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Replacing private contractors in Iraq
In the recent years since the invasion of Iraq, insufficient US military force has lead to the use of an estimated 20,000 contractors to date. The boon in the demand for this began when it became apparent the US Military didn't have the man power to defend the Iraqi/Coalition reconstruction effort. As civilian construction/industrial sites and convoys were attacked private security firms/contractors/providers (mostly with previous or current dealings with the US government) were called in for defense contracts. At first this was slow, but as operations, reconstruction, and industrial development got under-way the more contracts were taken out, and eventualy we are now left with the present situation.
In the column linked by David Isenberg (ex. US Navy and military affairs analyst) we are presented with a paper named " Phasing Out Private Security Contractors in Iraq, " written by Col. Bobby Towery while studying at the US Army War College. It reflects on the possabilities of completely removing private security from convoys construction sites military bases and any site not directly supporting or directly involved with combat operations for the coalition. It states all these things should be the responsability of the Iraqi government to better affirm their authority on the country. Col. Towery also provides an estimated statistic using the current Blackwater training program acknowledging said private security groups could traing their replacements. He proposes if three training firms are signed, it will take just over 133 eight week training sessions between them to replace the 20,000 contractors with special security police officers, trained for various private security missions, knocking out 150 per session.
Let's hope they start soon, as once the coalition pulls out there will be a large base for possible private insurgency, as the companies still barely answer to any Iraqi authority, let alone one that has authority over them. In the recent years since the invasion of Iraq, insufficient US military force has lead to the use of an estimated 20,000 contractors ... more -
Blackwater to leave security business following problems in Iraq
Blackwater, the US private military contractor widely accused of abuse of power in Iraq, is getting out of the security business.
Company executives said they are moving away from security work in the wake of close media scrutiny of private contractors' behaviour in Iraq, particularly a Baghdad shooting involving Blackwater employees that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. The incident is under investigation by American law enforcement.
"The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk,'' Blackwater founder and chief executive Erik Prince told an Associated Press reporter who was given a daylong tour of the company's headquarters.
Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokesman, said the company has not planned any "shift," but rather that the company would grow in other areas besides private security.
"When we are seeking to expand the business we will be doing it in other area," she said. "We don't see that market growing".
Blackwater has made hundreds of millions of dollars off of contracts to guard US state department officials. Its seemingly ubiquitous presence, combined with the larger-than-life personality of the conservative Prince, turned Blackwater into an emblem for the privatised military that the Bush administration relied upon to help wage the Iraq war.
The company also operated under broad legal immunity from criminal prosecution in Iraq, attracting criticism from government officials in Washington as well as Baghdad. The US Congress ultimately passed legislation bringing contracting firms under the American military code of justice.
Blackwater's now plans to focus attention on its expansive rural training facilities. Its North Carolina home attracts swarms of US military, law enforcement and local officials each year.
The company also has expanded its aviation division, which provides airplane and helicopter maintenance and also drops supplies into hard-to-reach military bases. A 6,000-foot runway is under construction and a large map in the company's hanger shows units based across the world, from Africa to the Middle East to Australia.
"Our focus is away from security work. We're just not bidding on it," Blackwater president Gary Jackson told the Associated Press. Blackwater, the US private military contractor widely accused of abuse of power in Iraq, is getting out of the security business. ... more -
Blackwater says oversight and media scrutiny not part of master plan
Blackwater Worldwide said Monday that it planned to shift away from the lucrative security contracting business because U.S. government scrutiny and negative media attention had made the business too costly.
Blackwater executives say that they have unfairly become a symbol for all contractors in Iraq and that the company has become a flash point for those opposed to the war. It plans to focus on training, aviation and logistics.
Blackwater has been under intense scrutiny since September when its security contractors opened fire in a crowded Baghdad intersection while responding to a car bombing. Seventeen Iraqis were killed, prompting congressional hearings and an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
In 2005 and 2006, security jobs, including guarding U.S. diplomats in Iraq and helping to secure New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, represented more than 50 percent of the company's business.
Security now represents about 30 percent of revenue, and Gary Jackson, president of Blackwater, said it would go much lower.
"If I could get it down to 2 percent or 1 percent, I would go there," he said, adding that "security was not part of the master plan, ever."
Blackwater Worldwide said Monday that it planned to shift away from the lucrative security contracting business because U.S. governmen... more -
Blackwater's Prince responds to the media circus
Blackwater Worldwide is the best-known of the private military companies whose personnel have become a ubiquitous presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Founded in 1997 by Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL officer, Blackwater has grown into a firm with 600 full-time employees in the U.S. and 2,000 contractors serving abroad, most in Afghanistan and Iraq. The company’s wide-ranging business ventures include personal security services, manufacture of combat vehicles, operation of a fleet of aircraft and much more.
But Blackwater’s reputation has been tainted by several high-profile incidents that have garnered negative publicity, most recently a Sept. 16, 2007, incident in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in which a Blackwater personal security detail escorting a State Department convoy allegedly shot 17 Iraqi civilians.
In a July 7 meeting with the Military Times editors and reporters, Prince vigorously defended his company, which he said had a guiding principle of “operational excellence.”
The following are extracts from that meeting, edited for brevity and clarity.
Q. Under what constraints are you operating when it comes to publicly explaining or defending yourself against the allegations that have been leveled at you over the last couple of years?
A. We go to work [in Iraq] for the State Department, who by contract says you will have no contact with the media. So 99 out of 100 times, we have to say, “No comment to the media,” and we still try to abide [by] that however we can. This is kind of an anomaly, me going to an editorial board, but, you know, I’m here not really to talk about our State Department stuff but about the other stuff we do for DoD and aviation and et cetera.
But that is a difficult quandary that we’re put into where we’re a punching bag of sorts for folks that want to attack whatever is going on in Iraq and we’re not able to put the facts out.
We’ve done well over 20,000 missions now for the State Department. Probably point-4 of 1 percent of all those missions have resulted in the discharge of a firearm — not 4 percent, point-4 percent of 1 percent. So the idea that the guys are trigger happy and shooting up the place is just grossly inaccurate, and still, no one under our care has been killed or injured.
Q. Do you think the State Department could or should have done more to defend you?
A. I’m not here to criticize the State Department at all. … They have a difficult job there, we have a difficult job there. And I’m proud to say that no one under our care has been killed or injured, and we’re big boys, and we can take those lumps, and I’m honored that they renewed our work, that they see the value that we provide them.
Q. You recently put a retired Delta Force officer in charge of your State Department contract. What changes has Blackwater made to how your people conduct themselves downrange since he came on board?
A. His rotation to that job was a normal career rotation in the business. That job is a pressure cooker and the phone never turns off, and there’s always things happening overseas.
State Department has put cameras and DS [Diplomatic Security] agents in with our convoys. That’s something we’d asked for back in 2005 already in writing. [Our attitude] was, don’t take our word for it — let the camera or the government DS agent be that third-party arbiter to avoid the kind of incidents which, you know, got very overblown last September.
Q. Is that DS agent the senior guy in the convoy now?
A. Yes. He is the last word.
Q. We’ve heard that there has been a series of changes made that might improve the way people perceive Blackwater personnel in combat zones, such as no more goatees, no visible tattoos and no alcohol when deployed.
A. Well, we’ve had a no-alcohol policy for a long time. The haircut and uniform presentation is very, very clearly defined for State Department. Blackwater Worldwide is the best-known of the private military companies whose personnel have become a ubiquitous presence in Iraq and... more -
Obama says Iraq war must end
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is vowing to quickly end the war in Iraq and shift the focus of the war on terror to Afghanistan and Pakistan, declaring in an address to be delivered later today that the “single-minded and open-ended focus" on Iraq "distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize."
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Obama plans to announce “five goals essential to making America safer”:
1. Ending the war in Iraq responsibly;
2. Finishing the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban;
3. Securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue nations;
4. Achieving true energy security;
5. Rebuilding our alliances to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Here are excerpts from the address, as released by the campaign:
“Our men and women in uniform have accomplished every mission we have given them. What’s missing in our debate about Iraq – what has been missing since before the war began – is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy. This war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is vowing to quickly end the war in Iraq and shift the focus of the war on terror to Afghanistan and Pakist... more -
The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007
Neither Honest Nor Trustworthy: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
The U.S. public holds Big Business in shockingly low regard.
A November 2007 Harris poll found that less than 15 percent of the population believes each of the following industries to be "generally honest and trustworthy:" tobacco companies (3 percent); oil companies (3 percent); managed care companies such as HMOs (5 percent); health insurance companies (7 percent); telephone companies (10 percent); life insurance companies (10 percent); online retailers (10 percent); pharmaceutical and drug companies (11 percent); car manufacturers (11 percent); airlines (11 percent); packaged food companies (12 percent); electric and gas utilities (15 percent). Only 32 percent of adults said they trusted the best-rated industry about which Harris surveyed, supermarkets.
With the 10 Worst Corporations of 2007, we aim to show - again - that Big Business is out of control and to connect comparable abuses to the failure of government overseers, regulators and enforcers.
Presented alphabetically, here are the 10 Worst Corporations of 2007:
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2007/112007/mokhi... Neither Honest Nor Trustworthy: The 10 Worst Corporations of 2007 by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman ... more -
Blackwater, Archer Daniels Midland and Walmart Inducted in Corporate Hall of Shame
Today Corporate Accountability International announced the 2008 inductees into the annual Corporate Hall of Shame: military contractor Blackwater, agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and big box retailer Wal-Mart. More than 30, 000 votes were cast online and through the mail.
Inductees have been responsible for the murder of innocent civilians in Iraq, gross labor law violations, and accelerating climate change.
"The voting tells us that people are frustrated with a broad range of corporate abuse," said Leslie Samuelrich, deputy director of Corporate Accountability International. "They are tired of being lied to about corporate greed under the veil of environmentalism and they are tired of seeing their hard-earned dollars subsidizing human rights abuses abroad."
In the weeks before the polls closed:
· Blackwater was raided by federal agents in a firearms probe;
· Wal-Mart was fined $2 billion by the State of Minnesota for cutting worker break time and forcing employees to work off the clock;
· ADM has been called to task by Rainforest Action Network and Greenpeace for helping make Indonesia the third largest emitter of CO2 behind the U.S. and China.
With 28 percent of the vote, Blackwater earned the dubious honor of the year's most abusive corporation. More than 20 percent of the votes went to ADM and 15 percent to Wal-Mart for runner-up. Wal-Mart, the largest corporation in the world, is facing its second consecutive nomination.
Corporate Accountability International will now continue to monitor Blackwater, ADM, and Wal-Mart's activities, exposing abusive practices throughout 2008. In previous years, corporations like Columbia HCA and Waste Management have earned their way out of the Hall by reforming their practices in response to this type of direct pressure.
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We need to keep up the pressure.
Today Corporate Accountability International announced the 2008 inductees into the annual Corporate Hall of Shame: military contractor... more -
Iraqi father seeks Blackwater apology
Eight months after his nine-year-old son died in a shooting incident involving private security guards from the US firm Blackwater, the boy's father has called for an official apology and admission of guilt from the company, rather than compensation.
"This is important for me, morally, for my family and my tribe."
He said he had conveyed the message to one of the company's officials when they met in the Iraqi capital; but, he said, he was told that an admission would not be possible "for legal reasons"
By Mike Lanchin and Mona Mahmoud
BBC News Eight months after his nine-year-old son died in a shooting incident involving private security guards from the US firm Blackwater, th... more -
US 'to scrap' contractor immunity
Foreign firms employing thousands of guards won huge contracts in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion, but were not subject to Iraqi or US military law.
Iraqi frustration became fury last year when guards killed 17 people in a day. Foreign firms employing thousands of guards won huge contracts in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion, but were not subject to Iraqi o... more -
Iraq minister: End security contractors' immunity
"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Security contractors working in Iraq will no longer receive immunity from prosecution in that nation under a deal being brokered by Iraqi and U.S. officials, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said.
The immunity issue was one of the sticking points in talks over a long-term security pact that deals with, among other things, the future of the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Negotiations on the pact continue."
Finally a shred of fairness. "BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Security contractors working in Iraq will no longer receive immunity from prosecution in that nation under a d... more -
Feds raid Blackwater compound
Federal agents raided Blackwater Worldwide this week as part of an investigation into a deal that allowed a local sheriff's office to store high-powered assault rifles at the company's armory in Moyock.
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said Thursday that investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Blackwater's armory Tuesday as part of the investigation. She said she did not know whether the weapons in question were seized. Federal agents raided Blackwater Worldwide this week as part of an investigation into a deal that allowed a local sheriff's office to ... more -
In Florida Legal Case, Blackwater Demands Taliban Treatment
"With no universally applicable laws to reign them in, firms like Blackwater are free to pick and choose which ones they'll follow. Sometimes, when convenient, those laws appear to include the ones passed down from the Prophet Muhammad."
Excellent quote from Bruce Falconer's blog post over at Mother Jones yesterday, trying to make sense of the nonsense that results when a semi-legal entity like Blackwater faces responsibility in the courts. "With no universally applicable laws to reign them in, firms like Blackwater are free to pick and choose which ones they'll follow. So... more -
Blackwater + San Diego + training center= trouble for all
A new counterterrorism training facility operated by military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide echoed with the grunts of Navy sailors, a day after a federal judge ordered the city to let classes begin.
The 24 trainees batted and punched each other Thursday as they learned basic strike tactics in a corner of the 61,000-square-foot converted warehouse in an industrial area near the U.S.-Mexico border.
For the next three weeks, they’ll practice shooting inside a 25-yard indoor firing range and learn to wear sidearms safely while wriggling through ship hatches and up narrow ladders installed in white metal cargo containers stacked along one wall of the building to simulate a ship. Trainers from Blackwater will quiz them on distinguishing small boats carrying cargo from those carrying bombs.
p.s. picture was seprate from the article. A new counterterrorism training facility operated by military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide echoed with the grunts of Navy ... more -
Congress Considers Ban On Mercenary Interrogators -- Bush Threatens Veto
Congress is finally moving to ban one of the Bush administration's most blatant evasions of accountability in Iraq - the outsourcing of war detainees' interrogation to mercenary private contractors.
Operating free of the restraints of military rule and ethics, some of these corporate thugs turned up in the torture scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison and walked away with impunity.
Others are now believed to be in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency at secret prisons that remain outside the rule of law, exempted even from the weak 2006 rules on interrogating prisoners.
Civilian interrogators are part of the broader pool of hired guns that the administration has deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other spots around the world. Their actions regularly enrage Iraqis, most notably last September, when a phalanx of trigger-happy contractors assigned to protect American diplomats sprayed a crowd and killed 17 civilians.
These depredations continue to undermine the United States in the eyes of both citizens of war zones and the watching world. Their use as interrogators are a symptom of the administration's ducking accountability under international law by concocting ersatz redefinitions of civilized behavior and undermining legitimate intelligence operations.
In the current military budget debate, both houses are proposing an outright ban on the use of contractors as prisoner interrogators. They also would order the Pentagon to finally rein in its use of tens of thousands of contract guards as laissez-faire warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Pentagon would have to write rules specifying which security operations are military missions that cannot be outsourced.
Abuses by mercenaries operating beyond the reach of criminal and military law have been an outgrowth of the administration's failure to adequately staff its military invasion force. The most notorious of the favored war contractors has been Blackwater Worldwide. But numerous other bidders have been awarded plums to amass "private security" stealth forces estimated to total near 50,000 fighters.
The White House, of course, is threatening a veto, citing its all-purpose plaint that the interrogator ban would hobble the nation's "ability to obtain intelligence needed to protect Americans from attack." In leading the House to passage of the ban, Congressman David Price, Democrat of North Carolina, laid bare the folly of using for-profit gunslingers to undertake the highly sensitive task of handling and questioning detainees.
Congress should stand up to the veto threats and go even further: approve measures to make war-zone contractors liable for criminal behavior and to assign the Federal Bureau of Investigation to on-the-scene inquiries into contractor crimes. The way out of the Iraq fiasco must include an end to the outsourced shadow armies. Congress is finally moving to ban one of the Bush administration's most blatant evasions of accountability in Iraq - the outsourcing o... more -
U.S. Military's Middle East Crusade for Christ?!
A Pentagon plan was foiled last August by a watchdog group Military Religious Freedom Foundation which would have allowed "Freedom Packages" for marines and soldiers... in order to convert Muslims in Iraq.
The packages would have included Bibles, proselytizing tracts in English and Arabic, and the apocalyptic "Left Behind" computer game, in which Christian Tribulation forces convert or kill infidels—nonbelievers, Muslims and Jews.
This is revealed as a US soldier recently used a copy of the Holy Quran for target practise (which Bush apologised over) & it being revealed a U.S marine handed out Proselytizing coins to convert Muslims.
US MILITARY ARE "GOVERNMENT PAID MISSIONARIES"
From Fort Jackson, the Army's largest basic training facility, where trainees are encouraged to attend Campus Crusade's weekly "God's Basic Training" programs, to the U.S. Air Force Academy where students are pressured to attend the Crusade's weekly "cru" (short for crusade) Bible study, American military personnel are, as Campus Crusade's Scot Blom gloats, "government paid missionaries" when they complete their training.
WHO'S REBUILDING IRAQ?
Blackwater (Bush's "favorite" contractor) who enjoys over a billion of dollars of government contracts & commands thousands of mercenaries in Iraq & Afghanistan.
Its founder? Erik Prince, (a staunchly conservative Catholic), has also served on the board of directors of Christian Freedom International, a crusading missionary organization operating in the overwhelmingly Islamic countries of Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Prince envisions an evangelical "end time" role for his warriors, "Everybody carries guns, just like Jeremiah rebuilding the temple in Israel—a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other."
The Iraq war which has killed hundreds of thousands was waged under the threat of WMD -which were never found, Bush has been accused of misleading the public over the war (by his ex-aide) which many view as a "occupation". This comes as Bush threatens Iran... A Pentagon plan was foiled last August by a watchdog group Military Religious Freedom Foundation which would have allowed "Freedom Pac... more -
Mccain is Bush's "clone"
American actor John Cusack has called John McCain 'a clone of George W. Bush' that would follow in his footsteps and continue his policies.
"I know my opinion doesn't matter more than anyone else's, and I just make films,'' he told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday. "But I do feel you have to speak out, and that's what I'm doing.''
In a 30-second video, Cusack offers a "pop quiz'' to voters, asking them among other things: "Who supports keeping our troops in harm's way in Iraq but not the bipartisan G.I. bill of rights to support them when they return home?''
McCain and Bush both do, Cusack says, adding, "Bet you can't tell them apart.''
In his latest film, the war satire War Inc. Cusack makes no secret that he believes the Iraq war was created to profit private businesses like Blackwater Worldwide (whose founder is also part of missionary group), Bechtel Corp. and others that hold war-related contracts worth millions of dollars. (See BBC'S Panorama programme: "Daylight Robbery" -brodcasted on June 2008 for more).
"I'm not going to pretend this thing in Iraq was some kind of free market utopia to spread the gospel of democracy through the Middle East,'' he says.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hdSPw68oY4IS0oUJEDdv... American actor John Cusack has called John McCain 'a clone of George W. Bush' that would follow in his footsteps and continue his poli... more -
Is a little part of you afraid?
This is a personal question from me to the rest of the Current community. I'm hoping that you'll pay it forward.
Knowing what you know regarding the conduct of the men in charge of our government right now, is just a little part of you afraid to speak out publicly?
Do you hesitate from bringing it up when given an opportunity?
Is there at least a little part of you that is mortally afraid of what your government is capable of doing right now?
I am.
If you are, vote yes.
And share your fears. Because the only way these bastards win is through our silence.
Stay vocal. Stay vigilant. This is a personal question from me to the rest of the Current community. I'm hoping that you'll pay it forward. ... more -
US Demands For Blackwater Immunity Angers Iraqi Lawmakers
Immunity from Iraqi law for foreign private guards is a sticking point in the deal between Washington and Baghdad over long-term US troop presence in the country, a top US official said Tuesday.
"The issue of contractors including (foreign) security contractors is a sensitive one, is a significant one," David Satterfield, the US State Department's top Iraq adviser told reporters in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
"There are outstanding issues, obviously, including issues focused on the security side."
The presence of tens of thousands of foreign private security contractors has been heavily criticised, especially after last year's brutal massacre of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad by Blackwater company which offers protection to US officials in Iraq.
These contractors, however, enjoy immunity from Iraqi law. The contract of Blackwater was also recently renewed for another year.
Negotiations for a long-term US military presence in Iraq come amid strong criticism from Baghdad and former foe turned friend Tehran over the details of the deal which aims to maintain American soldiers in the country beyond 2008.
Iraqi media reports have suggested the United States is seeking to keep as many as 50 military bases indefinitely in Iraq, control the nation's air space, and grant its troops and foreign private contractors continuing immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law.
American diplomats and military officials have vehemently denied that Washington wants to create "permanent" bases and insist that the pact is no threat to any of Iraq's neighbours including Iran, the US's arch enemy. Immunity from Iraqi law for foreign private guards is a sticking point in the deal between Washington and Baghdad over long-term US tr... more -
Blackwater's private CIA
This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world after the company's shooters gunned down seventeen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. But by early 2008, Blackwater had largely receded from the headlines save for the occasional blip on the media radar sparked by Congressman Henry Waxman's ongoing investigations into its activities. Its forces remained deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and business continued to pour in. In the two weeks directly following Nisour Square, Blackwater signed more than $144 million in contracts with the State Department for "protective services" in Iraq and Afghanistan alone and, over the following weeks and months, won millions more in contracts with other federal entities like the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. This past September, the secretive mercenary company Blackwater USA found its name splashed across front pages throughout the world af... more
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Defense contractors owe billions in unpaid federal taxes
By Chris Strohm cstrohm@govexec.com February 12, 2004
U.S. defense contractors failed to pay the federal government billions in taxes and, in some cases, may be guilty of criminal offenses, auditors with the General Accounting Office said Thursday.
But unpaid taxes on defense contracts might only be the tip of the iceberg, as many defense companies also do business with other agencies across the federal government, Gregory Kutz, a director of GAO's financial management and assurance office, told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
More than 27,000 defense contractors owe the federal government about $3 billion in unpaid taxes as of September 2002, the watchdog agency concluded in a new report, "DoD Contractors Abuse the Federal Tax System with Little Consequences (GAO-04-95)."
The names of the delinquent contractors were not disclosed because of privacy laws.
GAO found that defense contractors primarily failed to pay payroll taxes and corporate income taxes. Kutz said GAO specifically examined 47 delinquent contractors and discovered suspected criminal abuses that could lead to felony charges. Some of the contractors work on military bases or major weapons programs.
"We don't want government contractors coming in and conducting criminal activities on military installations or buildings," said John Ryan, assistant director of the Office of Special Investigations. "I think it is absolutely necessary that we do something to [check] the contractors that we're bringing into our installations and our buildings."
Ryan said some contractors stay in existence just for a short time to get a government contract, and then dissolve and change names to get another contract. He said one contractor used magnetic signs on trucks so it could quickly change names.
In some cases, the tax evasion was flagrant. The owner of one contractor with $10 million in unpaid taxes used corporate funds to buy a home in the Caribbean and a luxury boat. Another owner took $1 million from his company to buy a large home and a luxury car.
Read More Here: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0204/021204c1.htm
By Chris Strohm cstrohm@govexec.com February 12, 2004 ... more
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