State Department says a single Bureau of Diplomatic Security agent costs $500,000 a year

[kurth]

Concerns about private security ignored, officials say
By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — The State Department, which is facing growing criticism of its policy on private security contractors, overlooked repeated warnings from U.S. diplomats in the field that guards were endangering Iraqi civilians and undermining U.S. efforts to win local support, according to current and former U.S. officials. Ever since the contractors were granted immunity from Iraqi courts in June 2004 by the U.S.-led occupation authority, diplomats have cautioned that the decision to do so was "a bomb that could go off at any time," said one former U.S. official. But State Department leadership, unable to field U.S. troops or in-house personnel to guard its team, has clung to an approach that shielded the contractors from criminal liability, in the hope of ensuring continued protection to operate in the violent countryside...

In May 2005, an Iraqi cab driver with two passengers in the back seat was traveling down a broad thoroughfare when a five- car convoy carrying U.S. officials heading back to the Green Zone approached from a side street. The driver, Mohammed Nouri Hattab, 34, stopped about 50 feet from the convoy, but bullets ripped into his Opel, killing one passenger and striking his shoulder. "There was no warning," Hattab, who suffered lasting damage to his arm, later told a reporter. "It was a sudden attack." Hattab was forced to go on disability leave from his Oil Ministry job at half pay and received no compensation from the U.S. government. Two Blackwater employees were fired for failing to follow proper procedures. They were flown back to the United States after an investigation by embassy security personnel but faced no subsequent prosecution or other penalty.

The procedure was the same in a well-known incident on Christmas Eve, when a Blackwater employee left a party and shot and killed a bodyguard of Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi. Within 36 hours, security officials investigated the case and whisked the shooter back to the United States...

State Department leaders, appearing last week before a House committee investigating the issue, said that practical considerations led to their decision to rely on private contractors for diplomatic security. While contractors are expensive, it also costs nearly $500,000 a year for a single Bureau of Diplomatic Security agent, said Richard Griffin, assistant secretary of State for diplomatic security.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-blackwater7oct07,1,4463745.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

[Bozita]

1. Approximately 50% of the fee stays with Blackwater, just like any temp agency.

Yup, Eric Prince is doing it as a public service.

(sarcasm off)

[Kagemusha]

2. The article says, '...unable to field US troops'. Uh okay...

Is this some issue of, 'the troops would be under State Dept. command' or some silliness? They can't be simply assigned to such jobs? I don't know if there's a valid issue here or just another excuse. I'll lean towards excuse. It's just funny wording for the reporter to use without any kind of immediate 'Oh my god, why not?' reaction.