Private contractors as spies? Welcome to the frontier
Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 12:02AM 
The gist from the NYT story:
Top military officials have continued to rely on a secret network of private spies who have produced hundreds of reports from deep inside Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to American officials and businessmen, despite concerns among some in the military about the legality of the operation.
Earlier this year, government officials admitted that the military had sent a group of former Central Intelligence Agency officers and retired Special Operations troops into the region to collect information — some of which was used to track and kill people suspected of being militants. Many portrayed it as a rogue operation that had been hastily shut down once an investigation began.
But interviews with more than a dozen current and former government officials and businessmen, and an examination of government documents, tell a different a story. Not only are the networks still operating, their detailed reports on subjects like the workings of the Taliban leadership in Pakistan and the movements of enemy fighters in southern Afghanistan are also submitted almost daily to top commanders and have become an important source of intelligence.
The American military is largely prohibited from operating inside Pakistan. And under Pentagon rules, the army is not allowed to hire contractors for spying.
Military officials said that when Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in the region, signed off on the operation in January 2009, there were prohibitions against intelligence gathering, including hiring agents to provide information about enemy positions in Pakistan. The contractors were supposed to provide only broad information about the political and tribal dynamics in the region, and information that could be used for “force protection,” they said.
Some Pentagon officials said that over time the operation appeared to morph into traditional spying activities. And they pointed out that the supervisor who set up the contractor network, Michael D. Furlong, was now under investigation.
The private players were organized under a Lockheed Martin contract. Why resort to this effort?
The private contractor network was born in part out of frustration with the C.I.A. and the military intelligence apparatus. There was a belief by some officers that the C.I.A. was too risk averse, too reliant on Pakistan’s spy service and seldom able to provide the military with timely information to protect American troops. In addition, the military has complained that it is not technically allowed to operate in Pakistan, whose government is willing to look the other way and allow C.I.A. spying but not the presence of foreign troops.
So a classic improvisational response to a frontier integration situation: normal bureaucratic channels don't work (bit too "out there" for the CIA, apparently) and the lack of full-up connectivity (i.e., technically, our military cannot operate there) pushes the Pentagon to outsource the function to the private security sector.
Simply put: the frontier lies just beyond the normal rule-set, so you get this working-for-the-gov-but-not-belonging-to-the-gov result. Read your history of the American West, it happened all the time.
Reader Comments (3)
After 911, I spent 3 years conducting National Security investigations as a "contractor." Almost all background checks and related investigations are conducted by contractors. I did "Special Investigations" where the applicant for an initial clearance or upgrade has to be confronted because of a "problem" or an "accusation." Those of us doing the "Specials" were usually retired police or retired FBI. Contractors are everywhere, doing all kinds of things.
Yes, they are part of American history. Kit Carson, the famous frontier scout, was dispatched from his home in Taos, New Mexico, to help the U.S. Army battle the "Californios" as we expanded West. Kit and a U.S. Cavalry unit were in a fierce fight with Mexican lancers in the San Pasqual Valley just a few miles from my current home.
Hell, the "Rough Riders" were contractors.
I detect a little jealousy...on the part of you know who.
If you are going to talk about the history of the American West, you need to separate the myths from the actual history. The myth of OK Corral is that Wyatt Earp and his brothers battled the dastardly cattle rustling Clancy brothers. The reality is that Earp and his brothers ran a protection racket and wanted to sew up the rustling game for themselves. So it was a gang war - Crips and Bloods. Oh, and Wyatt Earp ran a brothel and pimped out his own sister. But I digress.
Point being that the Gap, or frontier, attracts the very worst scumbags the Core has to offer. For every Henry Fonda-esque Lt Col Robert Browns there scores of Liberty Valences, and they probably make twice as much money in their capacity as "private contractors".
Richard Slotkin is the scholar who writes best about this - "Gunfighter Nation" a good place to start.
It is nice to hear that decedents of the Clantons are still going strong. :-)