Sunday, August 18, 2013

State Department Signs On to Security Industry Standards

The 'no rules' ethos ended badly for both Blackwater and State


















You really should have some rules when you employ security guards and Blackwater-type protection contractors overseas. As the theme song for COPS has been asking for 25 years now:

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do when they work for you?

Well, one thing you might do when you hire bodyguards and such from private security companies is to require those companies to meet industry standards and model management practices.

The State Department's Office of the "Spokesperson" (to use her annoying gender-neutral title, which is not an improvement on "Spokeswoman" if you ask me) announced yesterday that State, and more specifically the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, will sign on to an international set of standards to govern its use of private security contractors.

On September 19th and 20th of this year, the Government of Switzerland will host the launch of the association to serve as a governance and oversight mechanism of the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers (ICoC). The United States has expressed its intention to join the Association as a founding member and will participate in the launch conference.

The Department of State recognizes and appreciates the progress made on the development of the ICoC and the pending establishment of an ICoC Association. As long as the ICoC process moves forward as expected and the association attracts significant industry participation, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) anticipates incorporating membership in the ICoC Association as a requirement in the bidding process for the successor contract to the Worldwide Protective Services (WPS) program. DS also anticipates that the successor contract to WPS will require demonstrated conformance with the ANSI PSC.1-2012 standard.


The International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers is here, and the American National Standards Institute equivalent requirements for private security company operations is here.

My opinion is that requiring Bad Boyz Inc to sign on to these standards will do no harm. It's inevitable anyway, since all large security providers will surely sign on whether DS requires them to or not. Industrial codes of conduct and ANSI standards are primarily a device for businesses to lower their liability, and fear of liability absolutely rules private industry. (Not the public sector, though, at least not yet; but that will change the day a jury awards a U.S. government employee damages based on the USG's negligent failure to provide a safe working environment.)

Will it do any actual good? Maybe not, but that might not matter a lot. The big problems State had with Blackwater, et al, in the past seem to have been solved when it moved most of the contract protection specialists in-house by making them personal service contractors, and thereby easier to manage and discipline. Would that it had done that sooner.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good post TSB. I'd like to think the massacre at Ft. Hood (I mean the work place violence) will be a starting place toward that. They used to stack shipping containers 3 high when Odierno came to address the troops.. also Cheney and Bush because they thought the threat was the troops shooting the brass.
The real threat was from the guys with PTSD and family problems when they came back from liberation of Iraq. gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: What a Monday!! The hits just keep on coming. Thanks Snowden!! for the new openness!! gwb

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-19/cia-finally-admits-it-behind-irans-1953-coup

Anonymous said...

State has standards?? Diplopundit has gone on a great 'Day of Rage' today and Robert Fisk did some great reporting on that so called
'prison break massacre' in Cairo.
gwb

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/egypt-crisis-a-national-tragedy-plays-out-at-cairos-stinking-mortuary-8775128.html

TSB said...

GWB: The Iranian coup (operation Ajax) has been out in the open for many years. The official CIA history was released maybe 10 years ago and I'm sure the National Security Archives has it. Also, Kermit Roosevelt wrote a first-hand book about it ("Countercoup") maybe 20 years ago. Interesting complication - the book was withdrawn by the publisher after a lawsuit by British Petroleum since Roosevelt attributed to them (or to their predecessor company, Anglo-Iranian) the actions of the British government. The Anglophile Roosevelt misattributed because, apparently, he was more concerned about British security than CIA security when he wrote his book.

Anonymous said...

Yes TSB; It's true that a diplomatic historian like you knows that (and the wikileaks stuff as well). So it was declassified 2 yrs ago. It's like Limbaugh says...sort of.. 'We're all low information voters now!'gwb

TSB said...

GWB: Most people really don't care about things that happened before they were born, or things that happened overseas. But it helps to be aware of Operation Ajax if you want to understand Iranian perceptions of the USA. To them, it happened just yesterday, and they filter our actions toward the Arab Spring through their memories of how we reacted when Iran had a democracy back in the 1950s.

James said...

Yes, the CIA Iranian coup has been known for quite awhile and alot of older Iranian certainly remember. Of course we had to top it off with the Shah and misjudging the Khomenites. You're right TSB about memory, which the Mullah's big problem. Most Iranians are young and all that was to them a long time ago. All they feel is the weight of the Mullahs.

Anonymous said...

TSB: Diplopundit is finds the new State 'speeksperson' way to 'chirpy' for a serious subject.
I think she doesn't understand that job is to re-write history as it unfolds. Those questions they are asking are about yesterday's truth which have 'paradigm-shifted'
into today's truth. This saves Sec.
Kerry a lot of work and let's him focus on creating tomorrow's policy.... which will be just a perfect as yesterdays; just different. gwb

James said...

"TSB: Diplopundit is finds the new State 'speeksperson' way to 'chirpy' for a serious subject.
I think she doesn't understand that job is to re-write history as it unfolds. Those questions they are asking are about yesterday's truth which have 'paradigm-shifted'
into today's truth. This saves Sec.
Kerry a lot of work and let's him focus on creating tomorrow's policy.... which will be just a perfect as yesterdays; just different. gwb"

Heh!

Anonymous said...

James: Today I just saw 2 sentences of the State Daily Brief: The red headed spokesperson said "Today we will not talk about anything RED! not my hair, not red lines... NOTHING!! Now I will (not?) answer your questions." Its just the daily public relations from the information ministry. A cartoon robot could do it. gwb

Anonymous said...

The obvious purpose of that propaganda is to deter discussion of this. Was it 200 dead or 1100 dead or as Hillary likes to say...
What's the difference? gwb

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/8/21/syrian-oppositionallegeschemicalweaponattack.html191

TSB said...

James: the red headed spokeswoman (that should be her official title!) came from the White House staff. Word is she's doing OJT preparing the take over the White House spokesman's job. I agree with you; she isn't ready for prime time.

Anonymous said...

TSB: Here too is someone with a new title and someone who cares what happened before she was born!
CHELSEA IS A WOMAN!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-08-22/bradley-manning-bombshell-announces-he-female-named-chelsea

I think that is a good move to get transferred to the woman's facility
and put in for the gender change procedures. Then partner up with a trans-gender type who can get full military benefits and in 5-7 yrs when someone gets elected on prosecuting war crimes she will get pardoned as a hero. gwb

TSB said...

Manning in a woman's prison? Well, there is one certain way for a prison to determine a new inmates's gender. You let them pick out their own prison jump suit from one of two racks; all the jumpsuits are orange and identical in every way, except one rack is marked "XL" and the other is marked "petite."

James said...

"Today we will not talk about anything RED! not my hair, not red lines... NOTHING!! Now I will (not?) answer your questions."

Heh!