The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order (33 page)

24
. “Green-on-Blue Blues: Afghan Soldiers Increasingly Turn on Their NATO Colleagues,”
Economist
, September 1, 2012.
http://www.economist.com/node/21561943
, accessed February 25, 2014.

25
. Until recently, the US military treated the formation of foreign forces primarily as a foreign internal defense (FID) mission. FID is an ill-fitting model for SSR; it is a Cold War concept
informed by Maoist irregular warfare strategy rather than SSR principles. FID employed US Army special forces to covertly train and equip pro-American guerrillas in communist countries (e.g., the Montagnards in Vietnam) and help friendly governments defeat communist insurgents (e.g., El Salvador) in proxy wars between the United States and the Soviet Union. This accounts for the US military’s train-and-equip mentality when it comes to SSR, which yields only improved tactical units rather than a transformed security sector. This limited approach is promulgated in Joint Publication (JP) 3-07.1: “Joint Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Foreign Internal Defense (FID)”; US Army and US Marine Corps,
FM 3-24/MCWP3-33.5: Counterinsurgency
, chapter 6 (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 2006); US Army,
FM 3-07: Stability Operations
, chapter 6 (Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 2008). After several years of FID failure in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military finally drafted more comprehensive doctrine on SSR, called security force assistance: US Army,
FM 3-07/1: Security Force Assistance
(Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 2009). Though a significant improvement, this model does not address the full spectrum of SSR needs, such as vetting, and creates foreign militaries in the image of the US Army, which is inappropriate.

26
. Total demobilization costs were approximately $15 million. Cook,
Liberia’s Post-War Development
, 22.

27
. Thomas Dempsey,
Security Sector Reform in Liberia Part I: An Assessment of Defense Reform
, Issue Paper 2008 (Carlisle, PA: Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, US Army War College, 2008), 3.

28
. “Urgent Reform Required: Army Expeditionary Contracting,” Report of the Commission on Army Acquisition and Program Management in Expeditionary Operations, hearing before the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support of the Committee on Armed Services, US Senate, 110th Congress (December 6, 2007).

29
. US Department of State,
Report of Inspection Embassy Monrovia, Liberia Report No. ISP-I-08-20a
(Washington, DC, 2008), 16.

30
. International Crisis Group,
Liberia: Uneven Progress
, i, 19, 34.

31
. Morten Bøås and Karianne Stig, “Security Sector Reform in Liberia: An Uneven Partnership without Local Ownership,”
Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding
4, no. 3 (2010): 285–303; Louise Andersen,
Post-Conflict Security Sector Reform and the Challenge of Ownership: The Case of Liberia
(Copenhagen: Danish Institute for International Studies, 2006), 286.

32
. Cook,
Liberia’s Post-War Development
, 26.

33
. Adedeji Ebo, “The Challenges and Opportunities of Security Sector Reform in Post-Conflict Liberia,” Occasional Paper no. 9 (Geneva: Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces, 2005), 154–155.

34
. Michael M. Phillips, “In Liberia, an Army Unsullied by Past,”
Wall Street Journal
, August 14, 2007. Bøås and Stig, “Security Sector Reform,” 289.

35
. Ibid, 289. Other references cited: Adedeji Ebo, “Liberia Case Study: Outsourcing SSR to Foreign Companies,” in
No Ownership, No Commitment: A Guide to Local Ownership of Security Sector Reform
, edited by Laurie Nathan (Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham, 2007); Ebo, “The Challenges and Opportunities,” 1–28; Alexander Loden, “Civil Society and Security Sector Reform in Post-Conflict Liberia: Painting a Moving Train without Brushes,”
International Journal of Transitional Justice
1, no. 2 (2007): 297–307.

36
. International Crisis Group,
Liberia: Uneven Progress
, i–ii.

37
. Mark Malan,
Security Sector Reform in Liberia: Mixed Results from Humble Beginnings
(Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 2008), 69.

38
. International Crisis Group,
Liberia: Uneven Progress
, 31.

1
. Global Security, “Somalia Civil War,”
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/somalia.htm
, accessed February 26, 2014.

2
. Jeffrey Gettleman, “Ethiopia Launches Open War in Somalia,”
New York Times News Service
, December 25, 2006.
http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061225/news_7n25somalia.html
, accessed February 26, 2014.

3
. Ibrahim Mohamed, “Somali Rebel Groups Clash Near Kenya Border,” Reuters, August 26, 2010.

4
. UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “Dadaab – World’s biggest refugee camp 20 years old,” February 21, 2012.
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c2.html
, accessed February 26, 2014.

5
. Ken Menkhaus and John Prendergast, “Political Economy of Post-Intervention Somalia,”
Somalia Task Force Issue Paper 3
(Washington, DC: Horn of Africa Publications, 1995), 1.

6
. Ken Menkhaus,
Kenya-Somalia Border Conflict Analysis
(Washington, DC: USAID, 2005); Koen Vlassenroot and Timothy Raeymaekers, “The Politics of Rebellion and Intervention in Ituri: The Emergence of a New Political Complex?”
African Affairs
103, no. 412 (2004): 385–412; Georg Lutz and Wolf Linder, “Traditional Structures in Local Governance for Local Development,” unpublished report, Institute of Political Science, University of Berne, Switzerland (2004).

7
. UN, “United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM 1) Background” (2003)
http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/past/unsom1backgr1.html
, accessed February 26, 2014.

8
. Somalia NGO Consortium,
http://www.somaliangoconsortium.org/index.php
, accessed February 26, 2014.

9
. Amnesty International,
Fatal Insecurity Attacks on Aid Workers and Rights Defenders in Somalia
(London: Amnesty International, 2008), 2.

10
. “Somalia: NGOs Urge International Community to Protect Civilians,”
IRIN Africa
, October 7, 2008.
http://www.irinnews.org/fr/report/80786/somalia-ngos-urge-international-community-to-protect-civilians
, accessed February 26, 2014.

11
. Bill Roggio, “Zawahiri Praises Shabaab’s Takeover of Southern Somalia,”
Long War Journal
, February 24, 2009,
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/02/zawahiri_praises_sha.php
, accessed February 26, 2014.

12
. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Fighting Terror: 14 Indicted for Supporting Al Shabaab,” August 5, 2010.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/august/al-shabaab
, accessed February 26, 2014.

13
. The actual figures for 2010 (as of December 22, 2010) are as follows: total attacks worldwide, 430; total hijackings worldwide, 49; total Somalia incidents, 210; total Somalia hijackings, 45; total Somalia hostages taken, 948; current vessels held by Somali pirates, 25; hostages held by Somali pirates, 586. International Maritime Bureau, “IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC),” December 22, 2010,
http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre
, accessed February 14, 2014. For more on the rise of pirates in recent years, see Peter Chalk,
The Maritime Dimension of International Security: Terrorism, Piracy, and Challenges for the United States
(Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2008); Ken Menkhaus, “Dangerous Waters,”
Survival
51, no. 1 (2009): 21–25; Karl Sörenson,
State Failure on the High Seas: Reviewing the Somali Piracy
(Stockholm: Swedish Defense Research Agency, 2008). The $18 billion number comes from
The Pirates of Somalia: Ending the Threat, Rebuilding a Nation
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013), 25.

14
. Interview with the author, July 6, 2013.

15
. Jay Bahadur,
The Pirates of Somalia: Inside their Hidden World
(New York: Random House, 2011).

16
. Simon Jones, “Skulls and Crossroads,”
Maritime Security Review
, November 18, 2010.
http://www.marsecreview.com/2010/11/1060/
, accessed February 26, 2014.

17
. Martin Plaut, “Private Patrol Boats to Tackle Somali Pirates,”
BBC News
, May 30, 2012.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-18209357
, accessed February 26, 2014.

18
. UN Security Council, “Report of the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea Submitted in Accordance with Resolution 1916” (2010) [S/2011/433], July 18, 2011, 276.

19
. UN Security Council, “Report of the Monitoring Group,” para. 61–64.

20
. “Somalia: Puntland Maritime Police Force Instructor Killed On Duty,” Garowe Online, April 28, 2012.

21
. Chris Tomlinson, “U.S. Hires Contractor to Back Somalis,”
The Associated Press
, March 7, 2007.

22
. Jeffrey Gettleman, Mark Mazzetti, and Eric Schmitt, “U.S. Relies on Contractors in Somalia Conflict,”
New York Times
, August 10, 2011, A1.

23
. Katharine Houreld, “Bancroft Global Development, U.S. Group, Advises African Troops in Somalia,” Associated Press, August 10, 2011.

24
. International Defense Exhibition & Conference (IDEX), “Reflex Responses Management Consultancy LLC,” Abu Dhabi, 2011.
http://www.idexuae.ae/page.cfm/Link=21/t=m/goSection=1
, accessed August 1, 2011; Mark Mazzetti and Emily B. Hager, “Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder,”
New York Times
, May 14, 2011, A1.

25
. Interview with the author, July 16, 2013.

26
. James Brown, “Pirates and Privateers: Managing the Indian Ocean’s Private Security Boom,” Lowy Institute for International Policy, September 12, 2012.

27
. Justin Stares, “The International Community Has ‘Failed’ to Tackle Piracy,”
Public Service Europe
, February 28, 2012.

28
. Interview with the author, July 16, 2013.

29
. In 2012, the number of incidents of attempted attacks decreased dramatically from 237 to 75, a nearly 70 percent drop from the record year of 2011. UN Security Council, “Letter Dated 12 July 2013 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea Addressed to the President of the Security Council,” S/2013/413 (July 12, 2013), para. 53.

30
. International Maritime Organization,
Interim Guidance to Private Maritime Security Companies Providing Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel on Board Ships in the High Risk Area
, MSC.1/Circ.1443, May 25, 2012.

31
. For US Navy quotes, see Terence McKnight, Foreword, in Claude Berube and Patrick Cullen, eds.,
Maritime Private Security: Market Responses to Piracy, Terrorism and Waterborne Security Risks in the 21st Century
(New York: Routledge 2012), xix. For Gortney quote, see US Navy, “Super Tanker Attacked in Arabian Sea,” no. NNS081117-07,
www.navy.mil/
, November 17, 2008. For Fitzgerald quote, see Voice of America video, “US Admiral Says Commercial Ships Need Armed Guards,” April 22, 2010,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtuJ0VlBVU4
. On scholarship arguing for privateering, see Todd Emerson Hutchins, “Structuring a Sustainable Letters of Marque Regime: How Commissioning Privateers Can Defeat the Somali Pirates,”
California Law Review
99 (2011): 819–884; Theodore T. Richard, “Reconsidering the Letter of Marque: Utilizing Private Security Providers Against Piracy,”
Public Contract Law Journal
39/3 (Spring 2010): 411–464; D. Joshua Staub, “Letters of Marque: A Short-Term Solution to an Age Old Problem,”
Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce
40/2 (April 2009): 261–269. For critique, see Patrick Cullen and Claude Berube, eds.,
Maritime Private Security: Market Responses to Piracy, Terrorism and Waterborne Security Risks in the 21st Century
(London: Routledge 2012); Christopher Spearin, “Promising Privateers? Understanding the Constraints of Contemporary Private Security at Sea,”
Naval War College Review
67, no. 2 (2014): 97–116.

32
. International Crisis Group, “Somalia: To Move beyond the Failed State,” Africa Report 147 (2008), 12.

33
. Human Rights Watch, “Harsh War, Harsh Peace: Abuses by al-Shabaab, the Transitional Federal Government, and AMISOM in Somalia” (2010), 2.

34
. Andre Le Sage,
Stateless Justice in Somalia: Formal and Informal Rule of Law Initiatives
(Geneva: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2005), 7.

35
. Ken Menkhaus, “Governance without Government in Somalia: Spoilers, State Building, and the Politics of Coping,”
International Security
31, no. 3 (2007), 103. The idea of a “mediated state” comes from Michael Barnett and Christoph Züercher, “The Peacebuilders’ Contract: How External Statebuilding Reinforces Weak Statehood,” in
The Dilemmas of Statebuilding: Confronting the Contradictions of Postwar Peace Operations
, edited by Roland Paris and Timothy D. Sisk (New York: Routledge, 2009), 27.

36
. Le Sage,
Stateless Justice
, 8.

37
. Menkhaus, “Governance without Government,” 105–106.

1
. Christoph Reuter, “The Warlord of the Highway,”
Vice Magazine
(November 2009)
http://www.vice.com/print/warlord-of-the-highway-226-v16n11
, accessed February 26, 2014; Dexter Filkins, “With U.S. Aid, Warlord Builds Afghan Empire,”
New York Times
, June 5, 2010, A1; Dexter Filkins, “Convoy Guards in Afghanistan Face an Inquiry,”
New York Times
, June 6, 2010, A1.