National Defense > Blog > Posts > At today’s Senate hearing on Afghanistan, a noteworthy discussion about the role of contractors. Sen. McCaskill demands more oversight from Defense and State...

12/2/2009

At today’s Senate hearing on Afghanistan, a noteworthy discussion about the role of contractors. Sen. McCaskill demands more oversight from Defense and State...
At this morning’s hearing on President Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy, several important questions came up on the subject of contractors on the battlefield. The queries came from Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., chairman of the subcommittee on contracting oversight, who has been a staunch critic of government waste and lack of monitoring of contractors in war zones.
 
In the face of an upcoming troop buildup in Afghanistan, McCaskill expressed concern to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the growing number of contractors supporting U.S. forces there. There are currently 75,000 contractors in Afghanistan, supporting 71,000 U.S. troops. In addition, there are 5,200 security contractors working for the State Department. McCaskill seemed alarmed by the large percentage of Afghans who are part of that contractor work force --- 50,000 of the 75,000 battlefield contractors and 5,000 of the 5,200 security contractors are Afghan nationals. Clinton said the decision to employ so many Afghans was somewhat intentional. But she assured McCaskill that they were being properly monitored. Also at the hearing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, said that hiring Afghans makes sense because it brings money into the local economy and contributes to stability.
 
McCaskill also confronted Gates on another matter that irks her: the decision by the Defense Department to award Afghanistan logistics contracts to two vendors -- Fluor Inc. for the north section of the country, and Dyncorp for the south. McCaskill said she was disappointed that the Pentagon is creating two monopolies rather than have contractors compete for specific tasks. This region-based arrangement, although more efficient for the Pentagon to manage than task-based competitions, opens the door for waste and corruption, she suggested. To make matters worse, the Pentagon has not yet filled 600 oversight officer positions to monitor contracts in Afghanistan. Gates said he was not aware of the large number of vacancies but would look into it.
 
Near the end of the discussion, Clinton brought up the uncomfortable issue of how the government should manage the risk of working with contractors without creating excessive bureaucratic impediments to getting the job done. “We have to be able to manage risk without being risk averse,” Clinton said. If oversight is taken to the extreme, government officials are not able to make “smart decisions,” she said. “We want to account for every penny,” but the government has to be able to balance the inherent tension between oversight and agility in doing business. McCaskill agreed that there is “real tension,” but based on what happened in Iraq, the government has to do a better job monitoring contractors. In Iraq, McCaskill said, it was all about writing contracts as quickly as possible, no matter what the cost, and getting things done quickly, but also carelessly. “We need to find a balance,” she said.
 
Finally, McCaskill asked Gates to tighten oversight over the so-called “Commander's Emergency Response Fund.” The CERF is a discretionary fund that commanders can tap into for reconstruction and other local projects deemed critical to winning over the population. Since 2004, the Defense Department has allocated $1.6 billion to CERF in Afghanistan. “We need to take a look into CERF,” McCaskill said.
Posted at 12:11 PM by Sandra Erwin | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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