How Did A British Security Firm Secured The Benghazi Consulate Contract

British Firm Secured Benghazi Consulate Contract With Little Experience -- The Telegraph

A small British firm based in south Wales had secured a contract to provide security for American diplomatic facilities in Benghazi despite having only a few months experience in the country.

Sources have told the Daily Telegraph that just five unarmed locally hired Libyans were placed on duty at the compound on eight-hour shifts under a deal that fell outside the State Department's global security contracting system.

Blue Mountain, the Camarthen firm that won a $387,000 (£241,000) one year contract from the US State Department to protect the compound in May, sent just one British employee, recruited from the celebrity bodyguard circuit, to oversee the work.

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My Comment: What a mess .... and the blame rests in the State Department. On a side note .... a few days ago I posted the following report ....

.... CNS got hold of what qualifications are needed to be hired as guard at a U.S. Libyan diplomat post. Sighhhh .... Amb. Stevens did not have a chance.

America's Growing Private Security Business

After 9/11, Security Guard On High Alert At Golf Course -- Washington Post

“One,” Chris Stegherr says as he breaks his staring contest with a young doe.



He’s alone out here along the Potomac River, the only light a pure white gleam of moonshine, occasionally augmented by the flashlight he keeps on his black security belt, next to his Glock 9mm, Mace and handcuffs. His mission, as he calls it, is to watch, to be here if something bad happens, to patrol these 600 acres of manicured land with the same hypervigilance he once displayed as a Marine stationed in Iraq.



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My Comment: I tend to lean more on the belief that America's security business is growing over fears of crime .... not terrorism. But if I am in the business, and fears over terrorism gets me contracts .... I am all for it.

Worldwide Private Security Is Booming

Number Of Private Security Guards Booming Worldwide, UN Survey Reveals -- UN News Centre

The number of private security guards is now almost twice that of police officers, as governments around the world outsource many of their security functions, according to a new report based on data compiled by the United Nations.

Yet, despite the rapid growth of the private security sector, which now employs an estimated 20 million documented personnel worldwide, these staff hold far fewer firearms than do state security forces, the annual Small Arms Survey reveals.

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Update: Private guards outnumber police, but remain outgunned -- Info4Security

My Comment: With many of the world's conflicts becoming essentially local ones, and with more states becoming dysfunctional .... this trends should not be a surprise.

The Pluses And Minuses Of Security Contractors Operating In Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai has long made clear his opposition to private security companies, saying only the Afghan army and police should be allowed to carry weapons. Photograph: Matt Moyer/Getty Images

Rogue Security Companies Threaten US Gains In Afghanistan War -- Christian Science Monitor

The Pentagon is dependent upon contractors in the Afghanistan war. But many of the security companies are undermining – or even working against –the US war effort.

Since its Revolutionary days, the American military has been no stranger to the use of paid help – from carpenters to ditch diggers – to wage war. By 1965 in Vietnam, the practice of relying on private defense companies became widespread enough within the Pentagon that Business Week dubbed it a "war by contract."

In Afghanistan, the use of private contractors has reached record levels. A 2010 Congressional Research Service report found that they now make up 60 percent of the Defense Department's workforce. With fewer US soldiers than contractors throughout the war-torn country, the Pentagon is more dependent on private defense contractors than ever in its history.

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More News On Security Contractors In Afghanistan

Afghanistan: move to ban private security firms hits reconstruction effort -- The Telegraph
Reports: Security policy threatens Afghan reconstruction -- MSNBC
Report: U.S.-Led Reconstruction Projects to End in Afghanistan Over Security Dispute -- FOX News
U.N. weighs in on security contractors -- UPI

My Comment: What does not help the situation is reading stories like this one.

Taliban, Criminals, And Drug Addicts Employed By U.S. Contractors in Afghanistan To Protect U.S. Bases And Convoys

U.S. soldiers search Afghan men working for a private security firm escorting truck convoys, after they found illegal weapons in their vehicle, in a village near Kandahar. Reuters

U.S. Contractors Employed Taliban -- Wall Street Journal

Senate Investigation Says Military Depends on Private Security Forces Rife With Criminals, Drug Users and Insurgents.

WASHINGTON—A yearlong investigation by a Senate panel has found evidence that the mostly Afghan force of private security guards the U.S. military depends on to protect supply convoys and bases in Afghanistan is rife with criminals, drug users and insurgents.

The Senate Armed Services Committee inquiry, based on interviews with dozens of military commanders and contractors and a review of over 125 Pentagon security contracts, found evidence of "untrained guards, insufficient and unserviceable weapons, unmanned posts" and other failings that put U.S. troops at risk.

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More News On Who Is Being Hired To protect U.S. Bases And Convoys In Afghanistan

Inquiry Finds Guards at U.S. Bases Are Tied to Taliban -- New York Times
Contract security 'funding Taliban' -- Al Jazeera
Security contractors in Afghanistan 'fund Taliban' -- BBC
DOD security contracts aided Taliban, Senate committee says -- L.A. Times
Afghanistan: Pentagon contractors entwined with 'pro-Taliban' warlords -- Christian Science Monitor
Senate report blasts security contractors in Afghanistan -- Politico
Senate Finds Corrupt Security Firms Fund Enemy -- FOX News
Senate report says that US hires Afghan warlords and thugs as security contractors -- Baltimore Sun
Senate report blasts Pentagon for handling of security contractors -- CNN
Warlords With Tarantino Monikers Mar Afghan Security, U.S. Says -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Taliban Allies, Warlord Flunkies Guard U.S. Bases -- The Danger Room
Report: US Contractors Hired Iranian Spies, Taliban, Warlords To Guard US Troops In Afghanistan -- ABC News

My Comment: I cannot say that I am surprised (I am not) .... but I will say that this is probably the tip of a very LARGE iceberg.

UN Wants Guidelines For The Hiring Of Security Contractors

UN Experts On Mercenaries Seek Stronger Regulation Of Private Security Companies -- UN News Centre

26 July 2010 – The United Nations group of independent experts on the use of mercenaries says it will present a proposal for a possible international convention to regulate activities of private military and security firms during its five-day meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York this week.

The UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries will brief permanent missions at the UN, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academics on the content and scope of its proposal aimed at closing the legal gap covering such activities at the international level.

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Update: U.N. group investigates mercenaries -- UPI

My Comment: Since it is the U.S. that is the major user of security contractors .... it will probably be perceived (in the U.S.) that this UN Working group will be targeting them specifically. As a result of this "perception" .... and with the war in Afghanistan heating up thereby presenting an even greater need for contractors .... I expect nothing "of significance" to come out from this body.

The U.S. Contemplating Hiring Contractors (Mercenaries) To Protect Bases And Convoys In Afghansitan

A set of security lights illuminate the landscape at Bagram Air Base March 2, 2009 in Bagram, Afghanistan. Following U.S. President Barack Obama's executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Bagram Air Base is slated for a $60 million expansion, nearly doubling the size of the prison at Bagram. Currently the base north of the Afghan capital Kabul holds over 600 prisoners classified as enemy combatants. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

U.S. Could Hire Private Guards for Bases in Afghanistan -- FOX News

U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan may hire a private contractor to provide around-the-clock security at dozens of bases and protect vehicle convoys moving throughout the country.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. military authorities in Afghanistan may hire a private contractor to provide around-the-clock security at dozens of bases and protect vehicle convoys moving throughout the country.

The possibility of awarding a security contract comes as the Obama administration is sending thousands of more troops into Afghanistan to quell rising violence fueled by a resurgent Taliban. As the number of American forces grow over the next several months, so too does the demand to guard their outposts.

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My Comment: Wasn't this process criticized by the Democrats (including President Obama when he was a Senator) in Iraq when Blackwater and other private contractors were hired to protect convoys, bases, and VIPs?