(MintPress)—Private Security Contractor (PSC) deaths are on the rise as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan. In 2010, civilian contractor deaths exceeded U.S. military casualties in war zones for the first time in history.
A study by Steven L. Schooner and Collin D. Swan from the George Washington University Law School, reported that between January and June 2010, more than 430 civilian contractors died in Iraq and Afghanistan compared to 383 American soldiers.
A PSC employed by the Department of Defense (DOD) in Afghanistan is 4.5 times more likely to be killed than uniformed personnel. According to the study, 72% of PSC deaths between June 2009 and April 2010 occurred among contractors providing convoy security.
Schooner and Swan found that, “Contractor deaths now represent over twenty-five (25) percent of all U.S. fatalities since the beginning of military actions.”
.
What do Private Security Contractors do?
PSCs, commonly known as mercenaries, are employed to provide military and security services similar to that of governmental military or police forces, often on a smaller scale.
PSCs provide a multitude of armed and unarmed services including: site security, convoy travel protection, security escorts, personal security details, intelligence analysis, hostage negotiation, operational coordination, and security training.
PSCs make at least $150,000 to $200,000 a year on average – over 4 times the salary of a U.S. soldier. Despite high contractor costs, the government believes PSCs are more cost-effective in the long term because they can be hired and deployed faster than military forces. PSCs do not require the same lengthy trainings as government officers and can be fired quickly as needed.
According to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, as of March 2010, private contracting companies were employing over 25,000 registered security contractors, with the unregistered number estimated to be closer to 70,000.
Of the 25,000 registered PSCs in Afghanistan, 16,733 were employed by the DOD. 98% of DOD PSCs were armed, and 93% of the armed PSCs were local nationals.
A more recent 2011 Congressional report puts the number of DOD contractors in Afghanistan closer to 90,000: 20,000 U.S. citizens, 24,000 third-country nationals, and 46,000 local nationals.
Local nationals made up 51% of 2011 contractor personnel. In March 2011, the number of contractor personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq outnumbered uniformed personnel. However the 2011 report did not specify which of the contractors performed security tasks.
There are several reasons for the inconsistent calculations between PSC reports given that the DOD did not begin gathering data on PSCs until late in 2007. At the time of the 2010 CRS report, the DOD was beginning to implement a Synchronized Predeployment and Operational Tracker (SPOT) to improve the accuracy of PSC tracking.
PSC deaths are just as widely unreported as the number of PSCs present in war zones. Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins said, “We have a very, very rigorous system of tracking the soldiers and civilians who are …But with contractors, it’s up to their contracted company.”
Due to poor government tracking and lack of accountability, the actual numbers of PSCs killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are expected to be much higher than is currently known.
.
Future Presence of PSCs Abroad
Upon the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in December 2011, President Barack Obama said, “Our troops are now preparing to make their final march across the border and out of the country…Iraq’s future will be in the hands of its own people.”
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) believes Obama’s announcement “fails to acknowledge that we will simply be replacing one US occupation with another….the presence of armed US contractors…will continue to foment instability and violence in Iraq and the region.”
As of the 1st quarter of FY 2012, almost 9,000 PSCs were still operating on the ground in Iraq under U.S. orders. A few hundred contractors were recently arrested by Iraqi forces in an effort to reclaim sovereignty after the American troop withdrawal.
A similar situation is already unfolding in Afghanistan. From December 2008 to March 2010, the number of armed security contractors increased from 3,184 to 16,398 – an increase of 415% according to the 2010 CRS report. By January 2012, there were 20,375 DOD PSCs in Afghanistan.
PSC deaths are expected to rise as the Obama Administration prepares to phase out troops and increase contractors ahead of the 2014 anticipated troop withdrawal. Once the United States removes all troops from Afghanistan, PSCs will likely carry out remaining U.S. missions as is being done in Iraq.
.
Graphs by Steven L. Schooner and Collin D. Swan, the George Washington University Law School
.
Source: MintPress
.