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Common sense, spin free, and a nice change of pace after some of the discussions regarding this issue as of late.
Civilian Contractors Key To Success
The Fallujah Atrocities: Private Contractors in a Public War
April 3, 2004
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by Geoff Metcalf
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"He that is good, will infallibly become better, and he that is bad, will as certainly become worse; for vice, virtue and time are three things that never stand still." --Charles Caleb Colon
There has been a rash of cheap shot stories about the growing boutique industry of security professionals. Just about everyone has it way wrong.
Caveat: I have personally trained at Blackwater’s extraordinary facility in the boondocks of North Carolina. I have very dear friends who work for Steele Foundation, and once upon a time, long ago and far away, after I graduated from the Infantry Officers Advanced Course at Fort Benning, I ‘almost’ signed a contract with Vinnell Corporation to train the Saudi army.
Just as Fox News has filled the vacuum created by mainstream malfeasance and bias, Risk management companies are meeting a growing need that has been exacerbated by terrorism and voids in security requirements.
Woodrow Wilson observed,†Men of strenuous minds and high ideals come forward.... The attacks they sustain are more cruel than the collision of arms.... Friends desert and despise them.... They stand alone and oftentimes are made bitter by their isolation...."
Progressive Review has attempted to marginalize the industry by stating the Iraq "civilian contractors," are in fact mercenaries. They go onto quote the International Convention against the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries.
However risk management companies are not Christopher Walken and the ‘Dogs of War’. They are primarily security specialists hired to provide physical security, computer security, and executive protection.
Article 3 of the before mentioned International Convention notes, “A mercenary, as defined in article 1 of the present Convention, who participates directly in hostilities or in a concerted act of violence, as the case may be, commits an offence for the purposes of the Convention.â€
Risk management firms do not participate “directly in hostilities or in a concerted act of violenceâ€. Sure they are armed…and sure they respond to aggression. However, so does a bodyguard protecting a rock star or corporate executive.
In the wake of 9/11 it was universally felt that the time to kick ass and take names was at hand. I noted there have been times during the kumbaya-feminazi dark ages (1992-2000) when I really felt like a dinosaur … a cultural anachronism … that still believed in duty, honor and country. John Wayne was a role model and guys like Ted Williams, Audie Murphy and Rocky Versace were proof that ideals, courage and principle could and would be personified. Well the dinosaurs are back and that they are prepared and able to fill a need is a good thing.
The job of risk management companies is to allow companies working in hostile environments the chance to focus on the core business (their expertise) while the risk management contractor manages the risk (their expertise). That is a good thing and a valuable resource.
Companies hire lawyers to do legal work, accountants to count beans. It is counterintuitive to suggest they should not hire military and law enforcement experts to manage security challenges.
Throughout history former military and law enforcement types have hired themselves to businesses. From ronin samurai to Pinkerton’s inevitably men with experience, talent and ability have been needed.
The Iraq Program Management Office mandated that private and government contractors have to provide their own security plans, staff, and infrastructure. In other words, the military isn’t going to do it…and shouldn’t.
If Halliburton, or Bechtal used our already stretched thin military assets competing businesses AND liberal Democrats would throw a nuclear hissy fit…and rightfully so.
To suggest the various risk management firms are fielding private mercenary armies is specious equine excrement.
I have yet to attend any of the Special Forces conventions but spoke with Tom Marzullo after the first post 9/11 convention. I said, “I bet there are a bunch of 50-60 year old guys frustrated about missing the action?†He told me, “Not really. Those with language skills or in country time have all the opportunity they want. If uncle can’t get them back in uniform, they are finding homes for them ‘elsewhere’.
And what he didn’t say was that if the military or the CIA couldn’t exploit the talent, skills and experience of warriors there is a growing industry in risk management that is actively recruiting.
Kenn Kurtz, CEO of The Steele Foundation notes, “The availability of an expert security force with localized knowledge enables companies engaged in the rebuilding of Iraq to focus on their core business while still complying with PMO requirements.â€
Notwithstanding the new ‘concerns’ about alleged mercenaries, the reality is risk management firms fill a necessary need…and if they don’t do it, who will?
The trainers I met at Blackwater were all former military: Navy Seals, Army Special Forces, Air Force Para rescue Jumpers, and Marines. The professionalism I encountered was equal or superior to anything I experience at Fort Benning or Fort Bragg. To not exploit the talent and experience of former military elite (who served their country IN uniform) would be at least myopic and at worst criminal.
In case you missed the memo, we ARE at war. We need warriors on the battlefields, AND protecting those civilian efforts to build roads, guard oil fields, protect humanitarian aid of food and medicine, AND within society.
Geoff Metcalf
