Coast man faces Indian court

Bill Hoffman | 9th November 2010  Sunshine Coast Daily

SUNSHINE Coast construction manager Neil Campbell was due to appear in a New Delhi court again last night as his incarceration in India entered its 27th day.

Mr Campbell has been charged by the US Justice Department with having solicited a $US190,000 bribe to allow a sub-contractor to keep working on a USAID-funded project in Afghanistan.

After his arrest at Delhi Airport on October 13 Mr Campbell offered to go voluntarily to the United States to face the charges.

Instead he has been kept in Delhi’s Tihar prison, one of the most overcrowded in Asia, while the United States pursues a formal extradition through the courts.

The Australian High Commission has informed the US Embassy of Mr Campbell’s willingness to go to the US and the judges determining the matter have also been informed.

The matter was adjourned for a week at his last appearance in court on November 1 by a judge who said he had yet to receive a formal extradition request from the United States.

US officials in the court produced a copy of the document that was still making its way through the Indian justice system and the copy was authenticated by an Indian government under secretary.

However, the judge ruled he needed to see the original.

He also requested that Mr Campbell table a letter saying that he would not fight extradition and had not been coerced into that position.  Please see the original story here

WARNING: TO ALL CIVILIAN CONTRACTORS ON FACEBOOK

Message from Death Valley Magazine

by James G on November 8

The following Facebook Group “Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order” is an Islamic Jihadist terrorist organization using Facebook to target Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They are using Facebook to gather Intel on Contractors and their Families – including location [CONUS and OCONUS] and movement Intel.

Below is the Facebook page for their Facebook Group:

Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order

I have received dozens of emails about this from my buddies in Iraq and Afghanistan warning me of this group. Please remember to maintain OPSEC and check your privacy settings on your Facebook Page. For people like myself who are pretty public already there is not much I can do, but for everyone else lock down your Facebook profile and be aware of whose friend requests you accept.

If you are a contractor like I am one of the easiest things you can do is blur out your face on any pictures you post. And for fucks sake do not have your email, state where you live, phone number or any other identifying info visible to anyone including your friends.

Please see Norm W.’s Article on Facebook Privacy 101 for more detailed information on how to secure your Facebook Profile

Facebook Privacy 101

Additional Intel on Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order:

Name: Army Men Naqshbandi
Category: Organizations – Religious Organizations
Description: In the name of God the Merciful

(We shall test you until We, and the patient ll tell)

Surah Muhammad verse: 31

Our jihad

Praise be to God, prayer and peace upon our beloved Muhammad and his family and companions and allies

1 – we started in our blessed jihad in terms of the fact that a legitimate jihad of religious duties, a duty and even the imposition of time applicant for the Iraqis after Jeict the forces of infidelity and was able to armies under the known circumstances of the occupation of Iraq (and the command of Allah dictated by fate).

2 – the goal of our jihad infidel occupier (individuals and machinery and equipment and equipment) wherever it is found on the land of Iraq at any time.

3 – we did not target any of the Iraqis of different nationalities, religions and denominations has blood on our hands the blood of any Iraqi would not be as well that God is only present himself before the Jund al-Suh disbelief in the battle for the assault on the Iraqis and protects the chest was master infidel.

4 – Do not disbelieve any of the Muslim people of the Qiblah (the people is no god but Allah) except in accordance with the legitimate parameters (outright disbelief) and the consensus of the Muslims and not the suspicions and prejudices, and wherein they differ.

5 – does not and will not Ntqata with any of the jihadist factions unlocked but sincere cooperation and cooperate with many of them as long as all the guns went to the issuance of long-standing enemies and these factions parameters of legitimacy and the national agenda.

6 – Thanks to God we relied on our own capabilities and our personal insurance requirements of the work jihadist since the days of jihad First, we still, in addition to what can be obtained from the support of Muslims and true believers did not extend our hands to any source of financial support suspicious or conditional terms inconsistent with our established legal and national, although the internal arena and filled with such external sources.

7 – adopt the principle of confidentiality and secrecy, one of the years the beloved prophet (peace be upon him) in the planning and implementation of jihad operations with documented in writing and a figurehead since the days of Jihad, the first in 2003 and has not announce it, which led to the adoption of some factions, some of our jihadist quality with a view to a project or not project because of its echo in the arena of jihad.

8 – may not be dealing with the occupier, whether the job or buy or sell, directly or indirectly, to the fact that it falls under the subsidy infidel occupier and improve its image in the eyes of the ugly people.

9 – not to engage in a game the political process because it is invalid by law and under the occupation may not be any dialogue or meeting or appease or negotiate with the occupier only by the Sultan of the legitimate or authorized.

10 – We will fight for the unity of Iraqi land and people to preserve the Arab and Islamic identity and we will be on the lookout for projects division under various names, both federal malicious or other labels failing.

11 – We will fight until the last inch of the land of Iraq and return to his family and Omteh Arab and Islamic countries have promised God and His Messenger, and promise all true believers and all honest we will not take up arms will not stop our jihad until the blessed God recognizing us in one of two goals: victory or martyrdom.

12 – older students minimum transient and do not seek positions of false and ephemeral and chairs when recognizing us victory by God, and the expulsion of the occupiers and requires the interest of religion and our homeland, we want a legitimate policy (according to the legitimate parameters) do not want a political law.

The last prayer is praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and blessings of Allah and peace upon His slave and lover and Mustafah Muhammad and his family and his companions

Council Operations Command

Army Men Naqshbandi (read less)

Please read the original here

Defense bans contractors from interrogating detainees

By Robert Brodsky rbrodsky@govexec.com November 4, 2010 at Government Executive

The Pentagon has issued an interim rule that would formally prevent private contractors from interrogating detainees in military custody.

The notice, published on Wednesday in the Federal Register, implements a fiscal 2010 National Defense Authorization Act provision by allowing only government personnel to question detainees.

The statute, however, does permit the Defense secretary to waive the prohibition temporarily if doing so is “vital to the national security interests of the United States.”

Interrogation is a key tool for the United States and its allies to win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the practice must operate legally and should support the military’s mission overseas, according to the rule.

“It is imperative that contractor activities in support of these efforts comply with the law and do not detract from the commander’s intent in order to contribute to mission success,” the draft regulation stated. “A lack of compliance affects the perception of both local citizens and the international community, which would provide support to our adversaries that will adversely impact the U.S. government’s efforts.”

The CIA already has stopped using private contractors for interrogations.

While private sector firms will not be allowed to grill detainees, they will be permitted to assist in the interrogation.

At the request of the Obama administration, lawmakers revised the 2010 authorization measure to allow contractor personnel with proper training and security clearances to serve as linguists, interpreters, report writers, information technology technicians, and trainers and advisers to the interrogators.

The contractors must be subject to the same laws, rules, procedures and policies as the government interrogators, and qualified and trained Defense Department personnel must oversee them to ensure they do not perform prohibited activities.

“In some limited cases, a contract interrogator may possess the best combination of skills to obtain critical intelligence, and this provision, therefore, could prevent U.S. forces from conducting lawful interrogations in the most effective manner,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a July 2009 statement of policy on the Defense measure.

The final version of the law defines detainees as “enemy prisoners of war, civilian internees and retained personnel” but not Defense Department or contractor personnel being held for law enforcement purposes.

The provision was a response to allegations that employees of private firms CACI International Inc. and L-3 Communication (formerly Titan Corp.) conspired to torture detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

Some of the Iraqi detainees have successfully sued the firms, but the companies have appealed the ruling. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., is hearing the case. Contractors are arguing they are covered by the same level of immunity that protects U.S. soldiers from being sued by enemy combatants in wartime.

“Immediate implementation of this statute is necessary to preclude a contracting officer from inadvertently awarding a contract that allows for the interrogation of detainees by contractor personnel,” the interim rule stated.

Please see the original article here and leave your comments

Defense will accept comments on the rule through Jan. 3, 2011. They can be submitted by e-mail at dfars@osd.mil; through the Regulations.gov website; or by mail to:

Defense Acquisition Regulations System
Attn.: Julian E. Thrash, OUSD (AT&L) DPAP/DARS
3060 Defense Pentagon, Room 3B855
Washington, D.C. 20301-3060

Whistleblower Exposed Fraud By The Louis Berger Group; $69.3 Million Settlement Sets Record for Afghanistan and Iraq Contractor Fraud Case

BALTIMORE, Nov. 5, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — A whistleblower lawsuit was the basis for the federal government’s fraud case against the Louis Berger Group that settled today for $69.3 million — the largest recovery in a case involving war-zone contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The “qui tam” (whistleblower) lawsuit against Louis Berger was filed in 2006 “under seal” as the False Claims Act requires in qui tam cases, so it wasn’t publicly known until today when the court lifted the seal and the record settlement was announced. Louis Berger has agreed to pay $46.5 million to settle the whistleblower case, $4.1 to settle other contractual disputes and $18.7 million for a criminal fine.

The whistleblower, Harold Salomon, was a senior financial analyst/auditor for Louis Berger in New Jersey. His lawsuit exposed Louis Berger’s practice of billing the government for indirect and overhead costs that were unrelated to its government contracts. Louis Berger has some of the biggest U.S. contracts for rebuilding projects in Afghanistan.

“Today I can affirm to those who told me the Louis Berger Group can get away with anything that they were wrong,” said Salomon. “To those who said, ‘If you cannot beat them, you have to join them,’ I say they were wrong, too.”

Fraud, waste and abuse by war-zone contractors is estimated to cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars. But fraud cases can be difficult to pursue because of the chaos of war, the lack of a paper trail and other factors. A Department of Justice official estimated earlier this week that the U.S. has recovered only $80 million from cases involving U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan (excluding the Louis Berger settlement).

“Louis Berger manipulated its accounting system and overhead rate to steal millions from the federal government – money that was supposed to be used to rebuild Afghanistan,” said Peter W Chatfield, a Washington, DC, attorney with Phillips & Cohen, which represented the whistleblower. “The government never would have uncovered this sophisticated scheme without an insider such as our client, Harold Salomon, who had the knowledge and the integrity to stop the fraud.”

Louis Berger’s fraud hurt the U.S. war effort, said Tim McCormack, another Washington, DC, attorney with Phillips & Cohen.

“Fraud undermines U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq,” said McCormack. “Money that should have been used to build roads, clinics and schools in Afghanistan to win support of the Afghan people was used instead to build Louis Berger’s profits.”

Chatfield and McCormack commended the government attorneys and investigators who worked on the case, particularly Michael DiPietro and Tarra Deshields from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore, Russell Kinner from the Department of Justice and the investigative teams from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

“This was a true team effort,” Chatfield said. “The government attorneys and investigators invested an incredible amount of time and effort into this case. They worked diligently with Mr. Salomon to unwind this sophisticated, fraudulent scheme.”

The False Claims Act allows whistleblowers to sue companies that are defrauding the government and receive a reward if the government recovers any funds as a result. Salomon plans to donate a portion of his reward to the American-Haitian Association for Medical Economic & Educational Support (www.ahames.org), a non-profit group he founded that provides health care and funds various economic development projects in Haiti.

“It is a blessing to have the opportunity to contribute a little to society and at the same time reach out to those in need thru AHAMES,” Salomon said.

Phillips & Cohen represents whistleblowers nationwide in False Claims Act cases and in claims involving tax law and securities law violations made under the Internal Revenue Service’s and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower reward programs. It is the nation’s most successful law firm representing whistleblowers. The firm’s whistleblower cases have recovered more than $6.89 billion in civil settlements and related criminal fines and have earned its clients more than $730 million in rewards. For more information, see www.phillipsandcohen.com.

See Harold Salomon’s full statement at http://www.phillipsandcohen.com/CM/NewsSettlements/NewsSettlements618.asp.

Settlement agreement is posted at http://www.phillipsandcohen.com/CM/NewsSettlements/Louis%20Berger%20civil%20settlement%20agreement.pdf.

SOURCE Phillips & Cohen LLP

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RELATED LINKS
http://www.phillipsandcohen.com

Judge allows fraud case against translator company

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge wants a closer examination of allegations a defense contractor knowingly hired interpreters who failed language proficiency exams and sent them to work alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Friday rejected a bid by the contractor, Mission Essential Personnel of Columbus, Ohio, to have the case thrown out. Attorneys for the company argued the suit filed by Paul Funk, a former Mission Essential Personnel employee, is based on speculation and assertions.

But Brinkema said she is allowing the case to move forward because the service being provided to the government — qualified translators working in a war zone — is so important to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.  Please read the original article here

Contractor Louis Berger settles in Afghan overbilling probe

By WARREN P. STROBEL AND MARISA TAYLOR

McClatchy Newspapers at Kansas City com

One of the government’s highest profile American contractors in Afghanistan has agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle allegations that it overbilled the U.S. government.

In return, the Justice Department will end its investigation into allegations that Louis Berger was intentionally overcharging American taxpayers, individuals close to the investigation told McClatchy Newspapers on Thursday. The settlement, which could be as high as $65 million, would include civil and criminal penalties.

Holly Fisher, a company spokeswoman, declined to comment on the settlement. A spokeswoman with the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey, which is overseeing the case, also declined to comment.

The settlement is part of a deferred prosecution agreement, which means that the government retains its right to reopen the investigation if the company engages in future wrongdoing.

Louis Berger’s alleged overbilling, a practice that dates to at least the mid-1990s, swelled to tens of millions in lost tax dollars, McClatchy Newspapers first reported earlier this year.

In 2006, a former Louis Berger employee handed the government evidence against the company, two months before the U.S. Agency for International Development tapped Louis Berger to jointly oversee $1.4 billion in reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan.

It’s unclear whether the settlement would impact the company’s current operations in Afghanistan.

U.S. government officials, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that the company continues to be the subject of separate ongoing investigations with regard to its work in Afghanistan.

Louis Berger spokeswoman Fisher issued this statement: “The Louis Berger Group/Black & Veatch Joint Venture is not withdrawing from Afghanistan. We are committed to successfully completing our work on behalf of USAID for the Afghan people, while ensuring the safety of all people working on these important projects.”

Court documents, however, revealed that the Justice Department has been negotiating a deal that would “aid in preserving the company’s continuing eligibility to participate” in federal contracting in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The whistleblower case, known as a qui tam lawsuit, is sealed in federal court because of the ongoing criminal investigation.

McClatchy Newspapers previously was able to piece together more details about the case by reviewing government documents and speaking to officials who insisted on anonymity because the case is under seal.

That review found that Louis Berger is accused of manipulating overhead cost data and overhead rate proposals submitted to the U.S. government and several states including Massachusetts, Nevada and Virginia.

In some instances the company is accused of shifting overhead costs from private clients to federal and state contracts, where they were less likely to be noticed.

In August 2007, federal agents raided Louis Berger’s home office in New Jersey. Two former senior officials were targeted in the investigation.

Founded in 1953, Louis Berger Group does engineering and construction-related work domestically and in about 80 countries worldwide, according to the company’s website. It has more than 5,000 employees and is headquartered in Morristown, N.J. Please see the original story here

The rise of the UK’s private security companies

Major General Graham Binns is not your typical chief executive.

As a lifelong soldier, he is more used to commanding an armoured division than a company boardroom.

In 2003 he commanded British troops invading southern Iraq, and in 2007 returned as the commander of British forces overseeing the handover of Basra to the Iraqis.

But now, four months into his new job as chief executive of Aegis Defence Services – a British private security company (PSC) – he has left army life behind.

“It’s liberating,” he says, sitting in Aegis’s comfortable headquarters in a plush office building in central London.

“Thirty-five years in government service was a wonderful experience. But in the world of business, ex-military people have got a lot to offer – I certainly hope so anyway.”

For Aegis, netting a leading figure from the Iraq war can only be good for business – particularly when your business is in the often-controversial world of armed private security.

Now one of the UK’s biggest PSCs, Aegis has made millions from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan since it was founded just eight years ago.

Iraq bubble

“It’s liberating,” he says, sitting in Aegis’s comfortable headquarters in a plush office building in central London.

“Thirty-five years in government service was a wonderful experience. But in the world of business, ex-military people have got a lot to offer – I certainly hope so anyway.”

For Aegis, netting a leading figure from the Iraq war can only be good for business – particularly when your business is in the often-controversial world of armed private security.

Now one of the UK’s biggest PSCs, Aegis has made millions from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan since it was founded just eight years ago.

Please read the full story here

Bodies of 2 aid workers discovered in Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — The bodies of two female aid workers were discovered Sunday morning in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, a spokesman for Helmand’s governor told CNN on Tuesday.

Daud Ahmadi said one of the women was the founder of the organization Mahjoba Herawi, an Afghan non-governmental organization. Ahmadi said both were working on women-oriented projects such as jam and pasta making.

The women’s driver disappeared, and it was unclear whether robbers or the Taliban killed the women, Ahmadi said.

The deaths come after a British aid worker held hostage in eastern Afghanistan was killed by her captors during an October rescue attempt.

Linda Norgrove, 36, worked for DAI, an international humanitarian group. U.S. military officials have said investigations were underway to determine whether Norgrove was killed by a grenade thrown by American forces trying to free her.

Also in southern Afghanistan, a NATO-led service member died after an insurgent attack, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said. The force did not identify the nationality of the service member or precisely where the incident occurred.

Yemeni Accused of Killing French Contractor at OMV Offices Goes on Trial

Yemeni Accused of Killing French Contractor at OMV Offices Goes on Trial

Bloomberg

A Yemeni teenager went on trial for killing a French contractor at the local office of Austria’s OMV AG, and denied charges he carried out the assault following the directives of a militant cleric.

Yemen’s state security court today said Hisham Mohammed Asem, 19, a security guard at OMV, had e-mail correspondence with Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who supports violence against U.S. targets.

The contractor killed last month worked for Spie Batignolles SA, a French construction company, according to the French foreign ministry. Another British contractor was injured in the attack.

Yemen put al-Awlaki on trial in absentia today on charges of incitement to murder foreigners, citing the OMV attack. Al- Awlaki is believed by the U.S. to have links with al-Qaeda militants including three of the people who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., Yemen’s state-owned news agency Saba reported today. It said al-Awlaki will be tried in Yemen if he’s captured, not extradited to the U.S.

Pentagon Throws Contractor Under Bus: Why?

Mary.Bargeman World News

The Associated Press has obtained a classified Pentagon document, which details an intelligence-gathering mission headed by a DOD contractor. The report calls for the man’s investigation because the Pentagon claims his team “went too far in gathering human intelligence”.

The gathered intelligence was used in counterinsurgency efforts, and involved several retired CIA, special operations veterans, and subcontractors.

The Pentagon seems to be making the charge that retired Army officer Michael Furlong’s “Information Operations Capstone” amounted to a “violation of executive orders”. Assistant Secretary for Intelligence Oversight, Michael Decker and others at the DOD have concluded that Capstone amounted to an illegal spying ring of private military contractors. Furlong denies the charges and says he has not been shown the document so that he can answer the charges. The information gathered during this operation was used to target militants in Afghanistan and Iraq- Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, to name two groups.

There were supposed to be more elements of nation-building than were performed, according to the report. Since the war is not yet over in either country- there are, as yet, no peace treaties, after all- why are military intelligence contractors being forced to perform any nation-building activities right now? What kind of political pressure is causing the Pentagon to allow these documents to be leaked to the press, and why are they throwing Michael Furlong under the bus?

Could it be linked to the pedophilic practice known as bacha baz? This is the term used in Afghanistan for the practice of older men taking young boys from ages 9 to 15 as lovers. It is a common and open practice in Afghan society. Social Scientist AnnaMaria Cardinalli told SFGate.com’s Joel Brinkley in August of this year that she was hired by the DOD to study this disgusting phenomenon. She told the paper that roughly half the men of the Pashtun tribe in Kandahar Province were proudly bacha baz. The term means literally, “boy player”. They hold weekly dance parties where the boys dress as girls, and put bells on their feet. While they dance, the men throw money at them and take them home for sex. Hamid Karzai, Afghan President, is of the Pashtun tribe, from a small village outside Kandahar.

He has 6 brothers; people close to him reported to Ms. Cardinalli that at least one, possibly two of Karzai’s brothers were bacha baz .The Pashtun tribe has been historically the most important tribe in Afghanistan, and for centuries most of the country’s rulers have been Pashtun.

The disgusting practice results, say some leading sociologists, from perversion of Islamic Law. Women, because of menstruation, are seen as unclean, and because a man is not allowed to even look at an unrelated woman until after proposing marriage, women are more easily subverted, because of their unapproachable status in society.

Homosexuality is outlawed as well, but the men shrug that off, claiming that it is not homosexual to be bacha baz, because they aren’t in love with the boys. This is sick, filthy and disgusting. Our soldiers are forced to be maimed, killed, and to fight for pedophiles who despise women and Western culture and civilization.

A Defense contractor who has done his job, gathered needed intelligence to stop insurgents, target the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and save American and NATO Forces’ lives, is being thrown under the bus by the Pentagon. Why? To save a country full of boy players? Or is Karzai hiding another secret worth bags of money?

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Inquiry Finds U.S. Official Set Up Spy Ring in Asia

“This is a lot like kangaroo court justice,” said Mr. Furlong

By Mark  Mazzetti   The New York Times Asia Pacific

WASHINGTON — A senior Pentagon official broke Defense Department rules and “deliberately misled” senior generals when he set up a network of private contractors to spy in Afghanistan and Pakistan beginning last year, according to the results of an internal government investigation.

The Pentagon investigation concluded that the official, Michael D. Furlong, set up an “unauthorized” intelligence network to collect information in both countries — some of which was fed to senior generals and used for strikes against militant groups — while masking the entire operation as a more benign information operations campaign.

The inquiry concluded that “further investigation is warranted of the misleading and incorrect statements the individual made” about the legality of the program, according to Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.

Reached by telephone on Thursday, Mr. Furlong was angry about the conclusions of the investigation, saying that nobody from the Defense Department ever interviewed him as part of the inquiry.

“This is a lot like kangaroo court justice,” Mr. Furlong said.

He said that his work had been approved by a number of senior military officers in Afghanistan, and that he had never misled anyone about what he was doing.

“They only talked to one side, and those are the people running for cover,” he said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered the investigation after The New York Times reported on the existence of the network in March. The inquiry was carried out by Michael Decker, a top aide to Mr. Gates for intelligence issues.

The results of the Pentagon investigation are classified, and Defense Department officials gave few specifics about the accusations.

Mr. Furlong, a senior Air Force civilian official, has been barred from his office in San Antonio for several months. The Air Force inspector general is conducting a separate investigation into the matter, to determine whether Mr. Furlong broke any laws or committed contract fraud.

Pentagon rules forbid the hiring of contractors as spies. Military officials said that when Gen. David H. Petraeus, then the top commander in the region, signed off on Mr. Furlong’s operation in January 2009, there were specific prohibitions against intelligence-gathering, including hiring agents to provide information about enemy positions in Pakistan.

The contractors were supposed to provide only broad information about the political and tribal dynamics in the region — called “atmospherics” — and “force protection” information that might protect American troops from attack, the officials said.

But some Pentagon officials said that over time the operation appeared to transition into traditional spying activities.

Mr. Furlong’s network, composed of a group of small companies that used agents deep inside Afghanistan and Pakistan to collect intelligence on militant groups, operated under a $22 million contract run by Lockheed Martin.

One of the companies used a group of American, Afghan and Pakistani agents overseen by Duane Clarridge, a Central Intelligence Agency veteran best known for his role in the Iran-contra scandal. Mr. Clarridge declined to be interviewed.

Officials said that the contractors delivered their intelligence reports via “Hushmail,” an encrypted e-mail service, to an “information operations fusion cell” at a military base at Kabul International Airport. There, the reports were put into classified military computer networks and used either for future military operations or intelligence reports.

The contractors continued their work for weeks after Mr. Gates ordered the investigation, sending dozens of reports to the fusion center. The Pentagon finally let the contract lapse at the end of May.

Colonel Lapan said the investigation concluded that Pentagon rules governing intelligence operations needed to be more clearly defined and that “better coordination and de-confliction of both intelligence and information operations is required by staffs at all levels.” Please see the original article here

State Department Inspector General Documents AGNA Antics in Afghanistan

What AGNA ArmorGroup North America?? You mean Michael O’Connell??

Thank you POGO

The State Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG) today released a damning performance evaluation of ArmorGroup North America (AGNA), the contractor responsible for guarding the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Among the revelations from today’s OIG report:

• AGNA employed, and the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security failed to scrutinize, “Nepalese guards without verifiable experience, training, or background investigations in violation of its contract.”
• “AGNA cannot account for 101 U.S. Government-furnished weapons that have been missing since 2007. AGNA used U.S. Government-furnished weapons for training rather than required contractor-furnished weapons.”
• “AGNA regularly allows individuals who are not vetted by Embassy Kabul’s regional security office unescorted access to Camp Sullivan, a U.S. Government-owned camp containing sensitive materials.”

The report confirms and expands on the findings of our investigation last year, which pulled back the curtain on a “Lord of the Flies environment” that had taken hold of the Embassy security guard force.

Lewd and obscene photos of AGNA security guards helped our investigation garner considerable attention—but the key revelation, as detailed in our letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was that the State Department was failing to conduct oversight of a contractor performing an incredibly important service. Today’s OIG report is just one more piece of evidence demonstrating that the State Department continues to struggle in its oversight of private security contractors.

Find statements by POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian and POGO investigator Jake Wiens here.

ArmorGroup’s contract expired on June 30, 2010, but the company will continue to guard the Embassy through the end of 2010. The State Department has selected EOD Technology, Inc. (EODT) to take over security at the Embassy.

— Bryan Rahija

See also:

• Testimony of Danielle Brian before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan Regarding Private Security Contractors
• Senate Report Says ArmorGroup Funded Warlords In Bed With the Taliban
• Did Triple Canopy Instruct Its Guards to Lie to State Department Investigators?
• Kabul Embassy Deja Vu
• Kabul Embassy Guards Back in the Spotlight
• POGO Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding U.S. Embassy in Kabul

Afghanistan: Karzai Security Contractor Ban Could Assist Humanitarian Aid Work

October 28, 2010 – 2:24pm, by Aunohita Mojumdar Eurasianet.org

President Hamid Karzai’s plan to shut down private security forces in Afghanistan has many military contractors and assorted peace-builders in a panic. But some humanitarian aid workers in the country contend that a ban isn’t such a bad idea.

For years, non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan have condemned the militarization of humanitarian work, and have struggled to define a role that is distinct from the armed, for-profit development contractors in the conflict zone. Yet usually, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), contractors, humanitarians and development entrepreneurs have all been lumped together under the generic “aid worker” rubric. The Afghan government’s planned prohibition on private security companies (PSCs) could change that, helping to differentiate the humanitarians from other forms of development work.

Foreign for-profit development contractors have threatened to pull out of Afghanistan, since the August decree issued by Karzai would prevent them from relying on private security companies for protection. Instead, they would have to depend on the Afghan National Police to provide security. The only exceptions would be for military bases and diplomatic missions.

The ban was originally scheduled to take effect on December 17. But on October 27, Karzai agreed to push back the implementation deadline by two months. Karzai’s administration has come under intense pressure from Washington to relent on the ban.

Representatives of various humanitarian aid organizations are not worried by the looming ban to anywhere near the same extent as are the for-profit contractors. Many have long been living with high risk in order to deliver their services. Some even say the demise of private security companies would be beneficial.

“To the extent that it [the ban] helps to de-militarize the environment and to the extent that it reinforces the government’s monopoly on the use of force, I think ultimately it would be a positive thing,” Nic Lee, director of ANSO (Afghanistan NGO Safety Office), a non-profit humanitarian project that monitors safety conditions for the NGO sector, told EurasiaNet.org.

“There is no type of armed action that is conducive to humanitarian activity,” Lee continued. “So the less armed activity you have is always going to improve humanitarian space and humanitarian access.”

Many aid workers say they have a moral duty to work without armed protection in order to maintain their neutrality in a conflict zone. Of the 2,000 Afghan and 360 international NGOs operating across Afghanistan, “less than six use the services of a PSC, most commonly to provide unarmed guards at offices and homes,” according to ACBAR (Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief), an NGO umbrella organization.

In a joint statement issued with ANSO on October 25, ACBAR sought to distance the non-profit NGO community from for-profit contractors, emphasizing “the ban on PSCs will have no negative impact on aid delivery by the vast majority of humanitarian NGOs.”

While NGOs rely on the communities where they work to ensure their safety, the for-profit “development contractors” often depend on PSCs. Donors support their work as part of NATO’s counter-insurgency strategy, thus bringing them between the military and Taliban militants, and also muddying the waters between non-profit humanitarian work and for-profit development.

These private development contractors receive the bulk of donor money flowing into Afghanistan largely from the US government’s development arm, USAID. Thus, major donors like USAID have been scrambling for a way to keep their “implementing partners” in the country. Some large USAID contractors like DAI (Development Alternatives, Inc.) have said they would have to close down some projects, if the ban is implemented. Other private development companies have complained to the US Embassy that their employees “will vote with their feet.”

Donors suggest that their ongoing discussions with the Afghan government will lead to a compromise. But Karzai, despite delaying implementation of the ban, still seems determined to lock private security firms out of Afghanistan, calling them a menace to stability.

Employing development contractors is a fundamental part of Gen. David Petraeus’ much-touted counter-insurgency strategy. Petraeus, the commander of all NATO forces in Afghanistan, is said to be lobbying Karzai’s government for an exception to the ban that covers a wide array of peace-building activities.

Even the United Nations is reviewing its programs to assess the ban’s potential impact. With UNAMA (the UN’s umbrella organization in Afghanistan) playing an overt political role, the mission has suffered increasing attacks. An attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul last October left six international UN workers dead. On October 24, UN security repelled an attack on a UN guesthouse in Herat, killing four armed insurgents. The UN hopes its own security forces will be exempted from the new rule.

Not all donors use private security companies. The Indian Embassy, which has suffered two massive suicide bombings in the past three years, uses a combination of ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police, an Indian government paramilitary organization) and Afghan National Police to guard the embassy, as well as its projects.

The Canadian government also indicated that a ban would have a minimal impact on aid operations that it sponsors. “Most of our development assistance implementing partners do not use private security firms,” a spokeswoman for the Canadian Embassy said, adding that Ottawa had sought an implementation plan that would allow the international community to remain in Afghanistan while respecting the goals of the presidential decree.

Please see the original story here

Editor’s note:

Aunohita Mojumdar is an Indian freelance journalist based in Kabul. She has reported on the South Asian region for the past 19 years.

Anham Says Logistics Contract With U.S. Department of Defense is Final

Bloomberg Middle East

Anham FCZO LLC said its logistics contract with the U.S. Department of Defense is final and that it has started to implement it with a view to fully taking over the order by the end of this year.

“It has been final for a while,” Managing Director Mogheith Sukhtian told reporters today in Kuwait City. “We have a signed contract with the U.S. government.”

Dubai-based Anham said April 16 it was awarded a $2.2 billion contract by the U.S. Defense Department to provide logistical support to U.S. troops in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan.

Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport Co., a cargo shipper, said April 28 that it filed an objection to the awarding of the contract to Anham, which it said failed to meet criteria. The U.S. Defense Logistics Agency decided to take “corrective measures” regarding the objection and will receive amended offers from bidders “to take new decisions for a new settlement,” Kuwait & Gulf Link said in July.

“The protest process is a part of the U.S. government contracting process and it’s conducted in the normal course of U.S government contracts,” Sukhtian said. “So we’re undergoing the process but in the meantime, what we can say, is that the contract is being executed. We anticipate the transition between the incumbent and us to be completed by the end of the year,” Sukhtian added.

The incumbent contractor, Agility Public Warehousing Co., is the Middle East’s largest storage and logistics company and faces charges of overbilling the U.S government on a multibillion dollar contract to supply food for troops in Kuwait and Iraq. Agility had said it was in talks to resolve legal cases with the U.S. Department of Justice and there was no guarantee a settlement would be agreed.

A U.S. magistrate recommended the dismissal of an indictment against Agility’s unit, Agility DGS Holdings Inc., in connection with the company’s contract to feed U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait, Agility said Oct. 11. Please see the original story here

 

Report: Much of money awarded to rebuild Afghanistan can’t be tracked

By MARISA TAYLOR

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government knows it’s awarded nearly $18 billion in contracts for rebuilding Afghanistan over the past three years, but it can’t account for spending before 2007.

Thousands of firms received wartime contracts, but the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (SIGAR) found it too difficult to untangle how billions of additional dollars had been spent because of the U.S. agencies’ poor recordkeeping.

“Navigating the confusing labyrinth of government contracting is difficult, at best,” the inspector general says in a report that was released Wednesday.

The finding raises doubts about whether the U.S. government ever will determine whether taxpayers’ money was spent wisely in Afghanistan.

“Data got better from 2007 on,” said Susan Phalen, a spokeswoman with SIGAR, “but it remains to be seen whether we’ll ever know how much U.S. agencies spent overall.”

Overall, the U.S. has set aside about $55 billion for rebuilding Afghanistan, but that includes agencies’ budget for staff salaries, operations and security. SIGAR couldn’t parse how much was spent on contractors alone.

SIGAR recommended that the Pentagon, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development create one database to track wartime contracts. As it stands, the Pentagon has four contracting agencies that oversee contracts, but none of them are sharing information. SIGAR found a lack of coordination among all the U.S. agencies that oversee contracting in Afghanistan, not just the Pentagon.

Meanwhile, a handful of companies received a majority of the contracts, auditors found.

USAID, for example, awarded almost half of the $2 billion it set aside for Afghanistan projects to two companies, Louis Berger and Development Alternatives Inc. Overall, the agency doled out contracts to 214 companies.

Of 6,600 firms that have received contracts from the Pentagon for Afghanistan, 44 of them received more than half the military’s business there. One contractor, DynCorp International, accounted for about 75 percent of all the contracts for Afghanistan that two State Department bureaus awarded.

The military’s joint contracting command acknowledged problems with its tracking, but it told auditors that it’s trying to improve it.

Although the State Department and USAID received drafts of the report from SIGAR so they could comment on it, they didn’t respond.

The report is the latest to criticize the United States’ handling of contracts in Afghanistan. A SIGAR audit released Wednesday concluded that six police stations in a dangerous stretch of southern Afghanistan were so poorly constructed by the Afghan contractor that they can’t be occupied. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn’t detect the problems and paid the firm almost $5 million of the $5.5 million contract price.  Please go here to read the original at McClatchyand to comment on the story