Outsourcing Fuels Growth of "Private Military Firms"

The growth of Private Military Firms (PMFs) is chronicled in a report from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. The report notes the recent consolidation of ownership that resulted in the New York-based L-3 Communications buying MPRI and Veritas Capital purchasing Dyncorp.

"The end of the Cold War and the United States’ (U.S.) military downsizing in the 1990s drastically altered the U.S. approach to warfare. The decrease in American forces by as much as one-third coupled with an increase in global military missions created the demand for private military services. Since the end of the Cold War U.S. military reliance on contract services in the form of consulting, security and other support has grown significantly, however, public scrutiny and distrust exist due to perceptions of inherent public-private shortcomings. Privatized Military Operations (PMO) can meet shortfalls in military capacity, but will only remain effective and
efficient if an agreed upon framework for planning, funding, execution, and oversight is implemented and enforced by the United States Government...

"...unlike the stereotypical small-unit mercenaries of the past, these modern PMFs are corporate bodies that offer a wide range of services, from tactical combat operations and strategic planning to logistical support and technical assistance."

Read full report

EXCLUSIVE...Pentagon Pundits: New York Times Reporter David Barstow Wins Pulitzer Prize for Exposing Military's Pro-War Propaganda Media Campaign

EXCLUSIVE...Pentagon Pundits: New York Times Reporter David Barstow Wins Pulitzer Prize for Exposing Military's Pro-War Propaganda Media Campaign:

"AMY GOODMAN: We begin our show today with New York Times reporter David Barstow. He recently won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for exposing how dozens of retired generals working as radio and television analysts had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to military contractors that benefited from policies they defended.

Barstow uncovered Pentagon documents that repeatedly refer to the military analysts as “message force multipliers” or “surrogates” who could be counted on to deliver administration themes and messages to millions of Americans in the form of their own opinions.

The so-called analysts were given hundreds of classified Pentagon briefings, provided with Pentagon-approved talking points and given free trips to Iraq and other sites paid for by the Pentagon.

David Bartow wrote, quote, “Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse—an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.”

The officials appeared on all the main cable news channels—Fox News, CNN and MSNBC—as well as the three nightly network news broadcasts.

The Pentagon program started during the build-up to the Iraq war."

"...the week before 9/11, [former Gen. Barry McCaffrey] was asked to join the advisory—defense advisory board of a major private equity firm in New York called Veritas Capital, which at that moment, just at that moment, was making plans to invest heavily into defense contractors. Nine-eleven happened. Weeks later, General McCaffrey was hired by NBC to be its—one of its military analysts. And so, what you see happening with General McCaffrey in the years since is that he has been on, time and time again, talking about the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, but at the same time, most notably through his ties to Veritas Capital, he has been deeply involved in the business affairs of some of the major defense contractors who are operating in both of those war zones."

Read rest of article