Chris Wahl, spokesman for Tapestry Solutions, reads a statement in San Diego about the shooting of two company employees in Kuwait. (Tim Tadder - AP) _____Video_____ • Washington Post reporter Renae Merle discusses this article _____Video_____ • 2 Americans Shot in Kuwait _____News from Kuwait_____ • But What if the Iraqis Strike First? (The Washington Post, Jan 23, 2003) • One U.S. Worker Shot Dead, Another Wounded in Kuwait (The Washington Post, Jan 22, 2003) • Kuwaitis' Gratitude to U.S. Gives Way to Resentment (The Washington Post, Jan 22, 2003) • Technology Puts U.S. Troops on Higher Ground (The Washington Post, Jan 21, 2003) • Turkey Hosts Top General For Talks on U.S. Force (The Washington Post, Jan 21, 2003) _____Government IT News_____ • U.S. Opens Online Portal to Rulemaking (The Washington Post, Jan 23, 2003) • Biowarfare Monitors Are Deployed in U.S. (The Washington Post, Jan 23, 2003) • Government Proposes $59 Billion Technology Budget (Associated Press, Jan 20, 2003) • More Government IT News E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version Permission to Republish Subscribe to print edition

By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 22, 2003; Page A10

The two government contractors ambushed in Kuwait yesterday are part of the growing army of civilians who accompany troops into sometimes hostile territory.

In military hot spots around the world, civilians are performing duties once reserved for military personnel -- building barracks, running kitchens, maintaining tanks and jets, and even helping to plan strategy.

"The Army couldn't go to war without them," said Deborah Avant, an associate professor of political science at George Washington University.

The two Americans attacked near Camp Doha in Kuwait are employees of Tapestry Solutions Inc., a San Diego information technology firm that is helping the military install software that coordinates operations. Michael Rene Pouliot, co-founder of the firm, was killed, and David Caraway, a senior software engineer, was wounded. Caraway is listed as being in critical condition but is expected to recover, according to the company.

During the Persian Gulf War, some units had one contractor for 50 military personnel while others had one for every 25, according to research by Peter W. Singer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution. In the Balkans, there was one contractor per 10 soldiers, Singer said. The ratio of contractors to combatants could increase even more if the United States goes to war in Iraq, he said.

The Defense Department does not keep track of the number of contractors overseas but recognizes that such assignments are part of a growing trend, said spokesman Glenn Flood. The General Accounting Office reported that 10 percent of the $13.8 billion spent on Balkans operations from 1995 through March 2000 went to private companies.

In 1991, Reston-based DynCorp had 650 personnel in the Middle East supporting the Desert Shield-Desert Storm operations, according to company officials. DynCorp is among the largest companies in the sector, along with Alexandria-based MPRI Inc., which is operated by retired senior military officers, and Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton Co.

"In modern warfare, the front line is not well defined, so knowing when contractor personnel is at risk is harder to predict," said Loren B. Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, an Arlington-based think tank. "The military is now so dependent on the private sector for logistics and support, I am not sure it could function without contractors."

Private-sector companies have played a part in military operations overseas for decades, but their numbers grew in the 1990s. And as the military deploys complex weapons systems faster, contractors go overseas to provide training that there wasn't time for in the United States.

"Starting after '91, you had the combination of the military being forced to downsize and this real push to privatize anything and everything," said Singer of the Brookings Institution. "The problem is that it's been fairly random."

Along with contracting out logistical or support tasks such as feeding military personnel or mowing lawns, the military has also handed over to companies some duties that straddle the line between contractor and soldier, such as maintaining tactical systems and drone aircraft, Singer said.

There are essentially no rules for how contractors should behave in a war zone, and there is no effort within the industry to create any, according to industry analysts. The contractors don't have to follow the military codes of conduct. Contractors are usually not allowed to carry weapons but could be expected to pick up arms if they are attacked, industry officials said.

Some DynCorp employees working for the Air Force in the Balkans in 2001 were implicated in trafficking in women for sex. They were also accused of consorting with underage girls and patronizing brothels.

That same year, private contractors piloting a CIA plane on a drug interdiction flight over Peru mistakenly identified a missionary plane as belonging to drug smugglers. The misidentified plane was shot down, killing an American missionary and her infant, Avant said.

A DynCorp pilot was killed last January when the Colombian military destroyed a U.S. government helicopter to keep it from falling into the hands of leftist guerrillas. In 1992, three DynCorp employees were killed when their helicopter crashed during U.S. anti-drug operations in Peru.

In addition to worrying about the behavior and safety of contractors, the military needs to worry about their reliability, said Singer. Nothing prevents a contractor who is, for example, purifying water for soldiers, or doing other critical tasks, from abandoning his station, he noted.

"A potential fear is that the contractors will say 'This is a lot dicier than I thought' and bolt," Singer said. "They may have thought they were going to Kuwait and would be safe, but they're entering a war zone."

Some of those issues are raising concern in Congress.

"If they are American citizens or hired by us, private contractors are targets for terrorists, as are U.S. government employees," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, said in a written statement. "But as contractors they do not always receive the same amount of protection. The higher risks they face should be troubling to everyone, and we need to continually review whether there is more we can do to protect these people."

Officials of DynCorp and Kellogg Brown & Root declined to comment on the safety precautions taken by their employees when assisting the military overseas, saying it could put them in further danger.

"No one at MPRI carries a gun. We're dependent on who we're working for," an MPRI official said.

A spokesman for Tapestry said all employees dispatched overseas undergo a week of security training at Fort Benning in Georgia.

"Tapestry Solutions will continue its overseas operations and persevere though this horrible tragedy," Mark Young, the company's vice president, said in a statement. "The safety of our employees throughout the world will continue to be paramount, and we will not be intimidated by this act of violence."