Military Outsourcing

==Background==
There is a trend and perhaps a philosophy concerning the privatization of our military.
Private armies are soaking up billions (the
industry went to like $100 B/year in about a decade), are quite possibly
overcharging (due to cost plus contracts) and are largely unregulated.
These contractors are quite different from soldiers...they may both have
guns, but the contractors are not bound by military law, and may have no
direct supervision, and little to no :category:accountability.
The outsourcing of the potato-peeling and toilet
scrubbing can be easily understood and justified. That could very well improve quality and decrease costs.
But they are also outsourcing the maintenance of military hardware and
even actual combat - to the extreme degree that our military people
*cannot* maintain and fix their own equipment, creating a lasting
dependency.
Couple this dependency with huge and intense lobbying efforts and
campaign contributions...one can see how the industry could push for,
and possibly get, more militarily-oriented policy. Iran, anyone?
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* Military Outsourcing-plank-LP
==Links==
===Web===
* http://web.archive.org/web/20050304112724/http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/fellows/singer20050301.htm
* http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_22/b3885116.htm
* http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/05/11/private/index.html
category: accountability