By Robin Acton

One month after the latest electrocution in Iraq, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has proposed an amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would hold government contractors accountable for the safety of overseas military personnel and civilians working abroad.

The legislation would close a loophole that allowed shoddy electrical work and other problems on American military bases to go uncorrected, the Scranton Democrat said. It would require the Department of Defense to review contracts to ensure they include language requiring contractors to immediately correct deficiencies, such as improperly grounded facilities or equipment, that could cause death or serious injury.

Casey’s amendment also seeks to ensure safe and sanitary water systems, and establish and enforce strict standards for preventing and prosecuting instances of sexual assault.

He has been an outspoken critic of the government’s defense contracting procedures since the Jan. 2, 2008, electrocution of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Shaler. The Green Beret collapsed and died when a rooftop pump shorted out and sent a lethal electrical current along water running through metal pipes into his shower in the Radwaniyah Palace Complex in Iraq.

Maseth is among 10 service members and civilian contractors in Iraq who died from electrocutions that could have been prevented, according to Casey.

The most recent occurred Sept. 1 when Adam Hermanson, 25, of Muncy collapsed and died in his shower at Camp Olympia inside Baghdad’s Green Zone. The Air Force veteran, who completed four tours of duty in Iraq, was working as a civilian contractor for Triple Canopy Security Service.

“We’ve had lots of investigation and lots of reviews, but, in my judgment, not enough in the way of answers,” Casey said. He said the Defense and State departments are obligated to provide families with answers about how the electrocutions continue to happen.

Maseth’s parents, Cheryl Harris and Douglas Maseth, filed suit in federal court against defense contractor KBR Inc., alleging shoddy electrical work killed their son. KBR denies responsibility for the soldier’s death, which brought national attention to the electrocution issue and prompted government inspections of facilities military personnel use.

Hermanson’s widow, Janine, said she does not know much about her husband’s living quarters or what he was doing in connection with the war effort because he was not permitted to talk about it. The dental assistant, who is staying with her parents in Muncy, said she learned about his death when she got a phone call at work.

“When he didn’t show up for work, they got worried, and a co-worker went to check on him. He was found in his room in the shower,” she said.

She described her husband as a strong, family-oriented man who did everything he could for his family and friends. They met while serving in the Air Force as they were preparing for deployment to Iraq and would have celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary five days after his death, she said.

“I never had to worry about anything when he was around,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

Read this article at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Kevin Whitelaw

Private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan have sparked plenty of headlines over the past few years, particularly after a few well-publicized allegations of abuse and shootings of civilians.

But it has been difficult to assess how much the Pentagon relies on armed civilians because their numbers have been unclear.

Defense Department officials now say that more than 18,000 armed security contractors are working in Iraq or Afghanistan under Pentagon auspices, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service that was obtained by NPR.

The bulk of the gun-toting contractors — some 13,232 as of June 30 — are in Iraq, where they guard U.S. bases, defend convoys and serve as personal bodyguards for high-level officials. The remaining 5,165 armed civilians perform similar functions in Afghanistan.

These contractors are not supposed to engage in combat operations, but there have been a number of scandals involving private security firms, including allegations that employees of Blackwater shot 17 Iraqi civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007, and that guards working for ArmorGroup guarding the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan engaged in ugly hazing rituals.

In both of those cases, the contractors were working for the State Department, rather than the Defense Department. But the actions of these private security contractors can reflect badly on the U.S. government.

Fanning Anti-American Sentiment?

“The perception that DOD [the Department of Defense] and other government agencies are deploying [private security contractors] who abuse and mistreat people can fan anti-American sentiment and strengthen insurgents, even when no abuses are taking place,” the Congressional Research Service report concludes.

But in these two conflicts, contractors have quickly become an integral part of the U.S. war effort, according to U.S. military officials.

“Iraq and Afghanistan appear to be the first two instances where the U.S. government has used private contractors extensively for protecting persons or property in combat or stability operations where host country forces are absent or deficient, but it is not the first time private contractors have been used for such purposes,” says the report. “According to government officials, both DOD and the Department of State would be unable to execute their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan without the support of private security contractors.”

Contractors are easier to hire, quicker to deploy and cheaper than U.S. government personnel. And they also free up much-needed soldiers for combat operations.

“Security is not just Blackwater,” says Michael Cohen, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation who has studied the use of contractors. “Some are security guards protecting bases, which is far less controversial.”

Numbers Rising Sharply

Either way, their numbers appear to be rising sharply. In Iraq, the U.S. military reported that its armed security contractor workforce jumped 19 percent between March and June 2009.

Part of the increase is due to improved data collection, say Pentagon officials, who did not track the full number of contractors before 2007.

“One of the problems with the data is they only started collecting the data about two years ago,” says Moshe Schwartz, the Congressional Research Service analyst who wrote the report. “Because that data is still improving, it is difficult to get a perfectly clear picture as to the ebb and flow of the number of armed contractors in Iraq. It’s also hard to get a clear picture as to the type of work they’re doing.”

But the rise also represents a growing reliance on security contractors in both war zones. In Iraq, U.S. military officials are turning to private firms to fill new gaps that emerge as U.S. forces begin to draw down.

The dynamic is different in Afghanistan, where worsening violence has sparked a higher demand for private security.

Still, the Pentagon numbers represent only a portion of the overall number of armed civilians in either war zone.

The State Department employed an additional 3,100 contractors in Iraq and more than 600 in Afghanistan as of February, according to Congressional Research Service data.

And then there are even more private armed security guards employed by international organizations, foreign governments and private companies in both places. Estimates are rough, although analysts say the total number of armed civilian guards likely tops 30,000 in Iraq and 20,000 in Afghanistan.

“Less than half of the private security contractors in Iraq are working for the U.S. government,” says Schwartz. “The rest of those contractors don’t have to report their movements to the U.S. government, nor does the U.S. government have any ability to rein in their behavior.”

Armed Contractors A Fraction Of Total

Armed security contractors make up only a small portion of the overall Pentagon contractor workforce. The Defense Department employed a total of 193,674 private contractors in both Iraq and Afghanistan as of June (compared to a total U.S. military deployment of 189,678 soldiers), according to a separate Congressional Research Service report.

Security contractors accounted for only 11 percent of private contractors in Iraq, for example, while more than half of the contractors performed support operations on U.S. bases, such as laundry and catering services.

The Pentagon has increased its efforts to monitor its own contractors over the past two years.

The Pentagon’s surveys reveal that the makeup of armed private security contractors varies considerably between the two war zones. In Iraq, less than 5 percent of the armed civilians are Americans, while less than 8 percent are Iraqi. The remaining 88 percent come from other countries, such as Fiji, Nepal, Chile and Nigeria.

In Afghanistan, the overwhelming majority — some 95 percent — are Afghans.

This article was originally published at NPR.

Associated Press–WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday asked the State Department and Pentagon to investigate the electrocution of a 25-year-old private security contractor while showering in his dormitory in Baghdad.

Reid said he wants to know whether Adam Hermanson’s death resulted from faulty electrical work. Hermanson, who died Sept. 1, grew up in San Diego and Las Vegas. Reid is a Nevada senator.

Electrical wiring has been an ongoing problem in Iraq that the military has been trying to fix with widespread inspections and repairs. At least three troops have been electrocuted while showering since the start of the Iraq war, and others have been electrocuted elsewhere.

Reid made the request Monday in letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Hermanson served three tours in Iraq with the Air Force. He’d recently left the military and was an employee of the Herndon, Va.-based private contractor Triple Canopy at the time of his death.

A request for comment was referred to the military in Baghdad, where the request was not immediately returned. Darby Holladay, a State Department spokesman, said Reid’s letter had not yet been received.

By Jake Allen

Master of War, Blackwater USA’s Erik Prince and the Business of War by Suzanne Simons is a must read for anyone looking for a down-the-middle analysis of both the history of Blackwater and the explosion of the private military sector in the 21st century.  Simons is no industry apologist.  Nor does she put forth the typical and by now predictable fare we are used to reading about Prince, Blackwater or the industry at large.  Her style is objective and balanced and thus very refreshing and thought provoking.

Though the title leads one to believe that the scope of the book is only that of Mr. Prince readers will be pleasantly surprised to find that Simons tackles many of the larger questions such as why and how the private security industry was able to blossom in the post Iraq invasion.  It’s so easy these days for critics of the industry to blame the participants instead of focusing their spotlights on why their existence is even necessary.

I found the stories from Prince’s upbringing in Michigan fascinating.  Simons narrative style takes the reader on a compelling personal journey from Prince’s privileged upbringing in Michigan where he learned lessons of life and business from his father whose death forced an early exit from the Navy and allowed him to apply his substantial means towards his vision for the future of military training.

By Suzanne Simons

Two well known but apt phrases come to mind when thinking about the Blackwater story.  The first is, ‘It’s not what you know but who you know.’ Simons illustrates how Prince’s access to government officials at the highest levels are simply unprecedented and allowed the fledgling firm with its unique concept to win opportunities that eluded many of the older more established defense contractors.

The other phrase that comes to mind is, ‘Life is all about timing.’ Blackwater was founded by Prince and Gary Jackson barely three years before the attacks on 9-11 but that seminal event in world history forced the U.S. government to reach out for services that in many cases only Prince was willing to provide.  Perhaps no other company in the world would come to benefit, on a percent growth basis, to the degree  Blackwater did.  Simons details both the early days before the war in Iraq and the explosive growth that the company experienced during the war.

Speaking of timing this book comes out at a time when Blackwater, now Xe, is experiencing a new wave of allegations, some of which are directed specifically and personally at Prince.  The looming trial of 4 Blackwater contractors for their part in the Nisour Square shooting will come to blanket the front pages of newspapers around the world and mixed in with the facts and the testimony at the trial will be huge doses of conjecture from all sides in the media.  I encourage you to read this book, especially now,  to put into context the company and its founder so that you are able to digest all that you read.

Well, enough from me, Ms. Simons was generous enough to spend some time on the phone talking about her book and what led her to write it.  Apologies for the audio quality in some places, it smooths out after the first couple of minutes.

[podcast]http://www.privatemilitaryherald.com/podcast/SuzanneSimons.mp3[/podcast]