says that contract translators underwent little or no background checking and their qualifications varied. "I'd say most of them were just there for the pay check and should never have been involved in military operations because they were incompetent or unqualified. Many of them did a terrible job," the former U.S. soldier said.

Another Titan translator says that the company hired mostly Shiite Muslims and sent them to work for the military where they would interview detainees who were primarily of Sunni heritage, causing potential conflicts.

The media have exposed several examples of Titan's problem hires. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Titan hired an Egyptian, Ahmed Fathy Mehalba, who had flunked out of Army interrogation school and been placed under surveillance by Massachusetts police. He was later arrested with what authorities said appeared to be classified information about Joint Task Force-Guantanamo, the secret detention-and-interrogation operation at the U.S. Navy base on Cuba's southern coast.

Another Titan employee who worked for an intelligence group in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq allegedly faked his name and birth date, according to Army Times. Calling himself Noureddine Malki, he claimed was single and that his parents and siblings had been killed by shelling in Lebanon. The FBI arrested him and said he was Moroccan and married.

Revolving Door

If the translators lack military experience, GSI's new director certainly does not. A 34 year veteran of the U.S. Army, Paul Cerjan retired from active service in 1994 to work for L-3's predecessor, Lockheed and Loral. He stayed in touch with his military roots even after retirement as a trustee of the National Defense University, and did some political work as a board member of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.

Then for three years, he became president of Christian televangelist Pat Robertson's Regent University. There, the man who had been deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe and led Pentagon delegations to China, spearheaded student enrollment drives and hosted award presentations to Miss America, Nicole Johnson.

Cerjan returned to a more active military role in spring 2003, when he got a call to assist Jay Garner, the man President Bush first asked to manage the reconstruction of Iraq. Cerjan oversaw the demobilization of the Iraqi army until this project became moot when the Iraqi Army disbanded itself.

But it was not long before Cerjan found use for his military background. In July 2004, Halliburton hired him to run its worldwide military logistics operation, a multi-billion dollar behemoth that was already running into trouble with allegations of cost over-runs in Iraq. He quit the job in July 2005, nine months before he came to work at L-3.

Bleak Future, Big Profits

It is hard to gauge if L-3 is simply supplying "warm bodies" for slots that military recruiters have not been able to fill, or if they represent a sea-change in outsourced intelligence. One things is certain, the government is becoming increasingly reliant on contractors in large part because it no longer has a pool of intelligence analysts who stick around long enough learn the necessary skills.

Bill Golden, who runs IntelligenceCareers.com, told CorpWatch that on an average, people applying for jobs last year had 11 years experience in intelligence; this year they have just eight and next year he expects that the average applicant's experience will drop to five years.


"That's not a sufficient base of expertise when you are fighting a worldwide war on terrorism," says Golden, a former military intelligence analyst with 20 years Army experience.

"We are now entering a new phase. Previously, government exported jobs to industry requiring subject matter expertise because that expertise was being institutionally lost. Now there are indications that industry may be losing some of [this expertise] as well."

L-3 is certainly the main beneficiary from this arrangement. Federal data show that the company drew almost $75 million in the first three months of the contract alone--a sixth of the budget for what is supposed to be a three year contract.

--------------

Surveillance Scandal

Congressman Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama, and chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Management, Integration and Oversight, conducted a hearing on June 16, 2005, to probe why L-3 has botched a key border surveillance project.

"In 1998, the former Immigration and Naturalization Service launched the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System, known as ISIS. This system was originally designed to detect illegal aliens and drug traffickers crossing our borders.

"A major component of the system is the Remote Video Surveillance Program. This network integrates multiple color, thermal and infrared cameras, which are mounted on 50- to 80-foot poles along the borders, into a single remote-controlled system.

"In December 2004, the inspector general of the General Services Administration issued an audit. This report found numerous problems with the Border Patrol's contract for the Remote Video Surveillance Program. (download report here)

"For example, the initial $2 million award was made to the International Microwave Corporation, known as IMC, without documented evidence of a competition. Interestingly, however, one year later IMC received a $200 million extension for many of the tasks that had fallen outside the scope of the original contract.

"GSA also found problems with the equipment. At the Border Patrol location in Blaine, Washington, for example, auditors found cameras and other pieces of equipment that did not work. Some needed frequent repair.
"At three other locations, including Detroit, auditors found surveillance sites where no equipment had even been delivered and no work was underway. At other sites in New York, Arizona and Texas, some equipment had been installed, but was not operational.

"GSA also noted these deficiencies: 60-foot poles that were paid for but never installed; sensitive equipment that failed to meet electrical codes; an operations center where contractors, and government employees did little or no work for over a year; and, not surprisingly, numerous cost overruns.

"In September 2004, GSA abruptly halted extending the contract, leaving approximately 70 border sites without monitoring equipment. It also forced the contractor to ship truckloads of equipment back to the Border Patrol. Today, that equipment is gathering dust in a warehouse.

"What we have here, plain and simple, is a case of gross mismanagement of a multimillion dollar contract. This agreement has violated federal contracting rules. And it has wasted taxpayers' dollars.

"Worst of all, it has seriously weakened our border security."

Despite the sub-committee hearing last year, the investigation has since been dropped. Robert Samuels, a spokesman for the General Services Administration, emailed an update to CorpWatch: "The results of the investigation were not sufficient, however, to pursue further legal action."

It might just be coincidence but the manager of the border security project was Rebecca Reyes, who is now director of policy, procedures and administration at L-3 subsidiary, MPRI. She also happens to be the daughter of Silvestre Reyes, a member of the U.S. Congress from Texas, a former Border Patrol agent who is now a senior member of both the Armed Services and Select Intelligence Committees of the House of Representatives.



Download PDF: Department of Homeland Security report on failure of Border Surveilance Camera Project

-------------------

"Dusty" Foggo and "Nine Fingers"

L-3/GSI's next door neighbor in Chantilly, Virginia, is a company called Archer Logistics run by a man named by Brent Wilkes, headquartered on Thunderbolt Road, also at the south-eastern corner of the Washington Dulles airport.

Archer, which occupies a slightly smaller but more stylish two story red building, was a multi-million dollar contractor to the Pentagon beginning in 1995. In 2003 the company won a contract to supply water to CIA personnel in Iraq during the U.S. invasion. The deal was signed by the CIA's office in Frankfurt, Germany. The company later failed in a bid to provide clandestine flight services to the CIA.

Wilkes has been indirectly named in a lawsuit against San Diego Congressman Randy Cunningham, of using bribery in obtaining his military contracts, although he has not been charged. In March 2006 the CIA opened an investigation into whether his contracts were obtained with the help of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the third highest ranked CIA official and a former CIA officer nicknamed "Nine Fingers." Both men attended poker parties thrown by Wilkes at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.

Guests often arrived at the parties in chauffeured Mercedes-Benz limousines charted by Wilkes and were allegedly supplied with Cuban cigars and prostitutes. One frequent visitor was Cunningham, whom Wilkes paid $630,000 in bribes, according to an Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation conducted by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

There are no reported links between L-3 and the scandals involving Archer.

But like any good neighbors, they certainly do business together. Archer Logistics is an approved distributor for L-3's night vision Holographic Weapon Sights for M4 guns, used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

--------------

Pratap Chatterjee is managing editor of CorpWatch. He can be reached at "pratap@corpwatch.org"

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13993

[Peter Lemkin]

Windfalls of War - The Center for Public Integrity http://publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro

Contractor Value Value FY02 Agency
Abt Associates Inc.
Iraq
$43,818,278 USAID
Advanced Systems Development, Inc.
Iraq
$259,958.56 DoD
AECOM
Iraq
$21,610,501 DoD
Alexander, Deborah Lynn
Afghanistan
$168,625 USAID
AllWorld Language Consultants
Iraq
$4,051,349 DoD
American International Contractors, Inc.
Iraq
$1,500,000,000 DoD
American President Lines Ltd.
Iraq
$5,000,000 USAID
Anteon International Corporation
Afghanistan
$6,800,000 DoD
AOS, Inc.
Iraq
$866,988 DoD
Artel
Iraq
Atlas Case, Inc.
Iraq
$17,243 DoD
Bald Industries
Iraq
$35,734 DoD
Baldino, George F.
Afghanistan
$263,000 USAID
Bea Mauer, Inc.
Iraq
$9,920 DoD
BearingPoint Inc.
Afghanistan
$64,100,00 USAID
BearingPoint Inc.
Iraq
$240,162,668 USAID
Bechtel Group Inc.
Iraq
$2,829,833,859 USAID
Blackwater Security Consulting L.L.C.
Iraq
$21,331,693 DoD
CACI International Inc.
Iraq
$66,221,143.19 Interior
Camp Dresser & McKee Inc.
Afghanistan
$1,700,000 USAID
Capital Shredder Corporation
Iraq
$11,803 DoD
Cartridge Discounters
Iraq
$40,492 DoD
CDW Government, Inc.
Iraq
$35,174 DoD
Cellhire USA
Iraq
$1,465,983 DoD
CH2M Hill
Iraq
$1,528,500,000 DoD
Windfalls of War - The Center for Public Integrity http://publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro
2 de 6 22-11-2007 8:50
Chemonics International Inc.
Afghanistan
$167,759,000 USAID
Chugach McKinley, Inc.
Iraq
$3,068,407 DoD
Comfort Inn
Iraq
$47,324 DoD
Complement, Inc., The
Iraq
$3,358 DoD
Contrack International Inc.
Iraq
$2,325,000,000 DoD
Contrack International Inc.
Afghanistan
$500,000,000 DoD
Creative Associates International Inc.
Afghanistan
$60,000,000 USAID
Creative Associates International Inc.
Iraq
$273,539,368 USAID
Cybex International
Afghanistan
$4,838 DoD
Dataline Inc.
Iraq
$1,028,851.89 DoD
Dell Marketing L.P.
Iraq
$513,678.88 DoD
Detection Monitoring Technologies
Iraq
$5,584,482 DoD
Development Alternatives Inc.
Iraq
$39,523,857 USAID
Development Alternatives Inc.
Afghanistan
$9,594,000 USAID
DHS Logistics Company
Afghanistan
$378,000 $288,000 DoD
DHS Logistics Company
Iraq
$223,497 DoD
Diplomat Freight Services Inc.
Afghanistan
$2,604,276 $2,604,000 State
DynCorp (Computer Sciences Corp.)
Afghanistan
$43,559,421 $130,000 State
DynCorp (Computer Sciences Corp.)
Iraq
$50,000,000 State
Earth Tech, Inc.
Iraq
$65,449,155 DoD
EGL Eagle Global Logistics
Iraq
$111,000 USAID
EHI Company
Iraq
$3,956 DoD
Electric Generator Store, The
Iraq
$6,974 DoD
Environmental Chemical Corporation
Iraq
$1,475,000,000 DoD
EOD Technology Inc.
Iraq
$71,900,000 DoD
Expedited World Cargo Inc.
Iraq
$55,004 USAID
Explosive Ordnance Technologies Inc.
Iraq
$1,475,000,000 DoD
Export Depot
Iraq
$21,182 DoD
Federal Data Corporation
Afghanistan
$1,991,770 DoD
Fluor Corp.
Iraq
$3,754,964,295 DoD
Force 3
Iraq
$274,651.95 DoD
Windfalls of War - The Center for Public Integrity http://publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro
3 de 6 22-11-2007 8:50
Foster Wheeler Co.
Iraq
$8,416,985 DoD
General Electric Company
Iraq
Value Unknown DoD
General Electric Company
Afghanistan
$8,525,498 DoD
Giesecke & Devrient America
Iraq
$72,700 DoD
Global Container Lines Ltd.
Iraq
$1,850,000 USAID
Global Professional Solutions
Iraq
$590,232 DoD
Global Services
Iraq
$910,468 DoD
GPS Store, Inc., The
Iraq
$19,761 DoD
GTSI Corp
Afghanistan
$70,220 DoD
Hardware Associates
Iraq
$4,304 DoD
Harris Corporation
Iraq
$165,000,000 DoD
Inglett and Stubbs LLC
Iraq
$1,826,974 DoD
Inglett and Stubbs LLC
Afghanistan
$6,348,271 DoD
Intelligent Enterprise Solutions
Iraq
$19,835 DoD
International American Products Inc.
Iraq
$628,421,252 DoD
International American Products Inc.
Afghanistan
$20,080,636 $683,000 DoD
International Global Systems, Inc.
Iraq
$157,383.40 DoD
International Resources Group
Afghanistan
$1,230,000 USAID
International Resources Group
Iraq
$38,000,000 USAID
J & B Truck Repair Service
Afghanistan
$1,353,477 DoD
John S. Connor Inc.
Iraq
$34,153 USAID
JSI Inc.
Iraq
$3,376 DoD
Kellogg, Brown & Root (Halliburton)
Iraq
$10,832,000,000 DoD
Kellogg, Brown & Root (Halliburton)
Afghanistan
$599,000,000 $114,999,000 DoD
Kollsman Inc
Iraq
Kroll Inc.
Iraq
Value Unknown USAID
Kropp Holdings
Iraq
$11,880,000 DoD
Lab Safety Supply
Iraq
$53,379 DoD
Laguna Construction Company, Inc.
Iraq
$19,536,683 DoD
LandSea Systems, Inc.
Iraq
$47,750 DoD
Landstar Express America Inc.
Iraq
$24,396 USAID
Windfalls of War - The Center for Public Integrity http://publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro
4 de 6 22-11-2007 8:50
Liberty Shipping Group Ltd.
Iraq
$7,300,000 USAID
Logenix International L.L.C.
Iraq
$29,000 USAID
Louis Berger Group
Afghanistan
$10,228,894 -
$300,000,000
$5,229,000 USAID
Louis Berger Group
Iraq
$27,671,364 DoD
Lucent Technologies World Services, Inc.
Iraq
$75,000,000 DoD
Management Systems International
Afghanistan
$14,700,000 USAID
Management Systems International
Iraq
$15,116,328 USAID
McNeil Technologies, Inc.
Iraq
$716,651 DoD
Mediterranean Shipping Company
Iraq
$13,000 USAID
MEI Research Corporation
Iraq
Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
Afghanistan
$1,471,238 DoD
Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
Iraq
$4,528,328 DoD
Midwest Research Institute
Iraq
$1,765,000 DoD
Military Professional Resources Inc.
Iraq
$2,608,794.74 DoD
Miscellaneous Foreign Contract
Iraq
$3,026,630 DoD
Miscellaneous Foreign Contract
Afghanistan
$10,463,180 DoD
Motorola Inc.
Iraq
$15,591,732 DoD
MZM Inc.
Iraq
$1,213,632 DoD
NANA Pacific
Iraq
$70,000,000 DoD
Native American Industrial Distributors Inc.
Iraq
$123,572 DoD
Night Vision Equipment Company
Iraq
$153,118 DoD
Nuttall, James S.
Afghanistan
$187,000 USAID
Ocean Bulkships Inc.
Iraq
$5,000,000 USAID
Odebrect-Austin
Iraq
$1,500,000,000 DoD
Outfitter Satellite, Inc.
Iraq
$33,203 DoD
PAE Government Services Inc.
Afghanistan
$7,007,158 $5,714,000 State
Paro, Amy K.
Afghanistan
$94,457 $94,000 USAID
Parsons Corp.
Iraq
$5,286,136,252 DoD
Parsons Energy and Chemicals Group
Iraq
$43,361,340 DoD
Perini Corporation
Iraq
$2,525,000,000 DoD
Perini Corporation
Afghanistan
$14,000,000 - $25,000,000 DoD
Windfalls of War - The Center for Public Integrity http://publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro
5 de 6 22-11-2007 8:50
Raytheon Aerospace LLC
Afghanistan
$91,096,464 $2,044,000 DoD
Raytheon Technical Services
Iraq
$12,412,573 DoD
Reabold, Miguel (Michael)
Afghanistan
$136,603 USAID
Readiness Management Support LC (Johnson Controls
Inc.)
Afghanistan
$40,792,343 $828,000 DoD
Readiness Management Support LC (Johnson Controls
Inc.)
Iraq
$173,965,104 USAID
Red River Computer Company
Iraq
$972,592.90 DoD
Redcom Laboratories
Afghanistan
$24,375 DoD
Research Triangle Institute
Iraq
$466,070,508 USAID
Ronco Consulting Corporation
Iraq
$12,008,289.60 DoD
Ronco Consulting Corporation
Afghanistan
$12,423,633 $6,771,000 USAID / State /
DoD
S&C Electric Company
Afghanistan
$34,800 DoD
S&K Technologies Inc.
Iraq
$4,950,384.80 DoD
Sampler, Donald L.
Afghanistan
$81,000 USAID
Science Applications International Corp.
Iraq
$159,304,219 DoD
Sealift Inc.
Iraq
$4,000,000 USAID
Segovia Inc.
Iraq
$320,636 DoD
SETA Corporation
Iraq
$3,165,765 DoD
Shaw Group/Shaw E & I
Iraq
$3,050,749,910 DoD
Signature Science
Iraq
$4,704,464 DoD
Simmonds Precision Products
Iraq
$4,412,488 DoD
SkyLink Air and Logistic Support (USA) Inc.
Iraq
$27,344,600 USAID
Smith Office Machines Corporation
Iraq
$2,961 DoD
Social Impact Inc.
Afghanistan
$1,875,000 USAID
Sodexho Inc.
Afghanistan
$324,120 $324,000 State
SPARCO
Iraq
$9,215 DoD
Stanley Baker Hill L.L.C.
Iraq
$1,200,000,000 DoD
Stanley Consultants
Iraq
$7,709,767 DoD
Staples National Advantage
Iraq
$4,194 DoD
Stevedoring Services of America
Iraq
$14,318,895 USAID
Stratex Freedom Services
Afghanistan
$1,978,175 DoD
Structural Engineers
Iraq
$1,113,000 DoD
Windfalls of War - The Center for Public Integrity http://publicintegrity.org/wow/bio.aspx?act=pro
6 de 6 22-11-2007 8:50
TECO Ocean Shipping Co.
Iraq
$7,200,000 USAID
Tekontrol, Inc.
Afghanistan
$85,146 DoD
Tetra Tech Inc.
Iraq
$1,541,947,671 DoD
Titan Corporation
Iraq
$402,000,000 DoD
Total Business
Iraq
$4,696 DoD
Transfair North America International
Iraq
$19,351 USAID
Triumph Technologies
Iraq
$228,924 DoD
Tryco Inc.
Afghanistan
$400,000 DoD
Unisys Corporation
Iraq
$320,000 DoD
United Defense Industries, L.P.
Iraq
$4,500,000 DoD
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Afghanistan
$7,072,468 USAID
USA Environmental Inc.
Iraq
$1,541,947,671 DoD
Vinnell Corporation (Northrop Grumman)
Iraq
$48,074,442 DoD
Ward Transformer Sales & Services
Iraq
$115,000 DoD
Washington Group International
Iraq
$3,133,078,193 DoD
Washington Group International
Afghanistan
$500,000 - $500,000,000 DoD
WECSYS
Iraq
$3,040 DoD
Weston Solutions, Inc.
Iraq
$16,279,724 DoD
World Fuel Services Corp.
Afghanistan
$19,762,792 DoD
Young, Brian
Afghanistan
$106,150 $39,000 State
Zapata Engineering
Iraq
$1,478,838,958 DoD

[Jan Klimkowski]

Karzai's reading from the wrong script...

We shall see how this plays out.

Karzai to scrap foreign security firms in Afghanistan within four months

Afghan president brings forward deadline for handover of many security duties from foreign security firms to national police

Afghanistan's giant private security industry, which guards everything from western embassies to Nato supply convoys, is set to be scrapped within four months under dramatic new plans from Hamid Karzai.

According to Karzai's spokesman, the Afghan president is due to bring forward plans to dissolve all private security companies and hand over responsibility to the country's still ill-trained and often corrupt police force.

In November, Karzai said the firms, which employ tens of thousands of gunmen, would be phased out by late 2011.

The sudden announcement caught the private security industry by surprise, with many western managers in Kabul simply refusing to believe that the international community, which relies heavily on private armed guards to secure embassies and other facilities, would tolerate Afghan police guarding their foreign staff.

"If you go and talk to any of the big donors you will find that none of them will stay in the country if they can't have international security companies protecting them," said one senior executive of a major international security company.

He said his organisation was still absorbing the unexpected news, saying the threat to shut down security companies "seems to be a bit of a cyclical issue coming back every four to six months".

"It seems to be almost every time there is push from the US on anti-corruption, there is push back by the Afghan government saying [corruption] is all the private security companies' fault," he said.

The industry is seen by the Afghan government and its key allies as a source of instability, and indeed many of the companies are little more than private militias operating in their own specific patches of the country.

Currently, there are 52 registered companies with an estimated 30,000 staff. However, there are also huge numbers of unregistered companies, including 22 in the southern province of Kandahar alone.

According to some estimates, there could be as many as 50,000 people working for private security companies in Afghanistan.

A recent study by the US Congress heavily criticised a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) US government contract for trucking services, which said some of the security companies involved in protecting road convoys were paying protection money directly to insurgents.

For years, the average pay for Afghans working for private security companies has outstripped rewards for policeman and soldiers, making it difficult for the government to recruit its own security forces.

Yesterday a military spokesman for Nato said the alliance was "in total support of the president of Afghanistan's intent to do away with security companies and to do away with the need for private security companies".

However, he said these should be done "in a logical and sequential manner and as conditions permit."

The government has made various attempts to clamp down on the operations of the private security industry, including the most recent initiative ordering guards at all companies to wear a standardised uniform, which is due to come into effect in the coming weeks. But for all the trouble caused by such companies, the entire military effort in Afghanistan has essentially outsourced most of its logistics requirements to the private sector, making it totally reliant on security contractors to bring in food, fuel and equipment to Nato bases all over the country.

The Afghan army and police are currently experiencing breakneck growth and undergoing reform programmes to try to make them ready to take over from foreign troops by 2014.

Most embassies would not want to be guarded by an Afghan police force that is plagued with corruption and is also largely illiterate.

A western security official predicted that most embassies would find ways to avoid any ban, possibly citing a longstanding agreement between Nato and the Afghan government that gives near-total immunity to contractors working for the international community. Another option would be to issue embassy guards with diplomatic passports.

Karzai first announced his plans in his inauguration speech last November after he was reappointed president in the wake of national elections.

"The goal of a powerful national government can be realised by the strong presence of national security forces in all parts of the country," he said at the time.

"Within the next two years, we want operations by all private national and international security firms to be ended and their duties delegated to Afghan security entities."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug...e-security