Study: Pentagon reliance on contractors hurt U.S. in 9/11 wars

Up to fractional of the $14 trillion spent by the Pentagon since 9/11 went to for-profit defence contractors, a survey released Monday found. It’s the latest enactment to reason the U.S. reliance connected backstage corporations for war-zone duties that utilized to beryllium done by troops contributed to ngo nonaccomplishment successful Afghanistan.

In the post-9/11 wars, U.S. corporations contracted by the Defense Department not lone handled war-zone logistics similar moving substance convoys and staffing chow lines but performed mission-crucial enactment similar grooming and equipping Afghan information forces — information forces that collapsed past period arsenic the Taliban swept the country.

Within weeks, and earlier the U.S. subject had adjacent completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban easy routed an Afghan authorities and subject that Americans had spent 20 years and billions of dollars to basal up. President Joe Biden placed blasted squarely connected the Afghans themselves. “We gave them each chance,” helium said past month. “What we could not supply them was the volition to fight.”

But William Hartung, the writer of Monday’s survey by Brown University’s Costs of War task and the Center for International Policy, and others accidental it’s indispensable that Americans analyse what relation the reliance connected backstage contractors played successful the post-9/11 wars. In Afghanistan, that included contractors allegedly paying extortion wealth to warlords and the Taliban themselves, and the Defense Department insisting connected equipping the Afghan aerial unit with analyzable Blackhawk helicopters and different craft that fewer but U.S. contractors knew however to maintain.

“If it were lone the money, that would beryllium outrageous enough,” Hartung, the manager of the arms and information programme astatine the Center for International Policy, said of instances wherever the Pentagon’s reliance connected contractors backfired. “But the information it undermined the ngo and enactment troops astatine hazard is adjacent much outrageous.”

At the commencement of this year, earlier Biden began the last American withdrawal from Afghanistan, determination were acold much contractors successful Afghanistan and besides successful Iraq than U.S. troops.

The U.S. saw astir 7,000 subject members dice successful each post-9/11 conflicts, and astir 8,000 contractors, different Costs of War survey estimates.

The Professional Services Council, an enactment representing businesses contracting with the government, cited a little fig from the U.S. Department of Labor saying astir 4,000 national contractors person been killed since 2001.

A spokeswoman pointed to a connection past period from the organization’s president, David J. Berteau: “For astir 2 decades, authorities contractors person provided wide and indispensable enactment for U.S. and allied forces, for the Afghan subject and different elements of the Afghan government, and for humanitarian and economical improvement assistance.”

U.S. officials aft the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks embraced backstage contractors arsenic an indispensable portion of the U.S. subject response.

It started with then-Vice President Dick Cheney, the erstwhile CEO of Halliburton. Halliburton received much than $30 cardinal to assistance acceptable up and tally bases, provender troops and transportation retired different enactment successful Iraq and Afghanistan by 2008, the survey says. Cheney and defence contractors argued that relying connected backstage contractors for enactment that work members did successful erstwhile wars would let for a trimmer U.S. military, and beryllium much businesslike and outgo effective.

By 2010, Pentagon spending had surged by much than one-third, arsenic the U.S. fought dual wars successful Iraq and Afghanistan. In a post-9/11 American, politicians vied to amusement enactment for the subject successful a state grown acold much information conscious.

“Any subordinate of Congress who doesn’t ballot for the funds we request to support this state volition beryllium looking for a caller occupation aft adjacent November,” the survey notes Harry Stonecipher, past the vice president of Boeing, telling The Wall Street Journal the period aft the attacks.

And up to a 3rd of the Pentagon contracts went to conscionable 5 weapons suppliers. Last fiscal year, for example, the wealth Lockheed Martin unsocial got from Pentagon contracts was 1 and a fractional times the full budgets of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to the study.

The Pentagon pumped retired much contracts than it could oversee, lawmakers and authorities peculiar investigators said.

For example, a Florida Republican Party authoritative made millions connected what lawmakers charged were excess profits erstwhile the U.S. granted a one-of-a-kind declaration for substance convoys from Jordan to Iraq, the survey notes. The electrocution of astatine slightest 18 work members by atrocious wiring successful bases successful Iraq, immoderate of it blamed connected large contractor Kellogg, Brown and Root, was different of galore instances wherever authorities investigations pointed to shoddy logistics and reconstruction work.

The stunning Taliban triumph past period successful Afghanistan is drafting attraction present to adjacent graver consequences: the grade to which the U.S. reliance connected contractors whitethorn person heightened the difficulties of the Afghan information forces.

Jodi Vittori, a erstwhile Air Force lieutenant colonel and student of corruption and fragile states astatine the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who was not progressive successful the study, points to the U.S. insistence that the Afghan aerial unit usage U.S.-made helicopters. Afghans preferred Russian helicopters, which were easier to fly, could beryllium maintained by Afghans, and were suited to rugged Afghanistan.

When U.S. contractors pulled retired with U.S. troops this outpouring and summer, taking their cognition of however to support U.S.-provided craft with them, apical Afghan leaders bitterly complained to the U.S. that it had deprived them of 1 indispensable vantage implicit the Taliban.

Hartung, similar others, besides points to the corruption engendered by the billions of loosely monitored dollars that the U.S. poured into Afghanistan arsenic 1 cardinal crushed that Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed authorities mislaid fashionable support, and Afghan fighters mislaid morale.

Hillary Clinton, portion caput of authorities nether President Barack Obama, accused defence contractors astatine hazard successful warfare zones of resorting to payoffs to equipped groups, making extortion wealth 1 of the biggest sources of backing for the Taliban.

The United States besides relied, successful part, connected defence contractors to transportation retired 1 of the tasks astir cardinal to its hopes of occurrence successful Afghanistan — helping to acceptable up and bid an Afghan subject and different information forces that could basal up to extremist groups and to insurgents, including the Taliban.

Tellingly, Vittori said, it was Afghan commandos who had accordant grooming by U.S. peculiar operations forces and others who did astir of the warring against the Taliban past month.

Relying little connected backstage contractors, and much connected the U.S. subject arsenic successful past wars, mightiness person fixed the U.S. amended chances of triumph successful Afghanistan, Vittori noted. She said that would person meant U.S. presidents accepting the governmental risks of sending much U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and getting much assemblage bags of U.S. troops back.

“Using contractors allowed America to combat a warfare that a batch of Americans forgot we were fighting,” Vittori said.