The Impact of Private Security on US Foreign Policy

It should be noted that growth within this sector is occurring in the fields of intelligence gathering and analysis.  Part of this is due to increases in industrial espionage which has facilitated the outsourcing of tasks including, but not limited to, cyber-security, risk-analysis, electronic surveillance and counter-intelligence to companies like Kroll Associates, Asmara, and Network Security Management.^[v] The use of space-based satellite imagery is probably the most sought after privatized intelligence capability. For example, United Nations weapon inspectors in early 2001 sought satellite pictures of Iraqi industrial facilities, and during Operation Enduring Freedom the U.S. military outsourced much of the need for tactical satellite imagery to Colorado based Space Imaging and Digital Globe to supplement Pentagon assets.^[vi]

Critics of the privatization of intelligence and surveillance cite the unreliability of the sources used and information gathered, as well as a host of privacy concerns. The notion that the information gathered from private intelligence services is unreliable due to its collection solely from open sources, however, is not a valid assumption. Former CIA Director James Woolsey states, “…that 95% of intelligence comes from open sources anyway.” To illustrate this point, in 1995 the CIA held a competition with the stated goal of gathering the best information for policy formation for a fictional intervention in Burundi. The winner was a private firm called Open Source Solutions (ironically, the CIA team came in last).^[vii] While some concern over privacy is warranted, privacy advocates have been alarmist.  Corporate entities, after all, have incentives to not engage in such illegal behavior due to liability issues that expose them to severe monetary damages and legal sanction, which would discourage the offering of future contracts.

By contrast, the benefits of privatizing intelligence and surveillance are apparent, especially in regard to satellite imagery and data mining techniques that give the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), and National Security Agency (NSA) surge capacity, an augmentation of their existing assets, and enhancement and innovation of capabilities.^[viii]

Consultant Services

The consultant services sector of the private security industry consists of strategic guidance and training for national militaries primarily aimed at achieving some specific military objective, restructuring of a nation’s military capability, or strategic evaluation of a nation’s force structure. The use of consultant services is seen as an opportunity to receive a “commander’s assessment,” due to the preponderance of former high-ranking military officers from developed countries that are on the payroll of these companies.^[ix]  The most high-profile companies in this sector are Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), Dynacorp, and Strategic Consulting.^[x] A major distinction between the consultant and operational services is that consultants tend to avoid involvement with the forward edge of the battlefield and direct combat.^[xi]  While the distance from actual combat environments is the preferred norm for consultant companies, it is worth noting that contracts straddling the operational and consultant/training realms are not unheard of.^[xii]

Unfortunately, the services provided by this sector have contributed to an increase in authoritarian behavior due to the strengthening of the client’s armed forces.  For example, the strengthening of the authoritarian regime of President Tudjman of Croatia immediately after the 1995 Dayton Accords was predicated on the enhanced capabilities that the Croatian armed forces received from consultant services provided by MPRI.^[xiii]