Anyone know the skinny on this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/world/asia/15contractors.html
Are our intelligence organizations constantly PUBLICLY turning on each other or do I need to take off my tinfoil hat? Or are politicians playing them against each other for their own domestic agendas?
I donāt understand. The NYT never mentioned what laws were being broken, only that it was āgenerally considered illegal.ā
Can someone explain this so dumb people like me can understand what the issue is besides petty jealousies and politics?
I noticed that too. Hiring well trained highly cleared Americans as spies/intelligence operatives is illegal? Could there be a mil reg that says the āmilā canāt āhireā intelligence agents and allow them to perform intelligence tasks because of the civilian oversight committees that have to approve use of deadly force in foreign intelligence operations?
How are foreign intelligence organizations and hired agents supposed to ever trust us when we constantly hang our own out to dry?
Not only them, but also rank and file troopers and officers engaged in combat should ask themselves that very same question.
The allegations are that he was running what amounted to a private, unsanctioned organization and committed fraud by diverting funds from official projects to fund it.
If you have any experience with the Byzantine and contradictory FARs and DARs, you wouldnāt be surprised that the charge could be made. There is an entire industry dedicated to making sure that funds are used in accordance with the rules.
All I am trying to point out is that someone could have thought they were doing the right thing but ran afoul of the rules due to ignorance/inexperience.
Shrug.
M_P
Iām an ends justify the means kind of guy on issues like this.
Having come from the Intel field, I am a firm believer that the public does not need to know everything about how we gather intel, what we do with it and how we handle people that threaten our country.
Ignorance is bliss.
C4
AMEN!
If whatever law that was supposedly broken (again, the article only said that it was generally considered to be illegal and no specific law was mentioned) is some sort of artificial barrier put in by goody two shoe politicians but serves no real purpose then that law should be reconsidered (of course that would apply to about 90% of the laws on the books).
Sounds like he spent money on things he wasnāt supposed to, and did things that most of us donāt have a problem with but did it without appropriate authority.
From what has been described, I donāt see any problems with what he was doing - hiring people to track and locate known enemies and gather information generally. Seems reasonable enough. The problem seems to be, and I agree to some extent, that he did all of this on his own, in the dark, with no authority or accountability.
Also, if Eason Jordanās account is correct and they were just hiring people (locals or otherwise) to gather open source info, I donāt know why thatās a problem. Janeās does that every day in every country and sells it to whoever wants to buy it.
no comment. 
Consider the source- the Old York Times- an anti American newspaper. Anything they can do to hamper our efforts or lower morale of the troops in the field, they do it. This little piece is no different.
Iām fully aware of the source and you can see by their word choices what kind of spin they are spewing, but It does sound like these guys were ratted out for public scrutiny by a CIA station chiefā¦ WTF, Over?
They were being run by someone in the DoDā¦
It is ironic that Robert Young Pelton was part of this. He is no friend of the security contracting profession.
He is an entertaining author though, and the Army didnāt like his article in Menās Journal. See their rebuttal in the comments section.
God bless Dewey Clarridge! Anything heās involved with I back 100%. DC if there is ever anything I can do for you, and I do mean anything, you know where to find me. Thanks for everything.
Whatever has to be done ābehind closed doorsā, has to be done. These guys are highly trained, highly experienced professionals who are there to carry out a specific operation of gathering intel on our countries enemies. I dont see a big deal with it. What I see a big deal with are gossiping assholes exposing and burning these guys. The writers should be dropped off in the Pashtun region of Pakistan and left to fend for themselves.
Once I get em in the SEIU it will be ok.
To think that contractors are not used in a variety of ways is ludacris.
Common sense says the best are not always currently in the military or govt sectors.