Private Military and Security Contractors

The U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan has brought forth the issue of civilians at war. One of the most critical aspects is the proper control over this civilian component of the total force. This volume analyzes the need for mechanisms of control at numerous levels. The first level is the use of international laws and conventions. The second is the state-level legislation, regulation, and oversight mechanisms as developed and practiced by the United States, Canada, and Israel in the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and on the high seas. The third is the use of industry standards enforced by client oversight, evaluation, and satisfaction as mediated by the market as well as by industry trade associations. Lastly, the fourth is the level of the individual via contractor interactions with military personnel, and the inculcation of a professional identity that expresses itself in attitudes and norms of behavior that conform contractors behaviors to those of their military peers. The essays first examine mechanisms of control from the macro-to-micro spectrum of social organization, i.e., from international law to interpersonal interaction with contractors on the ground. Then they look across the domains of control: functional (what force capabilities are available), political (who decides when and how to use force), and social (norms and values). Altogether, the essays show that these various layers of formal and informal regulatory machinery are necessary, mutually reinforcing, yet still inadequate to the task at hand: controlling the corporate warrior."