Amid allegations that the contracted security force guarding the Kabul embassy had turned into the 101st Tequila Brigade, the State Department sent a top-level team to investigate. Alcohol has been banned at Camp Sullivan — the compound where the guards live — and diplomatic security officers have been assigned to keep an eye on the guards.
It's brought the spotlight on ArmorGroup, the relatively low-key security firm that has provided security for the embassy since 2007 under a contract worth $189 million. Wackenhut, a subsidiary of G4S, had bid for the initial embassy security contract, only to be outbid by ArmorGroup North America; in Senate testimony this year, Samuel Brinkley, vice president of homeland and international security services at Wackenhut, complained the firm had been losing $1 million a month on the embassy contract since G4S acquired ArmorGroup in mid-2008.
Despite questions about the management of that contract, ArmorGroup until recently had managed to avoid the kind of high-profile scandals that have plagued some private security operators. The company didn't have a corporate figurehead like Xe/Blackwater founder Erik Prince (a favorite punching bag for the anti-war left) or "unorthodox soldier" Tim Spicer (the head of Aegis Defence Services and a subject of endless fascination for the U.K. press). Former ArmorGroup CEO Dave Seaton, for instance, came out of the oilfield services industry -- and joined the company after a long stint with The Stuffed Shirt Company, which made wrinkle-free shirts for travelers.
When I interviewed Seaton in 2007, he stressed that the company avoided the aggressive, "guns up" style sometimes employed by other firms in war zones. And he seemed more eager to talk about business opportunities outside of Iraq and Afghanistan -- especially security contracts with the oil and gas sector. But working in high-risk environments like Iraq and Afghanistan continues to be the bread and butter for companies like ArmorGroup, and the contracts for protecting smaller embassies hardly compare to the fortunes that potentially can be earned protecting fortresslike compounds in places like Kabul.
But don't expect the State Department to move with lightning speed to replace ArmorGroup. Xe, which had its operating license pulled by the Iraqi government after its guards were accused of killing civilians in a Baghdad traffic incident in 2007, recently had its aviation services contract in Iraq extended by State. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said yesterday the diplomatic service had "arranged for a temporary extension of the contract," because DynCorp, which is supposed to take on the job of ferrying around diplomats and other personnel by aircraft, was not ready for the mission.
[PHOTO: POGO]
See Also:
- Mercs Gone Wild at U.S. Embassy Kabul (Updated, With Photos ...
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- Lethal Cocktail: Vodka, Guns and Contractors
- Blackwater Takes Our Advice, Adopts Inscrutable, Opaque Name ...
- Blackwater Chief is a Super Villian: Ex-Employees
- Blackwater's 'License to Kill' under the Lens
- Blackwater Air Also Forced to Leave Iraq
