War & Disaster Profiteering

A federal court decision that the False Claims Act applies, together with the Justice Department's supporting stance, will be widely seen as a green light to whistle-blowers. Read More

Called "spineless," the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has held no hearings on whether civilian contractors in Iraq - particularly Halliburton, the company Vice President Cheney used to head - have mismanaged and overcharged the government by billions of dollars, much to the consternation of Senate Democrats. Read More

The International Advisory and Monitoring Board has repeatedly criticized the American government for its loose spending controls during the period it controlled Iraqi assets, from the invasion in early 2003 to the transfer of sovereignty last June. Read More

The information revolution has spawned a global industry of private intelligence services. Some members of the U.S. Congress have recently asked whether their activities should be regulated. Read More

Iraq's insurgents are conducting increasingly sophisticated and lethal attacks on the private security companies that are crucial to the nation's reconstruction and the eventual departure of U.S. troops, contractors and U.S. officials say. Read More

The Jordanian businessman at the centre of claims that George Galloway secretly bought oil from Saddam Hussein has a major contract to sell US military technology in Iraq, The Independent reveals. Read More

As much as 16 percent of the $21 billion reconstruction budget would be spent on providing security for its projects and workers -- roughly double the original estimate. Read More

An April report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office found that monitoring of civilian contractors in Iraq was so poor that there was no way to determine how many contractors are working on U.S.-related security and reconstruction projects in Iraq or how many have been killed. Read More

Ceaseless attacks on contractors and facilities have also increasing security demands, with up to 16 percent of all project costs now being spent on hiring armed guards, improving site protection and providing equipment like hardened vehicles and telecommunications systems. Read More

Ugandan graduates left the country for Iraq in spite of protests from Members of Parliament. Special Operations Consulting Security Management Group (SOC-SMG), a Nevada-based security firm, engaged Kasango to recruit people for non-combat security jobs in Iraq and other countries. Read More