Ms Sparky

And yet, another excellent article by David Isenberg covering human trafficking violations and USG contractors. A topic which gets a lot of lip service from the DoD, DoS and let’s not forget the DoJ, but very little action when it comes to enforcing the “Zero Tolerance Policy” of FAR, DFAR or other applicable U.S. laws.  I’ve done several posts on contractors who condone human trafficking, or just look the other way when it’s brought to their attention.  Meanwhile their managers are not only committing TIPs violations by owning brothels, but exasperate the situation by enticing, encouraging, or threatening, their co-workers and direct reports to patronize their establishments and participate in this illegal activity.  For shame…..for shame! ~ Ms Sparky

By David Isenberg – (PMSC Observer) – July 12, 2011 – Okay, I admit I have already written about this two times previously, but, once more into the breech, dear friends, once more. So again let’s discuss exploiting labor, as in trafficking in persons. And not just because of my past report on Najlaa International Catering Services on the subject.

This issue affects more than logistics contractors. For example, the Justice Department announced on July 7, that ArmorGroup North America Inc. (AGNA) and its affiliates have paid the United States $7.5 million to resolve allegations that AGNA submitted false claims for payment on a State Department contract to provide armed guard services at the U.S.   Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, the Justice Department announced today. The settlement resolves U.S. claims that in 2007 and 2008, AGNA guards violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) by visiting brothels in Kabul, and that AGNA’s management knew about the guards’ activities. Read the remainder of this entry »

David Isenberg, investigator, blogger, writer and author of Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq

David Isenberg has more than 20 years experience analyzing U.S. defense, foreign policy, national and international security issues. He is a published author and has appeared on television and radio. He has a BA in International Studies and an MA in International Affairs. He has testified before Congress and lectured to the military. His area of expertise is U.S. military force structure, defense budgeting, WMD proliferation, terrorism, homeland security, counterdrug, peace operations, intelligence policy, international arms trade, small arms proliferation, operations other than war, information warfare, private military contractors, biological weapons, and general arms control.

David recently investigated, co-wrote and published an article called the “Najlaa Episode Revisited” at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) website. During the course of his investigation, David uncovered many other issues regarding Najlaa and their defense contracts, one I just recently published entitled “You Want Chickenpox With That?“. In an attempt to publicize these wrong doing, many of which put our soldiers and civilians at risk, David has continued to investigate and publish article on Najlaa and so many other defense issues at his blog The PMCS Observer. David stays well informed on Defense Department issues and writes about them regularly.  I highly recommend you register at David’s site and stay informed.

Below are some recent articles and documents David published about Najlaa and KBR from information uncovered during his investigations.

The KBR – NICS Documentation: Part 1

by David Isenberg

Last month a report I co-wrote, “The Najlaa Episode Revisited” was published by the Project on Government Oversight. The report detailed various labor trafficking violations by a KBR subcontractor, Najlaa International Catering Services (NICS).

A subsequent report I wrote, “Subcontracting Substandard Services: Military Contracts in Iraq Still Controversial” published by CorpWatch, detailed how NICS did not pay an Iraqi contractor for work that it did by building a housing camp for Najlaa workers. Read the remainder of this entry »

David Isenberg – (Huffington Post) – August 8, 2011 – Historically, militaries have suffered as many casualties from infectious diseases as from actual combat, if not more. The U.S. military understands this quite well, which is why it has considerable in-house commands devoted to health issues.

Yet in 2008 the same political ideology of outsourcing and privatization of military logistics functions that has made a household name of Halliburton nearly caused harm to American troops, thanks to a KBR subcontractor. U.S. troops in Iraq unknowingly came close to being exposed to the varicella-zoster virus, a member of the herpes virus family. That virus is what we commonly call chicken pox. The same virus also causes herpes zoster (shingles) in adults.

While the issue of private military contractors (PMC) has received increased public and governmental attention since the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the oversight and accountability of them has mostly occurred at the level of the prime contractor. When it comes to the subcontractors supporting them, it is still very much like what Winston Churchill said about Russia, that it is “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”

Read the remainder of this entry »

David Isenberg – (CorpWatch) June 27, 2011
Najlaa International Catering Services won a $3 million five-year contract in February 2010 to prepare food for the U.S. Agency for International Development compound in Iraq. The deal was approved despite the fact that Bill Baisey, CEO of the Kuwaiti company, faces numerous complaints and court actions for non-payment of bills and alleged fraud in Kuwait and Iraq.

U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been plagued by private military contractors that have performed poorly or failed miserably in fulfilling their contracts. Some overstated their capabilities or were badly managed and under-skilled, while others committed outright fraud.

Past investigations concentrated on major contractors such as Halliburton and Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), but recently the smaller companies – such as Najlaa – to which these giants subcontract have drawn fire.

“The government has limited visibility into subcontractor affairs and limited ability to influence their actions,” said former U.S. Congressman Christopher Shays at a July 2010 hearing of the Commission on Wartime Contracting. “This fact presents a challenge to transparency and accountability for the use of taxpayers’ dollars. Poorly conceived, poorly structured, poorly conducted, and poorly monitored subcontracting can lead to poor choices in security measures and damage to U.S. foreign policy objectives, among other problems.”

The United States, however, has become so dependent on contractors who do the laundry, feed the troops, and build and run facilities that it would be difficult if not impossible for the military to continue without them.

Najlaa’s Contracts

Najlaa is part of the extensive web of subcontractors supplying the goods and services that sustain U.S. war efforts, and the Kuwait-based company’s failures and problems fit a common pattern. One of several firms that make up Baisey-owned Eastern Solutions Group, Najlaa has several subcontracts with KBR, which has provided more than $35 billion in base maintenance services to the U.S. military in war zones including Iraq and Afghanistan under the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP).

Read the remainder of this entry »

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) has just released an informative in depth report into the human trafficking offenses of a significant KBR Dining Facility (DFAC) subcontractor Najlaa International Catering Services. It was researched and written by David Isenberg and Nick Schwellenbach. David Isenberg has been an observer and commentator on private military and security contracting since its modern birth in the 1980s. He is the author of the book, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International). His blog The PMSC Observer is the leading online resource for news and current events pertaining to the subject of private military and security. David also writes at the Huffington Post. Nick Schwellenbach is Director of Investigations for The Project On Government Oversight (POGO).

This report is peppered with revealing internal KBR and Najlaa correspondence, expert analysis, reports and POGO’s own conclusions. Hmmm, I wonder what the DoD has to say about all this?

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Despite a “zero tolerance” policy on human trafficking, the U.S. continues to award contracts to a Kuwaiti company that has been implicated in abusing and confining its foreign workers, according to government and internal corporate documents released today by the Project On Government Oversight.

The company, Najlaa International Catering Services, a subcontractor of Houston-based KBR, appears to have suffered no repercussions for its role in luring hundreds of South Asian workers to Iraq in 2008 with promises of lucrative jobs only to turn around and warehouse at least 1,000 of them in dismal living conditions without work—or pay—for several months.

The documents show that despite on-the-ground KBR employees’ frustration and strongly worded communications to Najlaa about its conduct, KBR continued to award subcontracts to the company. The documents also suggest that Najlaa rehired former KBR employees who were terminated for what appear to be trafficking-in-persons violations.

“It is unconscionable that the U.S. government and KBR continue to reward a company that abuses, degrades and dehumanizes its workers,” POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian said. “Continuing to look the other way at Najlaa’s actions makes a joke of the U.S. policy on human trafficking.”

For more information and links to the documents, read “Documents Reveal Details of Alleged Labor Trafficking by KBR Subcontractor” on POGO’s blog.

Well done David Isenberg and Nich Schwellenbach. I look forward to hearing more from the “cache” of internal emails you have obtained!

Ms Sparky