I'm reposting this diary; I'd found it necessary to put it up and take it down over the course of two days.  Due to a technical glitch on my end, Doug Brooks never knew it was up, so never visited to field your questions.  I apologize for hogging space, but here it is.  Doug should be stopping by; I just heard from him moments ago.  He wants your questions.

I had recently posted this diary about Representative Jan Schakowsky's Stop Outsourcing Security Act on February 24, 2010, and was surprised and not a little weirded out to see Mr. Brooks had dropped by to comment on the thread.  He invited me to contact him with questions, and reported that Rep. Schakowsky had never met with him to discuss her position on this bill and allow him to refute any 'misinformation.'

My recent diary on Contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq came from two reports on contractors, one from the Congressional Research Service and one from Claire McCaskill's Contractor Oversight hearings.  I plucked out some salient facts.

While it is undeniably true that the bulk of the contract personnel are locals, many in security and other sectors are often termed 'mercenaries,' a term out of favor with Brooks and many others.  It's been revealed that Intelligence is being outsourced at greater levels, and more contractors are used in drone attacks.  Reports that interrogation of prisoners has been conducted by contract employees are also unsettling.

Schakowsy is fretting because there is so little oversight of contract security and intelligence personnel, and the increasing damage that some of these outfits have cause to the image of the US abroad.

The sections on waste and fraud and Inadequate Contracting and Program Management Practices (McCaskill memo) are interesting.

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*Newsweek has a major story up now:  The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.  The short version that after spending $6 billion to DynCorps to train Afghan police, the force has been deemed thoroughly unreliable, and is not remotely ready to take over security from American forces. 

The story says that when he was advised of this situation, the President was stunned.  "Eight years," he said. "And we didn't train police? It's mind-boggling." The room was silent. 

DynCorps is one of the member organizations of IPOA.*

Blackwater/Xe was just about to be awarded a billion-dollar contract to ('continue'), we assumed) training Afghan police, when DynCorps sued to be let back into the bidding and won.  The contract is now pending as DynCorps is back in the running with Xe and Northrop Grumman.  And that is another whole story; perhaps it needs a separate blog.

I have agreed to email Mr. Brooks to advise him as soon as I've posted this; I'd imagine he'll be stopping by; you may want to ask some of your own (and better  ;-} ) questions.

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This is the email I received from Mr. Brooks in reply to my questions:

Wendy,

 In response to your questions:

1        You are registered as a non-profit; do you publish your budget for the public to see?

IPOA is a 501c6 trade association.  Our annual report is available online: http://ipoaworld.org/eng/annualreports.html

2        How much is your public relations budget?  How much has it increased over the past 8 years?

We don't have a PR budget exactly; I'm the main PR contact for what that's worth.  It's increased a lot because 8 years ago IPOA was essentially myself and an intern.  I was an academic when we founded the organization in April 2001 (I'm ABD), but the basic concept remains that the private sector is irreplaceable, and indeed essential, to successful international peace and stability operations.  We continue to believe that private firms can and should operate professionally and ethically even in weak and failed states where oversight and accountability are inherently problematic.

3        How many of your member organizations are shells for other companies?

None.

4        Do you advise them to move under shell umbrellas when they are facing scrutiny for Bad Acts or deaths from incompetence, like KBR and the Iraqi shower deaths?

To be clear, KBR is not a member of IPOA, though they should be (to my knowledge, only one or two of the deaths have been blamed on KBR officially - although the press likes to mention 17 or 18, which includes all accidental electrocutions - KBR disputes the allegations in any case and it is worth reading their responses which pundits seldom mention).  But to be clear, no, we do not advise our companies to move under 'shell umbrellas' when they are facing scrutiny.  Quite the opposite.

5        What security software led you to find my blog, and search out my name and blog at TPM Café?

Google blog alerts, as discussed.

6        The banner on your site labeled JOIP [JIPO] (Journal of International Peace [Operations]) shows those sweet children, one with a rifle and bandolier of ammunition.  It carries the caption 'Somalia: A failed state?'  This looks like marketing to me; can you explain it?

We don't market for Somalia or any other weak or failed state.  Unfortunately, child soldiers are a reality of conflict, especially in Africa.  I did much of my own academic research in Sierra Leone in 2000, where child soldiers served on both sides of the conflict.  The JIPO cover reflects the fact that we do not believe we should be hiding this problem or the larger tragedy that creates the demand for child soldiers.  IPOA was originally founded to ensure that UN and AU peace operations had the services they needed to succeed in ending conflicts.  The need for the private sector services is especially necessary in light of the West's shameful abandonment of international peace operations in places the West really doesn't care about, such as Sierra Leone, but also the eastern DRC, Darfur, Cote d'Ivoire etc.  Canada was the last Western country to provide formed military units to peace operations in those forgotten conflicts, but that ended when Canada joined the NATO forces sent to stabilize Afghanistan in 2001.  Actually, worth reading are my President's messages in the JIPO - there is a good one on the need for the Germans to take over for the Canadians in supporting international peace operations in forgotten places (vol.4 no4).  Also check JJ Messner's article, he's IPOA's Director: http://web.peaceops.com/archives/83#more-83

7        The accountability section in your Code of Conduct section seems to protect you from liability.  If a member company is involved in infractions, what recourse do you have?

We have a Standards Committee - essentially a jury of peers - to ensure Members comply with the Code.  Our focus as a trade association is compliance - we don't have the option of throwing anyone in jail, nor should we have such a state-centric power.  We do have the option of ejecting a Member company from the Association if they refuse to modify their behavior.  However I hope we never have to do that, as our focus is on correcting problems.  We have an online complaint system (http://ipoaworld.org/eng/submitcomplaint.html) and we also publish a flyer that we share with the NGO community in the field outlining how to report a Member company for a violation of the code.  Finally, we have annual Standards Simulations where we bring together our Standards Committee along with concerned human rights organizations, NGOs, academics and others to test the Code based on simulated complaints.  We take suggestions and criticisms very seriously and they often end up in our bylaws or in future versions of the Code (we're on version 12 just now http://ipoaworld.org/eng/codeofconduct.html).

8        Do you ever remove a company from your organizations for misbehavior?

We have that ability but fortunately we have never had to do that.

9        Why on earth is it worth your time to hunt down and comment on a piddley blog like mine?

I actually enjoy countering misinformation, and too often bad information gets repeated until it becomes conventional wisdom.  I once volunteered to give a presentation to my mother's Unitarian church in Santa Cruz, California.  It was an excellent exchange, and while I may not have earned flag-waving supporters, a number of the folks there allowed that there is a broader understanding of the need and value of the industry, and I did offer some answers and ideas on how to address some of the quality and accountability issues that make the press so often.

10    Do you have funding sources outside the military-industrial complex areas?

I'd disagree with the 'military-industrial complex' terminology (like the old adage of asking, "Congressman, are you still beating your wife . . .?"), but we do receive some funds from non corporate sources.  Most of our funding comes from membership dues, advertising and conferences.

11    I read that there will be a Summit on Haiti; why is it closed to outsiders, and will the Haitian governmental leaders be there?

The Haiti Reconstruction Summit went great - it was open to everyone.  Even Al Jazeera was there among quite a bit of international press.  We invited a number of Haitian governmental officials, but apparently the conference dates clashed with a presidential visit so they were tied up (we actually had confirmations that had to be withdrawn once the travel dates were finalized for the Haitian President).  We did have a number of Haitians and Haitian Diaspora there in any case.

12    What, if any, objections do you have to either Schakowsy's bill, or Bernie Sanders' Senate version? 

I actually agree with Jan Schakowsky on a number of issues (I'm a Democrat, I used to work for the Democratic Party), but she is wrong on this one.  Unfortunately she apparently doesn't understand the issue well, and although we have tried to schedule meetings with her she has always refused or even cancelled confirmed meetings.  I don't think she is opposed to hearing diverse viewpoints in general, however, she may be (rightly) concerned that if she knows too much it may require her to back away from this populist issue that is getting her quite a bit of press and TV time.  Here were some of my brief comments on her initial press release:

The majority of contractors are local nationals, the folks who should be doing the reconstruction and security in their own countries. And yes they are cheaper - they are paid local wages (a few hundred dollars per month), while U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan cost taxpayers as much as $1m per year. 

In Afghanistan over 95% of the private security personnel are local nationals who speak the language and understand the culture. Are we going to replace them with U.S. soldiers? 

Does it make sense to have U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan guarding warehouses? Hospitals? Power stations? That is akin to putting a target out to guard a target. 

The military has a critical stabilization mission and they do not need the burden this bill would cause right now. 

Thank you for the opportunity to respond, and again I apologize for the delay in responding.

Best,

Doug Brooks, IPOA