National Security Watch: Iraq private security draws mixed GAO review
The Government Accountability Office put out a report last month saying that the burgeoning use of private security contractors in Iraq needed to be more closely coordinated with the military. Incidents at checkpoints and a general lack of awareness by soldiers of the various contractors moving around Iraq were two of the problems cited.
But countering a commonly held view, the GAO determined that private security providers were not luring away active-duty soldiers to the highly paid contractor positions.
As of December 2004, more than $766 million was being spent on private security providers, as the GAO study calls the contractors. But the report said no one really knows the full tally: "Neither the Department of State nor DOD nor the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has complete data on the costs of using private security providers." The GAO found that of the eight contracts it reviewed, over 15 percent of the total cost went toward private security, and the high cost of providing security in the tumultuous country had led to the cancellation of two reconstruction projects in March.
Joe Mayo, spokesman for Triple Canopy, one of the security providers, told U.S. News that the GAO's conclusion that contractors had not enticed away active-duty soldiers was a silver lining in the critical report. Mayo says that Triple Canopy's policy is never to approach active-duty soldiers or seamen; they wait until they are on terminal leave or retired.
In fact, he says, most of their new hires are coming from other PSPs in Iraq. He attributes that to their rigorous standards and safety record: In two years, none of their 1,000 employees have been killed, a statistic unmatched by competitors. About half of Triple Canopy's employees in the field are former Delta Force commandos, and an additional 30 percent are SEAL Team 6 veterans.
Once hired, they go through Triple Canopy's own rigorous training program. In the field, discipline is strict, Mayo says. "One accidental discharge and you are sent home," he says. He recounted the case of one trainee being dismissed because he refused to wear protective eyewear on the range.
Triple Canopy has just moved to Herndon, Va., outside Washington, D.C., a sign of its growing piece of the PSP market. It is one of three winning bidders to supply security personnel for U.S. embassies around the world. It also landed a separate contract to provide security for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Triple Canopy was formed two years ago and provided bodyguards for Paul Bremer and another top officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.