Intel Outsourcing Makes Strange Bedfellows

The Mainstream Media has just discovered that the military is not only outsourcing gunslingers, but also spooks.  In another path-breaking article, the Washington Post's Steve Fainaru and Alec Klein are the first in the MSM to write about the military's intel outsourcing in Iraq:

...intelligence collection is now among the responsibilities handled by a network of private security companies that work in the shadows of the U.S. military.

Tucked into the 774-page [contract] description is a little-known provision to outsource intelligence operations that, in an earlier time, might have been tightly controlled by the military or government agencies such as the CIA. The government continues to gather its own intelligence, but it also increasingly relies on private companies to collect sensitive information.

Contractors don't only collect.  They analyze it, too.  And from what I've heard, staffing of some of the more serious intel contracts has been a major issue. 

The article profiles the British firm, Aegis.

This nugget was buried in the article:

The new contract calls for the hiring of a team of seasoned intelligence analysts with "NATO equivalent SECRET clearance."

There are several contracts out there requiring teams cleared to TS/SCI level, far beyond NATO Secret, so the Aegis contract isn't exactly one of the most sensitive military intel contracts, but it does seem that the contract was tailored to a non-US corporation and it begs the question, was the RFP tailored to a non-US corporation?   Could there, perhaps, be backroom deals to keep the British happy and deployed, by throwing significant military contracting in Iraq business to British firms?  It is suspicious that in the recent round of (contested) RFPs to renew this contract which has now swelled to $475 million selected Aegis and another British military corporation, ArmorGroup over at least one strong American-owned competitor.

What has always been the most striking about the Aegis contract (other than it is with the company run by the merc extraordinaire, Tim Spicer), was that a non-US company was given a role in intelligence to support the US military.  Granted, there has always been a special relationship between British and American intelligence communities, but this has been called into question of late as the British appear poised to move closer to their European neighbors.  Historically such European integration plans have been deal breakers for US intelligence sharing. 

It would be interesting to know if DoD has made contingency plans for this contact, should Britain move toward intelligence cooperation with the Continent.  I just can't imaging it sitting too well with the guys in the Pentagon to know that the intel they buy might be shared with the French...

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Comments

[Dave]

DoS and DoD have been sub-k-ing to a wide range of foreign-ites through OSCE for years - gov, corp and freelance alike.

[Tom Griffin]

According to Robert Young Pelton's book Licensed to Kill, the RFP was written by two British officers at the Project Management Office with Aegis in mind.

[Jaye]

The only thing worse, greedier and more dishonest then a government employee is a government contractor! I take comfort in that thought and I hope you do too! $500 toilet seats are sweet! Shalom and God bless America!
Sincerely, Jaye