Description
Book SynopsisSome have claimed that "War is too important to be left to the generals," but P. W. Singer asks "What about the business executives?" Breaking out of the guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations now sell skills and services that...
Trade ReviewProvides a sweeping survey of the work of MPRI, Airscan, Dyncorp, Brown and Root, and scores of other firms that can variously put troops in the field, build and run military bases, train guerrilla forces, conduct air surveillance, mount coups, stave off coups, and put back together the countries that wars have just destroyed.
* The Atlantic Monthly *
The creeping military-industrial complex about which President Dwight Eisenhower warned us five decades ago has reached critical mass. In fact, P. W. Singer, a security analyst at the Brookings Institution, suggests that Ike would be flabbergasted by the recent proliferation of privatized military firms and their influence on public policy both here and abroad. Calling them the corporate evolution of old-fashioned mercenaries, Singer's illuminating new book, says they provide the service side of war rather than weapons.
* Christian Science Monitor *
Large-scale wars may still be the sole provenance of sovereign governments, but many countries are now quietly outsourcing smaller-scale functions to privatized military firms (PMFs), which do not carry the same political weight as national troops. These firms might build camps, provide supplies, or furnish combat troops, technical assistance, or expert consultants for training programs. This is a new area for policymakers to debate and scholars to explore.... This portrait of the military services industry is well documented with many footnotes and a lengthy bibliography.
* Library Journal *
Provides a thoughtful, engaging critique of the U.S. government's growing dependence on private companies to wage war. Mercenaries in the employ of the Pentagon have made news with every new controversy in Iraq, from the ambush that sparked the siege of Fallujah to the prisoner abuses in Abu Ghraib prison and the raid on Ahmed Chalabi's offices. The involvement of those for-profit fighters has inspired plenty of political vitriol, much of it directed at Halliburton, Vice-President Dick Cheney's former employer. But there are some less-well-known players here, too: DynCorp, MPRI, and ICI Oregon, which do everything from database work to intelligence-gathering.
* Business Week *
The first notable book on the subject.
* The Financial Times *
Table of ContentsPART I. THE RISE
1. An Era of Corporate Warriors?
2. Privatized Military History
3. The Privatized Military Industry Distinguished
4. Why Security Has Been Privatized
PART II. ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION
5. The Global Industry of Military Services
6. The Privatized Military Industry Classified
7. The Military Provider Firm: Executive Outcomes
8. The Military Consultant Firm: MPRI
9. The Military Support Firm: Brown & Root
PART III. IMPLICATIONS
10. Contractual Dilemmas
11. Market Dynamism and Global Disruptions
12. Private Firms and the Civil-Military Balance
13. Public Ends, Private Military Means?
14. Morality and the Privatized Military Firm
15. Conclusions
POSTSCRIPT
The Lessons of Iraq
Appendix I. PMFs on the Web
Appendix 2. PMF Contract
Notes
Bibliography
Index
