Washington – Outlining for the first time his concern about private contractors in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress on Wednesday that he sent a fact-finding team to Baghdad and has reminded U.S. commanders that they have the authority to discipline contractors.
Gates also said he was troubled by security contractors’ practice of luring soldiers out of uniform by offering them higher salaries. He said he was looking for ways to put legal limits on that practice.
In remarks to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Gates said he understood the reason for having 137,000 private contractors in Iraq – their presence allows U.S. troops to focus on combat while simpler tasks like providing food and laundry services and guarding fixed sites are done by private hires.
“But we clearly have to have proper oversight procedures and oversight activities in place to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to,” he said, adding: “My concern is whether there has been sufficient accountability and oversight.”
Gates said he began probing the military’s relationship with its contractors after 11 Iraqis were killed Sept. 16 in a shooting involving Blackwater USA contractors protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad. The Blackwater employees in that case were working for the State Department.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week ordered a review of State Department security in Iraq, including an examination of the rules governing security-contractor actions. A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission is also beginning to look at widely conflicting accounts of the Sept. 16 incident.
Speaking at the Pentagon before Gates’ appearance on Capitol Hill, his press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said Gates has received some preliminary answers to his initial questions about contracting in Iraq.
“Those answers, at least when it comes to the oversight component, have not been satisfactory,” Morrell said. “He has some real concerns about oversight of contractors in Iraq and he is looking for ways to sort of make sure we do a better job on that front.”
Gates said the Pentagon has sufficient legal authority to control its contractors.
