» Security Contractors Ms Sparky

Iraq wants to limit private security contractors

Posted on: February 8th, 2012 at 8:19 am — by Forseti

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Private contractors in Iraq. [Source: NBC

(AFP) – February 8, 2012 – Iraq deeply mistrusts private security companies and wants to limit their operations here, officials say, while the contractors themselves have faced bureaucratic delays and detentions.

This mistrust stems from perceived arrogant behaviour by employees of these firms in the past and various incidents of violence involving them.

The most infamous incident was the 2007 killing of at least 14 civilians in Baghdad’s Nisur Square by gunmen from the Blackwater firm guarding a US embassy convoy.

While Blackwater, now called ACADEMI, was later banned from the country, security contractors still guard US diplomats in Iraq and provide security for various foreign companies.

“Iraq is not looking to expand the security companies’ work here,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in an interview with AFP.

“We feel that Iraq should move to the normal life — we don’t want to see the tens of the security companies taking the job of the ministry of interior.

“Iraq has got a not friendly history with the security companies, especially … Blackwater, and we don’t want to repeat that crisis again. So, we would like to limit their work here in Iraq, but we don’t want to stop them,” Dabbagh said.

The firms “have to understand that … they don’t have free (movement) in the country. They have to follow the instruction, they have to hold the permit, a valid permit, and they are not allowed to violate the Iraqi laws.”

“They are not exempted as before, and they are not getting any sort of immunity,” he said. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Politics, Security Contractors. Tags: Academi, Blackwater, Blackwater/Xe, Blackwater/Xe/Academi, Iraq, Michael McClellan, Secretary Hillary Clinton. 1 Comment »

Paper or plastic and other news

Posted on: February 5th, 2012 at 7:21 pm — by Forseti

Fed / Contractor Compensation Issues Are Burning Red Hot
Scott Amey – (POGO) – February 3, 2012 – Compensation was a hot topic this week–here’s a recap of the biggest developments:

Monday: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a study that found that federal employees, on average, are paid 16 percent more than employees in the private sector with the same education.

Tuesday: The White House blogged that the contractor executive compensation cap of $693,951 should be reduced to a “level on par with what the Government pays its own executives – approximately $200,000.”

Wednesday: The House passed a bill (H.R. 3835) freezing federal salaries through 2013.

Thursday: The Senate proposed a bill to freeze civilian pay through 2014 and cut the civilian workforce.

You might recall that in 2011, the FY 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1540) included a provision that extended the reimbursable compensation cap to all defense contractors (with a large loophole for top-talented scientists and engineers that is ripe for abuse). This might sound good, however the cap is expected to jump to approximately $750,000 (see p. 21) in 2012. Although, one might question that cap because it was based on “commercially available surveys of executive compensation,” which included the “5 most highly compensated employees in management position.” With the new cap applying to defense contractor employees, it seems top-heavy to use the old formula. (Click HERE for article)

13th ESC commander dies of apparent natural causes in Afghanistan
Brigadier General Terence J. Hildner
(Fort Hood Press Center) – FORT HOOD, Texas – February 3, 2012 – Fort Hood officials have released the name of a Soldier who died of apparent natural causes Feb. 3 in Kabul, Afghanistan.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

That bird won’t fly and other news

Posted on: January 30th, 2012 at 4:25 am — by Forseti

Hold that Revolving Door! Four-Star General Coming Through
Dana Liebelson – (POGO) – January 28, 2012 – The revolving door that carried former Department of Defense honcho William Lynn III to a well-paying job with an Italian defense contractor keeps on spinning – now Gen. James Cartwright, who retired as the nation’s second-highest ranking military officer in August, is following Lynn into the private sector.

Cartwright is joining the Board of Directors at Raytheon, a major U.S. defense contractor. Earlier in the week, DRS Technologies named Lynn as its chief executive officer. (Coincidently, before Lynn was tapped as deputy defense secretary, he was a top lobbyist for Raytheon.)

“General Cartwright’s deep understanding of defense and broad experience in military operations and matters of national security will be of great value to our Board,” Raytheon Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson said in a press release.

Well, Cartwright certainly has a deep understanding of defense: He’s a four-star general with 40 years of service in the Marine Corps, including four years as the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But then there’s that sticky “great value to the Board” comment. And that’s where the problem with the well-oiled revolving door that leads from the Pentagon to the defense industry rears its ugly head. (Click HERE for article)

Former United Nations Employee Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison
(DoJ) – WASHINGTON - January 27, 2012 – Jeffery K. Armstrong, 52, of South Riding, Va., was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for obtaining more than $100,000 in salary payments by fraudulently holding concurrent jobs at the United Nations (U.N.) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He was ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release following his sentence and to pay $128,153 in restitution.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, LOGCAP III - KBR, LOGCAP IV - KBR, Security Contractors, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Tags: Alpha Technology Group, Andrew Bigelow, Andrew J. Nusbaum, Charles R. Priestley, Department of Veterans Affairs, Dick Cheney, Dina Rasor, DoD Contractors, Donald Rumsfeld, DRS Technologies, EyakTek, Finmeccanica, Gen. James Cartwright, Giuseppe Orsi, Halliburton, Harold F. Babb, Hummingbird Aviation, Jeffery K. Armstrong, John Benson Wier III, Joshua R. Nusbaum, KBR, Kerry F. Khan, Lee A. Khan, Lee Allen Tolleson, LOGCAP, Mark S. Newman, Michael A. Alexander, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Ocwen Loan Servicing LLC, Pankesh Patel, Pentagon, Raytheon, Retired General's Club, Robert A. Riddell, Robert L. McKinney, Ryan International Airlines, United Nations, United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), Wayne E. Kepple, William J. Lynn III. No Comments »

Security contractors face challenges in Iraq

Posted on: January 25th, 2012 at 4:36 am — by Forseti

Problems mount after U.S. troops withdraw from country

Fred Pleitgen – (NECN/CNN) – January 24, 2012 – It’s getting harder for private security contractors to do business in Iraq.

Government officials say the contractors simply have to follow the requirements for any foreigners.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Politics, Security Contractors, Working Overseas. Tags: Academi, American Iraqi Solutions Group(AISG), Arrests, Blackwater/Xe, Blackwater/Xe/Academi, Carter Andress, Iraq. 2 Comments »

You’ll pay for that & other news

Posted on: January 22nd, 2012 at 8:09 am — by Forseti

“When I served four years in the military, it wasn’t so that Bechtel, KBR, Halliburton and all the other corporations could make money and buy politicians to further drag out the war and create policies that support all that,” Bodell said. “I fought for the Constitution, for representation and for freedom of the American people.” ~ Kole Bodell, Salt Lake City, UT

Ex-officer indicted for coercing soldiers
(Windsor Star) – January 21, 2012 – A former Danish officer has been indicted for threatening to send troops under his command to the Afghan front line if they refuse to pay a fine for certain errors, website Politiken said Friday.

The 33-year-old, in charge of a royal guard unit in Afghanistan, “put pressure on a number of soldiers in Afghanistan daily to contribute to a system of illegal financial penalties,” said the website.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Agility/PWC/GCC, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR, Politics, Security Contractors, U.S. Army. Tags: ADS Tactical Inc., Agility DGS Holdings, Agility/PWC/GCC, Anham LLC, Bechtel, Bob Dix, Boeing, Bonny Island LNG, Camp Bastion, Carl Icahn, CIA, Corezing International Pte Ltd, DHS, Dick Cheney, DoD*, FCPA, FCPA Violations, George W. Bush, Guantanamo Bay, Halliburton, Icahn Partners LP, JGC Corporation, Judge Pablo Rafael Ruz Gutierrez, Juniper Networks, KBR, Kole Bodell, Lockheed Martin, Luke Hillier, Mabey & Johnson, Mabey Engineering Holdings Ltd., Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, Marubeni Corporation, Michael W. Tutwiler, Move One Logistics, Navistar, Northrop Grumman, Osen-Hunter, Oshkosh Corp., Pentagon, PIPA, Rudolf L. Cheung, SOPA, Technip S.A., Triple Canopy, Virginia Army National Guard. No Comments »

David Isenberg: Gun? Check. Radio? Check. Lawyer? Check!

Posted on: January 20th, 2012 at 10:46 am — by Ms Sparky

David Isenberg – (Huffington Post) – January 20, 2012 – Some things just seem to go together: day and night, bread and butter, Romeo and Juliet, Abbott and Costello, Crosby and Hope, Batman and Robin, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Cheech and Chong, Sonny and Cher, Beavis and Butthead and sharks and suckerfish (remora) for example. In light of that last pair, another symbiotic pair is private military and security contractors and lawyers.

When historians try to calculate the various benefits that the past decade of privatized contingency operations has brought, one hopes they won’t forget to include the huge number of billable hours that various law firms representing various plaintiffs and defendants have amassed. Firms like KBR, Blackwater and DynCorp alone have doubtlessly enabled scores of lawyers to pay for their children’s education all the way up through doctorates.

For example, earlier this month the security company once known as Blackwater, now Academi, agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by six victims or their families in the Sept. 16, 2007 shootings in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, an incident that remains a lightning rod over the use of private contractors in war.

According to Charlotte, North Carolina law firm Lewis & Roberts, who represented the victims in this case, the lawsuit was the “last active civil suit stemming from the incident,” in which five Blackwater guards were accused in 14 deaths of civilians.

Also this month the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), announced that DynCorp International, a Falls Church, Va.-based private military contractor and aircraft maintenance company, will pay $155,000 and furnish other significant relief to settle a sex-based harassment and retaliation lawsuit.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Flexing Muscle, Baghdad Detains U.S. Contractors

Posted on: January 16th, 2012 at 7:42 am — by Ms Sparky

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: January 15, 2012

BAGHDAD — 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. (Read the rest of the story here…)