Regulating Us Private Security Contractors

This book explores different aspects of the regulation of private security contractors working for governments. The author specifically examines the US, identifying the obstacles that have hindered US regulatory outcomes. Theoretical discussions, supported by conceptual analysis of Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice, are applied to analysis based on interviews with current and former employees of key stakeholders. By analyzing the political, bureaucratic, and organizational obstacles to the implementation of consistent and enforceable regulations, Jovana Jezdimirovic Ranito points to creative possibilities for future use of her conceptual framework.

The under-regulation of the private security industry has increasingly become a topic of media and academic interest. This Adelphi Paper enters the debate by explaining why the industry requires further regulation, and what is wrong with the current system. It begins by briefly defining the industry and explaining the need for more effective regulation, before analysing three types of regulation: domestic, international and informal (including self-regulation).

Private Security Contractors Operating in Contingency Operations, Combat Operations or Other Significant Military Operations (US Department of Defense Regulation) (DOD) (2018 Edition) The Law Library presents the complete text of the Private Security Contractors Operating in Contingency Operations, Combat Operations or Other Significant Military Operations (US Department of Defense Regulation) (DOD) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 This Rule establishes policy, assigns responsibilities and provides procedures for the regulation of the selection, accountability, training, equipping, and conduct of personnel performing private security functions under a covered contract during contingency operations, combat operations or other significant military operations. It also assigns responsibilities and establishes procedures for incident reporting, use of and accountability for equipment, rules for the use of force, and a process for administrative action or the removal, as appropriate, of PSCs and PSC personnel. For the Department of Defense, this Rule supplements DoD Instruction 3020.41, "Contractor Personnel Authorized to Accompany the U.S. Armed Forces," which provides guidance for all DoD contractors operating in contingency operations. This book contains: - The complete text of the Private Security Contractors Operating in Contingency Operations, Combat Operations or Other Significant Military Operations (US Department of Defense Regulation) (DOD) (2018 Edition) - A table of contents with the page number of each section

Some have claimed that "War is too important to be left to the generals," but P. W. Singer asks "What about the business executives?" Breaking out of the guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations now sell skills and services that until recently only state militaries possessed. Their products range from trained commando teams to strategic advice from generals. This new "Privatized Military Industry" encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of employees, and billions of dollars in revenue. Whether as proxies or suppliers, such firms have participated in wars in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and Latin America. More recently, they have become a key element in U.S. military operations. Private corporations working for profit now sway the course of national and international conflict, but the consequences have been little explored. In this book, Singer provides the first account of the military services industry and its broader implications. Corporate Warriors includes a description of how the business works, as well as portraits of each of the basic types of companies: military providers that offer troops for tactical operations; military consultants that supply expert advice and training; and military support companies that sell logistics, intelligence, and engineering. In an updated edition of P. W. Singer's classic account of the military services industry and its broader implications, the author describes the continuing importance of that industry in the Iraq War. This conflict has amply borne out Singer's argument that the privatization of warfare allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in the ways that war is carried out. At the same time, however, Singer finds that the introduction of the profit motive onto the battlefield raises troubling questions—for democracy, for ethics, for management, for human rights, and for national security.

Sean McFate lays bare the opaque world of private military contractors, explaining the economic structure of the industry and showing in detail how firms operate on the ground. As a former paratrooper and private military contractor, McFate provides an unparalleled perspective into the nuts and bolts of the industry, as well as a sobering prognosis for the future of war.

This book addresses the ambiguities of the growing use of private security contractors and provides guidance as to how our expectations about regulating this expanding ‘service’ industry will have to be adjusted. In the warzones of Iraq and Afghanistan many of those who carry weapons are not legally combatants, nor are they protected civilians. They are contracted by governments, businesses, and NGOs to provide armed security. Often mistaken as members of armed forces, they are instead part of a new protean proxy force that works alongside the military in a multitude of shifting roles, and overseen by a matrix of contracts and regulations. This book analyzes the growing industry of these private military and security companies (PMSCs) used in warzones and other high risk areas. PMSCs are the result of a unique combination of circumstances, including a change in the idea of soldiering, insurance industry analyses that require security contractors, and a need for governments to distance themselves from potentially criminal conduct. The book argues that PMSCs are a unique type of organization, combining attributes from worlds of the military, business, and humanitarian organizations. This makes them particularly resistant to oversight. The legal status of these companies and those they employ is also hard to ascertain, which weakens the multiple regulatory tools available. PMSCs also fall between the cracks in ethical debates about their use, seeming to be both justifiable and objectionable. This transformation in military operations is a seemingly irreversible product of more general changes in the relationship between the individual citizen and the state. This book will be of much interest to students of private security companies, war and conflict studies, security studies and IR in general. Kateri Carmola is the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College in Vermont. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Although increased reliance on private military contractors began with U.S. involvement in the Kosovo conflict, the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq prompted an exponential growth in the private military industry, increasing not only the sheer size of the industry but the types of services as well. 'Inherently governmental functions' were being performed by private entities, but with little regulations in place for vetting, monitoring and holding accountable either the company or its personnel. This Report, as part of the National Reports Series in the Priv-War Project supported within the 7th Framework Programme by the European Commission DG Research, provides a comprehensive discussion of the use of private military and security contractors (PMSCs) by the United States since 9/11 and applicable U.S. law, regulations, and policies, with particular attention paid to the use of such firms in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Report describes the incorporation of contractors into the larger military presence and provides a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of the use of contractors, specifically, the number of contractor personnel working overseas, the governmental agencies with which they are involved, the cost of contractor operations, and the various roles played by contractors. The Report also covers the entire universe of mechanisms that regulate, govern, and hold accountable the private contractor firms and their personnel, by examining the statutes and guidelines that provide for both the process of contracting with the U.S. government and the oversight of military contractors, as well as the criminal and civil legal regimes that attempt to hold PMSCs and their personnel accountable for misconduct or negligence in situations of armed conflict and post-armed conflict.

Public functions are increasingly being outsourced to the private sector. This includes activities that impact on human rights and security. Drawing on insights from various disciplines, this book looks at the costs and benefits of privatization and at whether there are limits to this trend.

Discussions on regulation of private military and security companies have largely ignored the potential contribution of industry associations. This is the result of two factors: the preference for formal regulation, and the perception that industry associations in this field will not be able to rise above their trade-lobbyist aspect. This perception further suggests that industry associations, funded and, to a great extent managed by member companies, industry associations will either remain complicit in the activities of these member companies, or irrelevant to their control. This conclusion, however, ignores the actual functioning of these associations and their claims to legitimacy, accountability, and effectiveness as regulatory bodies. This article takes these claims seriously, and explores the regulatory potential of industry associations in the security industry. It adopts the following structure. The introduction explores the reasons why their regulatory role remains unstudied. The first section begins to explore this role; piecing together an account of the history, structure, and regulatory mechanisms of three major associations. Such an account is thus far missing from literature, which has contributed to the neglect of their role. The next section situates industry-level regulation in the context of the status of private governance arrangements. This section explores legitimacy concerns arising out of the dual character of industry associations as regulatory bodies and trade groups, as also concerns peculiar to private provision of security services. It also critically examines the contribution of formal state regulation. The third section assesses the industry associations' claims to legitimacy, accountability, and effectiveness. Along with a critique, it offers suggestions for enhancement of these claims.