Called the Air Bridge Denial Program, this dangerous work was
abruptly terminated in April 2001 after a missionary from the United
States and her baby daughter were mistakenly shot down during a
similar operation in Peru. But two weeks ago, with new safeguards in
place, the program was resurrected as a tool to staunch the flow of
illegal drugs from the world's largest cocaine provider. The US and
Peru are in the early stages of restarting interdiction over
Peruvian airspace as well.
Although US officials insist that this is a Colombian-run
program, two Americans will actively participate in each operation.
One will be stationed at the Colombian Defense Ministry helping to
monitor planes, while the other will ride along in tracker
aircraft.
Yet the Americans involved are not active military men. Instead,
they are part of the unofficial army of private US contractors
working in Colombia, doing everything from spraying coca fields to
training a Colombian antikidnapping squad. It's a formula the US has
repeated from here to Afghanistan to Iraq: employing civilians to do
jobs historically carried out by the armed forces.
A 10-fold increase
Contractors are performing "the entire spectrum of military
services," says Peter Singer, an analyst at the Brookings
Institution in Washington and author of the new book, "Corporate
Warriors," about the growth of the privatized military. He says US
civilians in conflicts around the world do everything from handling
mail services and feeding troops to training foreign troops and
devising war games. Most are retired military personnel or former
special forces.
In theory, US law mandates that no more than 400 civilian
contractors can be on the ground in Colombia at any one time. But
since US law also caps the number of US troops at 400, contractors
are in even higher demand. Experts say that the US often hires
nationals from places like Brazil and Central America who don't
count toward the cap.
But this Andean nation is hardly the largest theater of
operations for these soldiers of fortune.
Mr. Singer says nearly 10,000 private military contractors are
currently working in Iraq, training a new Iraqi military, protecting
the Baghdad and Basra airports, and feeding and housing US
troops.
Several hundred contractors remain on the ground in Afghanistan
as well, providing such services as security for President Hamid
Karzai. In Liberia, the US recently hired Pacific Architects and
Engineers to provide logistics for the Nigerian security force
charged with keeping peace after the departure of President Charles
Taylor.
Singer says the exponential growth in contractors during the
1990s - there have been nearly 10 times as many contractors used in
the 2003 Iraq invasion as in the 1991 Persian Gulf War - is the
result of several factors: the downsizing of the military, the fact
that US troops are stretched thin because of their several global
commitments, and a lack of planning by the Pentagon.
In places like Liberia and Colombia as well, the US is worried
about "mission creep." Subjecting contractors instead of US military
personnel to danger is far more politically viable as they often fly
under the radar, with their costs and duties less known.
According to a report released by the US State Department earlier
this year, there are 17 primary contracting companies working in
Colombia, initially receiving some $3.5 billion.
The largest contracts have gone to companies like Lockheed
Martin, DynCorp, and Northrop Grumman, but lesser-known firms like
the Rendon Group (providing public relations support for the
Ministry of Defense) and Science Applications International Corp.
(assisting in imagery analysis) are also here.
Big companies such as DynCorp, in charge of piloting planes that
spray coca crops, and Northrop Grumman's California Microwave
Systems (CMS), which operates counternarcotics missions, did not
release the number of employees involved in their operations. But
the report counts at least 190 contractors employed by "Plan
Colombia," a US-backed antinarcotics and antiterrorism program, and
estimates the risk to most of their lives as "low."
At risk
But there is still risk. In February, a single-engine Cessna
carrying four Defense Department contractors working for CMS,
crashed in the jungle. Former US Air Force officer Thomas John Janis
and a Colombian air force sergeant were instantly executed by the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Three other Americans, Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Tom
Howes were abducted and have spent six months in captivity. The US
government, according to the State Department report, has added
"jungle survival training" to the requirements for these
contractors.
Contractors may be involved in rescuing their comrades, as well
as former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who has been
held for 18 months by the FARC. A dramatic videotape was played
Sunday on Colombian television where Ms. Betancourt called on the
Colombian Army to rescue her and other hostages, and to reject FARC
demands to exchange hostages for jailed rebels.
Another high-risk activity being performed by US contractors here
is fumigating coca crops. Since they are often forced to pilot
low-flying missions over heavy guerrilla territory, the planes are
frequent targets of FARC rebels who earn substantial money from the
drug trade. Over the past year, US officials have said that spray
planes, required to be trailed by search-and-rescue helicopters,
have been fired at by rebels 70 times.
In March, a DynCorp plane piloted by an American contractor flew
into a mountainside in the southern province of Narino, apparently
due to mechanical failure rather than rebel gunfire, bringing the
death toll of Americans in Colombia to five in 2003.
And just last week, another spray plane crashed, this time as a
result of gunfire from unidentified assailants. But the American
contractor pilot was promptly rescued by the search-and-rescue
contingent.
