One High-Pressure Phone Room

For weeks, U.S. military leaders in Iraq have been saying that security is improving in Baghdad. But the military's Joint Contracting Command is still urging precautions for U.S. contractors working at the Interior Ministry headquarters.

The command is seeking bids on a contract to train and mentor Iraqis running a crime, insurgency and terrorism hotline, and much of the prospectus issued last month addresses the need for security.

The contract calls for six people to work on the hotline but says they'll need four armed guards, even when working in a facility within the ministry's complex. In addition, the contractor will have to supply an armored sport-utility vehicle and four armed guards for the trainers when they travel between the ministry and U.S. Forward Operating Base Shield, where they will live -- a distance of less than a mile. The requirement could be dropped to two armed guards in each case under improved conditions.

Those aren't the only security steps the new contractor must meet. The contractor will have to provide each of the trainers with a handgun "and/or" a rifle, a protective vest and gas mask. In addition, each of the trainers must "meet coalition standards for weapon proficiency." The proposal helpfully points out that "a shooting range is available for proficiency training."

These security steps are needed although the Interior Ministry complex has "24/7 security and controlled entry points," the proposal says.

It says that the contractor also must protect the eight Iraqi translators who work on the program assisting the English-speaking trainers. The proposal describes many of them as "young and a little naive and must be reminded that they are targeted by anti-government forces." Among other things, prospective bidders are told that "trainers will drive translators to and from work and will be responsible for making sure they have the same opportunities for lunch as their own."

The four-year-old Iraqi National Tips 130 Hotline program has until recently been operated from a call center located at the U.S.-controlled Adnan Palace annex, which is on the line between the protected Green Zone and the rest of Baghdad. It is being moved to the Interior Ministry complex, outside the Green Zone, as the Iraqis take over its operation.

Until now, U.S. personnel have been program administrators and advisers while the supervisors and staff have been Iraqi civilian employees of the Ministry of Interior's National Information and Investigative Agency. They have been trained to take calls or e-mails from Iraqi citizens about terrorist, insurgent or criminal activities, document them and pass the information on to Iraqi security forces. The United States has spent millions of dollars to publicize the hotline to encourage Iraqis to call in tips.