{"id":66538,"date":"2021-07-30T18:31:45","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T18:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/07\/30\/dod-really-has-no-idea-who-its-hired-to-do-private-security-report-finds\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:44:16","slug":"dod-really-has-no-idea-who-its-hired-to-do-private-security-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/07\/30\/dod-really-has-no-idea-who-its-hired-to-do-private-security-report-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"DoD really has no idea who it\u2019s hired to do private security, report finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Private security contractors<\/a>, often referred to as mercenaries, have made a poor reputation<\/a> for themselves throughout the Global War on Terror. And it turns out the Pentagon isn\u2019t really monitoring whom it\u2019s hired, or verifying their backgrounds and compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Government Accountability Office<\/a> report released Friday<\/a> calls on the Pentagon to create an internal definition for security contractors, make them trackable in databases and assign an oversight position for private security contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor example, GAO reviewed data for deployed contractor personnel with the job title of \u2018security guard\u2019 and found that about 12 percent of those individuals were employed by companies not on a DOD list of certified PSC companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This happened for a few reasons, according to the report. To start, contractor oversight is shared between DoD and the companies themselves, with no single entity taking accountability overall. <\/b>Then, there is no code in personnel databases for security contractors, so it\u2019s impossible to know how many there are and what jobs they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When GAO searched contractor databases for \u201csecurity guard,\u201d they found that there were actually eight other job titles that included aspects of what would generally be considered a security position, whether the employee was working in contingency, peace-keeping or other missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only couldn\u2019t GAO get a complete list of DoD\u2019s private security contractors, but what they did find didn\u2019t include \u201cthe type of operation or exercise they support, or their functions, activities, and armed or unarmed status,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\t