Behind the president’s directive to ‘accelerate’ the counter-ISIS campaign came a surge in the number of contractors assisting in the campaign against ISIS. The number of private contractors working for the U.S. Defense Department in Iraq grew eight-fold over the past year, a rate that far outpaces the growing number of American troops training and […]
BY: RUTA NIMKAR, Private military and security companies (PMSCs) have earned a place in the spotlight recently due primarily to charges of human rights abuses in Iraq. However, the industry has been growing rapidly for over two decades, and has had significant impact on conflicts in Sierra Leone, Bosnia, and Papua New Guinea, among others. This article examines the difference between modern […]
Private military contractors in Iraq skyrocketed in number by eight times over the period of January 2015 to January 2016, according to a new Pentagon report to Congress. There were just 250 contractors in Iraq in January 2015, a number that has surged to 2,028. Exactly 70 percent are American nationals, 20 percent are from other […]
Although stability operations and contingency contracting may not be the biggest industry in the world, “You’d have a hard time finding another industry that has a greater impact in places that matter.” This observation, offered by a former commander of U.S. Africa Command at a 2015 security sector industry conference, marks the realization that the […]
The work of private military and security contractors is extremely controversial from the point of view of international law and of practice. Sometimes there are doubts as to whether some of their activities should be considered legal activities or illegal mercenarism. Like any other entities using force, they can violate human rights as well as […]