As the Obama Administration continues the military privatization agenda, a CIA-connected firm and an Israeli-run company named Instinctive Shooting International are looking to cash in.
The Obama administration has continued the Bush-era reliance on private contractors to sustain the US occupation of Iraq and the US operations in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Obama has surpassed Bush’s reliance on contractors with current contractor levels surpassing 100,000 Defense Department contractors deployed. In Iraq, Obama has maintained the long-standing ratio of one contractor to every US soldier.
General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan/Pakistan, said
Despite such proclamations, the pattern of dependence on contractors is continuing unabated—and not just within the Department of Defense.
This week the US State Department posted a solicitation for armed private security contractors to deploy in “critical or higher than critical threat areas” globally under its Worldwide Protective Services program. Among the firms that have held these contracts are Blackwater, DynCorp, Triple Canopy and Armor Group. ArmorGroup was exposed last year by whistleblowers for a range of misconduct at the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Among the actions revealed by the Project on Government Oversight were hazing rituals involving nudity and heavy drinking that at times included personnel urinating on each other. The whistleblowers alleged that ArmorGroup personnel created a general atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Last December, following POGO’s revelations, the State Department said it was phasing out ArmorGroup.
In its solicitation for contract bids this week, the State Department says it will hire as many as six “qualified US firms” for “anticipated and unanticipated personal protective, static guard, and emergency response” functions. The contracts are slated to last one year with the potential for four, year-long options. recently that he believes the US has “created in ourselves a dependency on contractors that is greater than it ought to be.” He added: “I think it doesn’t save money. I actually think it would be better to reduce the number of contractors involved, increase the number of military if necessary.”
To qualify for the contracts, security companies must have a total
annual value of at least $15 million in security contracts and must
possess a valid “Final Secret Facility Security Clearance.” After the
contracts are awarded, the State Department says that it will then
sponsor the contractor for “Top Secret Facility Clearance.” In
addition, bidding companies must have at least two years of experience
operating in “austere and hostile environments overseas” such as
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq and experience in “operating long term
personal protective security details for executive level dignitaries.”
The solicitation indicates that the work will include “a static guard
and emergency response team requirement in Baghdad, Iraq, a static
guard and emergency response team requirement in Kabul, Afghanistan,
and a personal protective security service requirement in Jerusalem.”
Among
the companies listed as “interested vendors” to bid on the contracts
are the predictable list of industry giants: L-3 Services, SAIC, USIS,
Northrop Grumman, and DynCorp. Two lesser-known firms in particular
that have expressed interest in the contracts jump out: Instinctive Shooting InternationalEvergreen International Aviation.
Hiring
Instinctive Shooting International for any type of armed contract in a
Muslim country, particularly to operate in Jerusalem with a stamp of US
government legitimacy, should be cause for serious concern and
Congressional inquiry. Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) was
founded by Hanan Yadin, a former member of the Israel National
Counter-Terrorism Agency and a veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces.
According to his bio
[PDF], Hanan “received advanced training at the Israeli Anti-Terror
Academy and served as an instructor at the Israeli Military
Intelligence Academy. As part of a Special Ops unit he executed
high-risk missions against terrorist’s cells. Hanan is an expert
marksman and has completed advanced training in crisis response, Krav
Maga (the Israeli unarmed fighting system), urban warfare and tactical
operations.”
I encountered
ISI operatives, all former Israeli soldiers, manning an armed
check-point in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. At the time, in 2005, its website described ISI’s personnel as
“veterans of the Israeli special task forces from the following Israeli
government bodies: Israel Defense Force (IDF), Israel National Police
Counter Terrorism units, Instructors of Israel National Police Counter
Terrorism units, General Security Service (GSS or ‘Shin Beit’), Other
restricted intelligence agencies.” and
Evergreen has had long-standing ties to the CIA. “In 1980 an Evergreen plane flew the recently deposed Shah of Iran from Panama to Egypt, hours before the Panamanian government was due to receive an extradition request from the new government in Tehran,” according to SourceWatch. “Giving rides to dictators is something of a specialty for the company - it also allowed El Salvador’s President Duarte to use its helicopter, which was officially in the country to help repair power lines. And according to a series of articles in The Oregonian in 1988, Evergreen’s owner and founder Delford M. Smith ‘…acknowledged one agreement under which his companies provide occasional jobs and cover to foreign nationals the CIA wants taken out of other countries or brought into the United States.’”
Evergreen is perhaps best known more recently for
offering—unsolicited—its security services to Oregon county clerks
ahead of the 2008 elections. “During this crucial election Evergreen
Defense and Security Services has recognized the potential conflict
that could occur on November 4,” an email
from company president Evergreen president Tom Wiggins to election
officials stated. “Never has there been a more heated battle in the
race for president and voters seem more involved and determined to
achieve their respective goals. EDSS proposes to post sentries at each
voting center on November 4 to assure that disputes among citizens do
not get out of control. All guards will be unarmed but capable of
stopping any violence that may occur, and detaining troublemakers until
law enforcement help arrives.” The offer was suspect on several fronts,
not the least of which being that Oregon has no polling places and
votes by mail.
According to State Department documents, among the projects up for bidding are:
—Private
security teams in Jerusalem. The solicitation calls for 46 personnel,
including 36 “security specialists” and team/shift leaders for armed
details.
—Embassy guards and an Emergency Response Team in
Kabul. The solicitation calls for 219 personnel, including a
142-member embassy guard force and 49 “emergency response” personnel.
—Embassy
guards and an Emergency Response Team in Baghdad, Iraq. The
solicitation calls for 551 personnel, including 357 “armed guards” and
an Emergency Response Team consisting of 30 protective security
specialists and four “designated defense marksmen.”
The US
embassy in Iraq, according to the documents, requires the greatest
number of contractors. This is likely because the embassy there is the
largest of any embassy of any nation in history.
The State Department has a conference for prospective bidders scheduled for April 27-28 in Arlington, Virginia. Attendance is mandatory for interested companies.