Security Contractors – Ms Sparky

Archive for the Security Contractors Category

Private security contractors get a 3 month reprieve from suspension order in Afghanistan

By Forseti | Filed in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Politics, Security Contractors

Afghanistan extend private security firms closing deadline

Photo - Guardian UK

By GHANIZADA – (Khaama Press) – March 19, 2012 – Afghan interior ministry announced to delay forced cancellation of private security companies in Afghanistan by at least 3 months.

All the private security companies excluding those private security firms which provide security services to diplomatic installations and embassies in Afghanistan were supposed to be suspended by the end of the current Afghan year based on the pre-planned agreement.

But the Afghan security officials emphasized that the private security firms require more time to suspend their activities.

Noor Khan Haidari an official in the public security sector at the Afghan interior ministry said, majority of the private security firms provide escort security to NATO procurement convoys in the country.
Afghan security officials said the private security firms were allowed three months more time to transfer their responsibilities to Afghan security forces.

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Tags: Afghanistan, DoD Contractors, Hamid Karzai

Court documents detail $54 million scheme to defraud U.S. military

By Forseti | Filed in GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, Politics, Reports & Investigations, Security Contractors

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John Woodrow Cox – (Tampa Bay Times) – March 15, 2012 – On a sunny morning in early September, nearly a dozen federal agents surrounded a three-story, gulffront home on a quiet street in northwest Hernando Beach.

They swarmed the house like a SWAT team, wearing bulletproof vests and gripping pistols still strapped to their sides. One held a pry bar.

For months, the cause of the raid remained a mystery. But newly obtained court records reveal that authorities are investigating a $54 million scheme to defraud the U.S. military.

Court documents allege that the home’s resident, David Young, a 49-year-old former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, used his position to steer military contracts to his friends then helped devise ways to charge the Department of Defense millions of dollars for work that was never done.

The scam went unnoticed for years as the conspirators became rich, the records say.

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Tags: American International Security Corp. (AISC), Ashley Speck, David Young, George H.W. Bush, Gov. John H. Sununu, Hernando County Holdings, Maj. Todd Cox, Michael Gargac, Michael Taylor, Sen. John McCain, Sgt. Christopher Harris, Tory Milos

Canada’s sole source contract to bad boy security firm Blackwater aka XE Services nka ACADEMI

By Forseti | Filed in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Security Contractors

U.S. firm linked to civilian deaths hired to train Canadian soldiers

“Could the Canadian government find no one better to train Canadian soldiers?” he said. “A sole-sourced contract worries you at the best of times. But to sole-source Blackwater?”

Lee Berthiaume – (Postmedia News) – OTTAWA – March 7, 2012 – An American private security firm whose employees have been implicated in the killing of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan was paid nearly $2.4 million to train Canadian soldiers last year.

Documents tabled in the House of Commons show Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, was providing select troops specialized training in precision shooting and defensive driving at the company’s North Carolina facilities.

Other soldiers were trained in bodyguard and close-quarter combat skills.

Not all of the training was done by the company’s staff, the documents say. In many instances, the Canadian Forces supplied its own instructors or simply used the company’s extensive training complex.

The military has had a relationship with the security firm for years; the documents say 605 Canadian soldiers have received training at the company’s North Carolina complex since 2006, as well as an unspecified number of special forces commandos.

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Tags: Academi, Blackwater/Xe, Blackwater/Xe/Academi, Canadian Forces (CF), sole source

Family Says DynCorp Lied About Killing

By Forseti | Filed in CONTRACTOR DEATHS, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP-Dyncorp, Security Contractors

Photo (The News-Herald)

Glynis Farrell – (Courthouse News) – DETROIT – March 6, 2012 – A family claims in Federal Court that DynCorp International covered up the shooting of their son, who allegedly was shot to death by a drunken co-worker in Iraq.

The family of the late Justin Pope sued DynCorp and 12 of its employees, including the alleged shooter, Kyle Palmer.

The family claims Palmer was drunk when he shot and killed Justin Pope in front of at least 11 other DynCorp employees on March 4, 2009. They say in the complaint that “Defendant Palmer pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the case of United States v. Kyle Palmer … and on March 29, 2010, was sentenced to, among other things, three (3) years in prison for the crime.”

The men worked as security specialists for DynCorp in Kirkuk, Iraq, assigned to protect American diplomats and dignitaries. DynCorp is a private military contractor based in Falls Church, Va.

Pope, a Detroit native who served two tours of duty in Iraq, was 25 at the time of his death.

Pope’s family claims DynCorp and the alleged witnesses conjured up a story to cover up the facts of his death.

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Tags: Civilian Deaths, Corey Igo, Derek Augstine, Douglas Ebner, DynCorp CIVPOL*, DynCorp*, Jason Hillestad, Justin Pope, Kyle Palmer, Mark Tanner, Michael Boffo, Michael Keho, Noah Fleming, Patrick Dobson, Ray Whiting

McCaskill, Webb Introduce Wartime Contracting Legislation that Could Save Taxpayers Billions

By Forseti | Filed in CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC), Electrocutions/Shocks, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Politics, Rape, Hazing, Discrimination & Harassment, Reports & Investigations, Security Contractors, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations

NEIL GORDON and JAKE WIENS – (POGO) – March 1, 2012 – Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Jim Webb (D-VA) have introduced the Comprehensive Contingency Contracting Reform Act of 2012 (S. 2139), a bill that will greatly enhance transparency, sustainability, and accountability in overseas contingency operation contracting by the Department of Defense (DoD), the State Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The bill is a response to the recommendations of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan (CWC), which submitted its final contingency contracting report to Congress in August.

Here’s a look at several of the good-government and contingency contracting reforms in the bill:

Inspectors General

The bill requires that the Chair of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) select one of three current Inspectors General (IG)—DoD IG, State IG, and USAID IG—to lead oversight of contingency operations. That IG would be responsible for resolving conflicts of jurisdiction between the IGs, authorizing the employment of temporary auditors and investigators, and submitting to Congress a bi-annual report containing detailed information about its activities and the activities of the agencies engaged in the contingency operation. The bill would improve oversight of contingency operations by IGs, but it is less ambitious than the CWC’s recommendation for a permanent IG for contingency operations. Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) has introduced legislation that is closer to the CWC’s recommendation.

Suspension and Debarment

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