Who Watches US Security Firms in Iraq?

The top US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, stands at the compound of the University for Humanities, Science and Theological Studies in Hillah, 100 Kms south of Baghdad, protected by one of his private security guards, Sunday June 27, 2004. Iraq's decision to temporarily ban Blackwater USA after a fatal shooting of civilians in Baghdad reveals a growing web of rules governing weapons-bearing contractors but few signs U.S. agencies are enforcing them. (AP Photo/Saeed Khan/POOL) (Saeed Khan - AP)

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., a longtime critic of Blackwater, is pushing legislation requiring the Pentagon and State Department to provide details about security contractors it has hired, including any disciplinary actions taken against them.

"I think we have to have some uniform rules, particularly when these security guys are walking around fully armed," Schakowsky said Tuesday. "Who are they accountable to?"

But that's not because there is a shortage of laws, according to Laura Dickinson, a law professor at the University of Connecticut who has studied the use of private contractors on the battlefield.

"There are plenty of laws that apply to them," said Dickinson, who is working on a book called "Outsourcing War and Peace."

The problem is enforcement, she said.

The Pentagon and State Department have their own contracting officers and separate systems for ensuring performance and accountability.

Dickinson said a single government office is needed to monitor contracts and keep Congress informed.

"I don't think there's real clarity about what the rules of the game are either," said Schakowsky, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. "It's a very murky area."

The International Peace Operations Association, a trade group that represents Blackwater and other companies doing business in Iraq, is not opposed to better oversight of the industry, according to Doug Brooks, the group's president.

That begins with the federal government having a deeper pool of experienced contracting officers who can properly monitor the work that's being done, he said.

"The companies try to operate within their contracts," Brooks said. "It's a problem when you can't get a hold of a contracting officer, or when the contracting officers don't understand how the contracts work."

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