Topic: David Isenberg

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A recent article in Parameters, the quarterly academic journal of the U.S. Army War College, confirms what most informed observers have long known: "The use of contractors on the battlefield is no longer an optional or marginal activity."

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- It is always difficult to write about private security contractors in Iraq because of the paucity of hard data. But we can now say that there are far more of them than we thought and that we are paying more for their services than previously known.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- In the wake of Barack Obama's election victory many American private military and security contractors are wondering what their future will be under President Obama. It is probably better than they imagine.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- If, as now seems possible, Iraq and the United States cannot finalize a Status of Forces Agreement governing U.S. troops there, private military contractors will be sighing in relief.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The news that Blackwater Worldwide is offering its services to shippers plagued by pirates -- an issue recently in the headlines, due to the continuing attacks on ships off Somalia -- has set the media twittering about the latest domain to be outsourced to private military contractors.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The State Department has outsourced henhouse security to a fox, giving a U.S. security contractor the job of investigating possible crimes committed by other security contractors working for the United States in Iraq.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- For those who like to characterize private security contractors as uncontrolled, unregulated, thinly disguised mercenaries run amok, September was a bad month.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Just as private contractors were part of the buildup of forces in Iraq, from the very beginning of the war to today, they are also figuring to be a prominent part of the eventual withdrawal.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Mercenaries haven't always been unpopular. In fact, as a new book details, there was a time when one, William Walker, was a national hero.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- The Worldwide Personal Protective Services contract, or WPPS, is the way the State Department hires private security firms to protect its personnel.