Up to 56,000 More Contractors Likely for Afghanistan, Congressional Agency Says, The Washington Post, 16 December 2009
EXCERPT: "The surge of 30,000 U.S. troops into Afghanistan could be accompanied by a surge of up to 56,000 contractors, vastly expanding the presence of personnel from the U.S. private sector in a war zone, according to a study by the Congressional Research Service. CRS, which provides background information to members of Congress on a bipartisan basis, said it expects an additional 26,000 to 56,000 contractors to be sent to Afghanistan. That would bring the number of contractors in the country to anywhere from 130,000 to 160,000. The tally 'could increase further if the new [administration] strategy includes a more robust construction and nation building effort,' according to the report, which was released Monday and first disclosed on the Web site Talking Points Memo. The CRS study says contractors made up 69 percent of the Pentagon's personnel in Afghanistan last December, a proportion that 'apparently represented the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by the Defense Department in any conflict in the history of the United States.' As of September, contractor representation had dropped to 62 percent, as U.S. troop strength increased modestly."
Source: Department of Defense Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan: Background and Analysis
Read the full story.
Related articles:
The Blackwater chronicles, DAWN, 16 December 2009
Blackwater and security contracting: The economics of war, The New York Times, 14 December 2009
Concerns with contracting oversight in Afghanistan run deep, Foreign Policy, 9 December 2009
Afghanistan contractor numbers expected to increase, Stars and Stripes, 3 December 2009
Related report:
Department of Defense Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan: Background and Analysis [pdf], Congressional Research Service, 14 December 2009
Related posts:
Blackwater guards tied to secret raids by the CIA, 11 December 2009
Counting contractors, managing the drawdown, 4 November 2009
Challenges in tracking contractor personnel and contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, 8 October 2009
The public cost of private security, 18 September 2009
