Contractors

Posted by Lex, on May 27, 2008

The private security company Blackwater has been attempting to build a west coast presence here in San Diego for quite some time now. A 2006 attempt to build a rifle range, tactical driving course and helipad in the rural, east county township of Potrero received stiff opposition from locals who objected to the prospect of traffic and noise pollution more than their planning board favored the economic stimulus that the project might bring to the economically disadvantaged area. That board was recalled and Blackwater – faced with increasingly agitated opposition across the county – quietly canceled their plans.

But they didn’t give up the fight entirely – after all, the federal government and US military had presented the contractor with a significant business opportunity. Blackwater sought and was granted permission by the city of San Diego to open a training facility in Otay Mesa, close to the US-Mexico border. That facility was intended to have a shooting range and a tactical mock-up of a ship, the better to train US Navy security forces in small and medium weapons usage and anti-terrorism tactics – growingly important training requirements which our blue water focused forces lack significant resident expertise in.

But that plan met stiff resistance when local activists realized that Southwest Law Enforcement and Raven Development Group were affiliates of the “B-word” company. The mayor suspended the fast track permits the city had issued, promising to block progress on the facility until a full review could be conducted by the San Diego City Council and Planning Commission – a process that could go on essentially forever. Which is I think the point:

Blackwater obtained its permits in March for interior improvements (to a warehouse). The site was zoned for a vocational school, and city staff members decided that Blackwater’s training qualified. The permits were obtained through Southwest Law Enforcement and Raven Development Group, affiliates of Blackwater.

(City attorney Michael) Aguirre’s opinion was that the City Council must approve the use of firearms and that the Planning Commission must determine whether Blackwater’s facility is a vocational school.

Neil said Blackwater’s own analysis shows that the company is entitled to occupy the Otay Mesa facility and that a delay could jeopardize Blackwater’s long-standing contract with the Navy to train sailors in anti-terrorism tactics. A delay also could damage the company’s business reputation and “cause harm to national security.”

The mayor’s move was politically very popular, even though Otay Mesa is another economically depressed part of town and the Navy’s training needs endure.

I kind of get why this sort of thing whips up such passions. It’s easy to paint Blackwater’s employees – many of whom served as high end SOF prior to shifting their skills over to the free market – as “mercenaries”, thereby expressing one’s distaste at the Iraq War and its associated chaos without crossing over a public red line and “smearing the troops.” Too, the company’s Potrero effort in 2006 came up just as the war in Iraq was really getting unpopular and was followed hard by potentially criminal shootings in Baghdad that left 17 people dead and pointed out how security companies like Blackwater operate in a kind of legal vacuum.

Which is sort of the point: In stable countries or regions where the rule of law applied, you wouldn’t need a company like Blackwater, not at the prices they charge. And while we might all wish that Iraq was a safer place for diplomats and puppies and kite flying and so on, wishes will not make it so – the country and capital were, until quite recently, violently lawless in fact if not in theory.

The personal security detachment work that Blackwater performs in Iraq would be an inefficient use of front line troops – those guys are busy clearing, holding and building. With a private contractor providing security for foreign service functionaries, at least State pays the bill for shuttling people around rather than the US military, and by extension the Iraqi people. “Hiring” US soldiers to do the job would be as much as writing State a blank check on PSD services, and the last thing our forces need over there is another unconstrained requirement generator. Furthermore, the regulatory environment for private security contractors in Iraq – or lack thereof – is not the fault of those contractors: Congress can and ought to play a useful role here.

All of which is besides the point, it seems to me: We’re not talking about Iraq. A Blackwater affiliate won the domestic rights to train US Navy sailors in weapons usage and anti-terror tactics. Those are capabilities the service does not have resident within its lifelines on the west coast, and probably doesn’t want to have to stand up as a permanent (and costly) capability. For emotional more than rational reasons, the city of San Diego is fighting an effort that would provide an injection of cash into a economically hard-pressed part of town and preventing the Navy from getting useful training.

I just think it’s kind of silly.

Back To The Index