Security

State Department Can't Find Supervisors for Its Guns-for-Hire

After a string of disasters involving their guns-for-hire, the State Department went looking for some folks who could help supervise their protective details in Iraq, Afghanistan and Afghanistan. Somehow, after eight months, Foggy Bottom has only managed to hire a grand total of four of these new security agents. Back in February, the State Department […]

ds-agentAfter a string of disasters involving their guns-for-hire, the State Department went looking for some folks who could help supervise their protective details in Iraq, Afghanistan and Afghanistan. Somehow, after eight months, Foggy Bottom has only managed to hire a grand total of four of these new security agents.

Back in February, the State Department posted a help-wanted ad for Security Protective Specialists to serve on one-year, renewable contracts with the Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The idea was to provide temporary hires to augment its 1,500-strong force of DS agents, who have been stretched thin by the requirements for post-9/11 security and a push for more muddy-boots diplomacy in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

So how many have stepped forward to volunteer for the job? According to the Government Accountability Office, exactly four.

In a footnote to a newly released report on diplomatic security, GAO said the program was still "under development." The first four hires entered duty on July 29, and it looks like the State Department might have to cancel the program altogether.

"Diplomatic Security has had difficulty recruiting and hiring a sufficient number of SPS candidates," GAO dryly noted. "Diplomatic Security originally intended to hire and train 25 SPSs and later add 20 more positions. Diplomatic Security officials reported having difficulty filling the positions because they compete with private security contractors for new hires and, at the end of September 2009, only 10 positions had been filled. According to senior Diplomatic Security officials, the bureau may cancel the program if they can not recruit enough qualified candidates."

And that's a crying shame -- because these new agents are supposed to provide critically needed oversight and supervision of protective details in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Over the past few years, diplomatic security in high-threat areas has become heavily outsourced: In July 2005, State selected three companies - Blackwater, DynCorp and Triple Canopy — to compete for task orders under the Worldwide Personal Protective Service (WPPS) II contract, worth a potential USD1.2 billion to each contractor over a period of five years; the main WPPS II task orders are in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel.

The results have been nothing short of disastrous, from the antics of Phi Cracka Snacka in Kabul to the deadly Nisour Square incident in Baghdad. These new agents could help provide a desperately needed layer of accountability.

So why can't State find willing recruits? It's basically competing against itself. Base pay for a Security Protective Specialist would be $52,221 per year. Even with overseas allowances and pay differentials, that's a hell of a lot less than the six-figure pay a U.S. operator for a company like Triple Canopy, DynCorp or Blackwater would expect to receive. Note to DS: You need to try a bit harder.

[PHOTO: U.S. Department of State]

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