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Israel has apparently asked the United States for bunker buster bombs and tanker aircraft that would be used in an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
How much argument can there be over the definition of two words? A lot, it turns out, if those two words are "inherently governmental" and if they appear in federal documents defining what functions U.S. agencies cannot contract out to the private sector.
LOGCAP is the Holy Grail of the private military contracting industry.
Where does the future lie for the private military industry? Those who watch the industry closely have noted it tends to migrate periodically. In the beginning, mirroring human evolution, the industry emerged in Africa, and now it is returning there in a big way.
A new book confirms what has to be one of the more unusual exchanges of nuclear information outside of outright spying and helps explain how Pakistani nuclear weapons knowledge made its way to North Korea.
My earlier column on mandatory employee insurance for defense contractors under the Defense Base Act stirred up a bit of a hornets' nest. As this is a complex issue, I think it is worth revisiting, especially in light of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the issue last week chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
One aspect of private military and security contractors that is relatively ignored is their relationship with regular military forces. Such discussion, as there is, is generally limited to sound bites about the reported envy that soldiers have for allegedly better paid security contractors.
Amid all the polemics over the use of private military and security contractors by the U.S. government there are two words one rarely sees, but they lie at the very heart of the debate: "inherently governmental."
Life in Iraq for private military contractors is dangerous. If they get killed their dependents in theory get insurance but there will be no letters from a military commander of the president, commending them for their service to the country. No chaplain shows up at their door to offer consolation.
If you've heard it once, you've heard it countless times: Governments and corporations turn to private military contractors because it is more cost-effective than using regular military forces. But is it true?
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United Press International
United Press International
