Contractors in Iraq, part deux.

Remember this discussion with Cliff from OneUtah? The contractor discussion?

There's an OpEd in today's LA Times that decries the situation, and pretty much, I'm guessing, from a perspective that would match Cliff's. [As always, you should read the whole thing, and not just the quotes I've chosen. You view might differ from mine if you have the whole context]

From Iraq and Afghanistan to the hurricane-ravaged streets of New Orleans to meetings with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about responding to disasters in California, Blackwater now envisions itself as the FedEx of defense and homeland security operations. Such power in the hands of one company, run by a neo-crusader bankroller of the president, embodies the "military-industrial complex" President Eisenhower warned against in 1961.

Further privatizing the country's war machine — or inventing new back doors for military expansion with fancy names like the Civilian Reserve Corps — will represent a devastating blow to the future of American democracy.

As I mentioned in my piece on the subject, I've got a friend who currently works for Blackwater - in Iraq - doing *exactly* what the recently killed Blackwater employees were doing, providing diplomatic security.

This bit here gets to the heart, I think, of what Cliff was after:

Already, private contractors constitute the second-largest "force" in Iraq. At last count, there were about 100,000 contractors in Iraq, of which 48,000 work as private soldiers, according to a Government Accountability Office report. These soldiers have operated with almost no oversight or effective legal constraints and are an undeclared expansion of the scope of the occupation. Many of these contractors make up to $1,000 a day, far more than active-duty soldiers. What's more, these forces are politically expedient, as contractor deaths go uncounted in the official toll.

The president's proposed Civilian Reserve Corps was not his idea alone. A privatized version of it was floated two years ago by Erik Prince, the secretive, mega-millionaire, conservative owner of Blackwater USA and a man who for years has served as the Pied Piper of a campaign to repackage mercenaries as legitimate forces. In early 2005, Prince — a major bankroller of the president and his allies — pitched the idea at a military conference of a "contractor brigade" to supplement the official military. "There's consternation in the [Pentagon] about increasing the permanent size of the Army," Prince declared. Officials "want to add 30,000 people, and they talked about costs of anywhere from $3.6 billion to $4 billion to do that. Well, by my math, that comes out to about $135,000 per soldier." He added: "We could do it certainly cheaper."

There is some truth here. We need to do a much better job of formulating policy and governance for contractors - especially armed ones - in the employ of the United States. And they need to have better oversight. Good criticisms all.

However, I think the author of this piece, Jeremy Scahill (who has just published a book on Blackwater) is reaching a bit when conflating the Civilian Reserve Corps into his aversion for Blackwater.

The CRC as proposed by the President would not be contractors to my understanding. They would be more akin to the already-extant FEMA reserve system, where people make themselves available on-demand to FEMA to provide a ramp-up for major disasters, without requiring a large scale increase in full-time personnel who would otherwise be under-employed but still consuming tax dollars. The State Department and the Agency for International Development actually have a similar problem when confronted with a major expansion requirement such as levied by Iraq and Afghanistan, but which will not translate into a career-length Full Time Equivalent employee. But they would be a federal employee when called to serve.

I would think the progressive side of the aisle would be supportive of this - as it would actually reduce the reliance on contractors like me who otherwise often end up providing these services, in addition to the paramilitary services provided by firms like Blackwater. Additionally, they would be composed of subject matter experts as well as retired government employees, leveraging a greater experience base while at the same time lowering costs.

There wasn't anything in the CRC proposal as I read it that would incorporate the paramilitary functions. One of the complaints about the response to Katrina and similar disasters is that there is an insufficiency of government personnel available for the response required - and the progressive side of the aisle gets grumpy when contractors fill in - I would think this is exactly what someone like Mr. Scahill would prefer to the current system - unless the point is to inflate the federal bureaucracy with scads of under-employed people?

To recap: I agree, and have said so before, that the oversight of contracting in Iraq has been poorly handled, from concept through execution.

The CRC represents a way to reduce the reliance on contractors overall (though I don't believe it envisions the paramilitary aspect of it) and creates a cadre of part-time experts available for both national and international needs.

Rather than reject it out of hand, I suggest they involve themselves in the study and shaping of the construct.

A similar thing is happening at the state level. Kansas is setting up Incident Management Teams, which are comprised of people *not* already involved in emergency preparedness and response jobs, to provide a cadre of people available locally to augment local EOCs when they are overwhelmed by an emergency. They are volunteer positions, with the volunteer having to provide proof that his employer is supportive, and will in fact support by allowing the employee sufficient time to train, and help fund that if needed.

Yes, I am applying. I've been a federal emergency response planner, and I have skills and experience to offer here. And my employer is being supportive of my effort. But Mr. Scahill would rather I not, I guess. Or, more likely, Mr. Scahill's antipathy to Blackwater is clouding his judgement on the Civilian Reserve Corps idea.