Private Intelligence Contractors for the DoD

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A New York Times Article published Monday indicated that the inner workings of the intelligence fight against key insurgents and militants in Afghanistan were actually conducted by private contractors. What essentially is being raised is the fact that private contractors were hired to act as spies for the DOD.

The contractors also allegedly operated across the border in Pakistan, which is contrary to military intelligence gathering practices. While the companies that were contracted consisted mainly of former Special Forces and CIA operators, they were not employees of the United States Government and didn’t fall under the normal purview of the DoD and other American Intelligence Agencies.

The secret program was run under the guise of gathering generic nation intelligence about Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was run by Michael Furlong, a retired Army officer who served as a contract specialist in the DoD. His formal responsibility was to oversee contracts that involved gathering information about Pakistan and Afghanistan but, this $24 million dollar specialized contract took his role to the next level. The secret program as reported by the Times, hired three private companies employed to gather specific intelligence on militants in both nations.

It appears through a military investigation into Mr. Furlongs actions that money used in the program was inappropriately earmarked for his secret program, it was originally dedicated to gather information about tribal and political cultures. The program allegedly had a network of human intelligence (HUMINT) operatives in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The network gathered information which was then passed along information about known locations of suspected militants.

The actions of Mr. Furlong are disturbing to many in the military community and come at a time when credible actionable intelligence is key to winning the counter insurgency fight in Afghanistan. Investigators are now responsible for digging into the depths at which the program may have violated military regulations and misappropriation of funds.

Contributor:   Sean Pillai

 

1LT Sean Pillai currently serves in the US Military as a Rifle Platoon Leader with the 181 Infantry (L) in Cambridge, MA, Army National Guard. He was the Publisher and is a former Senior Editor for www.idga.org and www.defenceiq.com where he supervised content production and advised the global conference production teams on topic generation and strategy. His operational knowledge includes the US Army, Marine Corps and Navy from time spent served in joint operations and exercises globally.    

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Report Abuse   lawrencevanrijn 03/23/2010 6:25:28 PM EDT Yes, this situation should to some extent be worrying. However, mr. Furlungs did what he had to do, and he thought out of the box to get it done. He kept to ex-special forces and ex-CIA. My initial question would be: 'What is the quality of this intelligence?' These people weren't part of the DoD, but then, did they keep up the standards that official staffmembers should/do have? When we read about shortages of staff/soldiers and resources, should this man be punished for being creative? Now, if funds were misappropriated and with this i mean, did he enrich himself and his friends at the expense of the DoD then it becomes an additional/different matter all together. That is a metter of grave concern, when responsible officers start to enrich themselves at the expense of the troops/goals. In the fierce challenge we face, those people should not be around/tolerated. Replies (0) Post a reply Sign in or Sign up to post a comment