Security

'Human Terrain' Contractor Guilty of Manslaughter (Updated)

Don Ayala, a contractor with the Army’s controversial Human Terrain social science project, pleaded guilty today to manslaughter. Ayala was facing a possible life sentence in prison, after being charged with second degree murder for an alleged revenge killing in southern Afghanistan. Under the terms of his plea agreement, announced today by the U.S. Attorney’s […]

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Don Ayala, a contractor with the Army's controversial Human Terrain social science project, pleaded guilty today to manslaughter.

Ayala was facing a possible life sentence in prison, after being charged with second degree murder for an alleged revenge killing in southern Afghanistan. Under the terms of his plea agreement, announced today by the U.S. Attorney's office in Alexandria, Virginia, Ayala could still spend up to 15 years behind bars.

Ayala began working in Afghanistan in late September, as part of an
Army Human Terrain Team, which embeds cultural advisers in combat units. Originally, the program was conceived as a way to find for commanders non-violent options for stabilizing chaotic areas: Islamic radio broadcasts to mollify Afghan mullahs, shame tactics to nudge out corrupt Iraqi cops. "In a counterinsurgency, your level of success is inversely proportional to the amount of lethal force that you expend," lead social scientist Montgomery McFate told Danger Room.

But in a warzone, violence is never far off. Human Terrain teams became involved in several lethal incidents. The latest occurred on Nov. 4, when Ayala was on a foot patrol in the village of Chehel Gazni, with teammate Paula Loyd, a social scientist. She approached Abdul Salam, who was carrying a fuel jug. Suddenly, the man doused Lloyd in a flammable liquid and set her on fire. She suffered second- and third-degree burns over 60
percent of her body.

Ayala chased Salam down, tackled him to the ground, and restrained him with plastic cuffs. "After about 10 minutes," according to an Army Criminal
Investigation Division affidavit, "a soldier approached the location where Ayala had Salam detained and informed the personnel in the area that Loyd was burned badly. Ayala pushed his pistol against
Salam's head and shot Salam, killing him instantly."

**

Ayala was taken into custody, and flown to the United States two-and-a-half weeks later. He was charged with murder -- the first military contractor to be charged with such a crime under a 2000 law that allows the prosecution of U.S. government workers who commit crimes overseas.

Paula Loyd succumbed to her wounds in January, and became the third Human Terrain researcher to die in nine months. Ayala is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8. A second criminal case, involving a Human Terrain contractor who allegedly served as a spy for Saddam Hussein, is ongoing.

UPDATE: Here's the government's "statement of facts" about the Ayala case.

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