Teaching Today and Tomorrow

Book excerpt: This report primarily focuses on the Department of Defense (DoD) oversight of serious incidents (such as attacks, deaths, injuries, and property damage) involving private security contractors (PSCs) in Iraq. It examines DoD?s (1) policies, procedures, and practices for reporting, investigating, and remediating those incidents and (2) efforts to identify trends and lessons learned. Because some Department of State (DoS) PSCs report their serious incidents through DoD channels as well as DoS channels, SIGIR reviewed pertinent DoS policies and procedures related to that reporting. The report responds to a mandate in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2008 (Public Law 110-181), which requires audits of the processes used to report, document, investigate, and prosecute (where appropriate) incidents involving private security contractors in Iraq. The U.S. government has relied extensively on PSCs in Iraq to protect personnel, supplies, and facilities. Although issues have surfaced over the years concerning the oversight, control, cost, and legal status of PSCs, the Blackwater incident in September 2007, during which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed, brought to the forefront concerns about the U.S. government's oversight and control of the PSCs. In December 2007, DoD and DoS signed a memorandum agreeing that they would jointly develop, implement, and follow core standards, policies, and procedures for the accountability, oversight, and discipline of PSCs in Iraq. Their objective was to reduce the number and impact of serious incidents. DoS assigned responsibility for implementing its part of the agreement to the U.S. Embassy, which in turn delegated responsibility to its Regional Security Office (RSO). DoD assigned its responsibility to the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNFI). MNF-I established Contractor Operations Cells (CONOC)1 to coordinate PSC missions and to gather, assemble, and distribute information on serious incidents involving PSCs.