Mercs War on Drugs

BBC (Spanish edition) via Activist Post has a article on how U.S. Department of Defense Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office (CNTPO) has transferred the war on drugs (WoD) to those PMC's.

CNTPO issued "no bid" contracts to PMC for operations in countries that the US wages the WoD.

The "no bid" contracts, issued under the Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office's $15 billion dollar budget, are described as "non-specific" and are said to be "juicy" for the private contractors. The Pentagon says "the details of each cost in very general contracts do not go through bidding processes."

Not only that, but there is no Congressional oversight to keep them in check as the subcommittee's claim that the ops are secret and not public info.

But this move is not without risk, as private mercenaries have known to operate outside of national and international laws.  "Here we go into a vague area where the rules of engagement are not clear and there is almost zero accountability to the public or the electorate," said Bagley.

The Pentagon maintains that it's perfectly legal, and mercenaries must follow strict parameters. However, Bagley points out that "few members of the Oversight Committees of the Senate and the House are aware, but they are required to keep secret, so all this flies under the radar."

Based on a 2009 DoDIG report , CONTPO has a history of letting these PMC's off their leash to do what they want.

The contracting officer (CO) is the one who holds the check book.  They are the ones who are warranted and are legally authorized to obligate, financially, the Govt.  Read the report to see the details of the below.

SMDC contracting officers and the contracting officer’s representatives (CORs) did not
properly manage the 35 task orders reviewed, valued at $98.8 million. Specifically, the
contracting officers did not do the following:
 Maintain complete contracting files or require all parties involved to sign memoranda of agreements.

 Properly use firm-fixed-price contract line items for 28 task orders valued at $32.5 million for de facto cost-type contracts.

 Properly use firm-fixed-price contract line items in 10 task orders for $16.1 million to buy commercial items; instead they used cost-plus-fixed-fee contract line items and could waste about $439,000.

 Properly exercise options for four task orders.

 Properly identify or manage Government-furnished property by requiring accountability for an undeterminable quantity of Government property including personal locator beacons, night-vision goggles, and encryption equipment.

 Obtain a Theater Business Clearance before contract award for six task orders
from the Joint Contracting Command for Iraq/Afghanistan in Afghanistan.

When I worked for the Govt, ot was in the realm of Govt. property (GP).  Govt. Furnished property (GFP) must be tracked, accounted for, inventoried, marked as GP, etc. Especially sensitive equip.  The below is from Page 16 of the report.

The contracting officers also did not properly manage the Government-furnished property provided to contractors.  Specifically, the contracting officers either did not maintain any property records or they did not maintain complete property records for CNTPO property in the contract files. The property included personal locator beacons, night-vision goggles, and encryption equipment.

 Those who were in the service, what would your CO do if you lost one of those equipment?  You would get UCMJ'd & lose the $$$ of the acquisition cost.

As a bonus, why do they need encrypt gear?  NV?  There is commercial gear available for them to use.  No need to use GP.

There is a ton more in the IG report.  But it's from 2009 and the problems more than likely have not been fixed.

These mercenaries are allowed to wage war in countries, that Big Brother doesn't want to appear that they have invaded due to political fallout, with no form or fashion of oversight/accountablility from the command that issued the contracts or from Congress.

This should give us a clear picture of times to come CONUS.  But they will be worse.