Along with the US Army in Syria “an Islamic state” (banned in Russia) It is fighting not only US troops, but also contractors from private intelligence companies - “spies for hire”, claims The Daily Beast.
“Apparently, this is the first time, when the Pentagon publicly acknowledged, that the so-called “private contractors” also play a role in the fight against ISIS in Syria. In addition, this is another sign of, that the US Army is taking a more active role in the fate of Syria, - writes in the article Kate Brennan, noticing, that daily in 5 o'clock in the evening the military department publishes “list of contracts worth over 7 million. dollars for that day”.
So, one contract message said, that the private intelligence company Six3 Intelligence Solutions, recently acquired by CACI International, received without tender a contract for the amount 10 million. dollars to provide the US Army “intelligence analysis services” in Germany, Italy and Syria. Wherein, as the newspaper notes, “intelligence analysis services” include a wide range of activities. Profile Six3 - biometric intelligence and identification of people, cyber intelligence and reconnaissance. The company works under a contract primarily with intelligence services., previously provided similar services in Afghanistan and Europe.
“Contractors don't just drive trucks and cook meals, but also engaged in intelligence activities, shoot and support special forces, — said in an interview with a former mercenary, and current professor at Georgetown University, Sean McFate. - Truth, so far there has been no mention of, that contract employees were sent to Syria along with American military personnel”.
Other Western experts point out, what, likely, Six3 is not the first company, who works in Syria. “The American mission in the SAR is extremely delicate and dangerous, almost all information about her is classified. As for Iraq, then there is the number of persons, working under contracts with the Pentagon, increased since last summer 1300 to 2500 human”, — writes The Daily Beast. According to McFate, the presence of contractors encourages “covert mission expansion”, as it allows the US administration to drop more people into certain countries, what is listed in her reports to the American people.
earlier it was reported, what, according to some, there are now more than a thousand Americans in Syria, excluding British, French and other NATO special forces and volunteers from different countries, who are going to fight ISIS on the side of the Syrian Kurds.
By the way, Recently, US President Barack Obama's special envoy Brett McGurk reported, that the President of the United States authorized the sending of more 3 thousand. American special forces in Syria, and satellite images appeared on the web, showing American facilities in the Kobani area in Syrian Kurdistan. On the first (on the territory of the Syrian-French cement plant “Lafarge”) headquarters, warehouse, etc.. the buildings, as well as AH-64 Apache helicopters, BlackHawk, CH-47 Chinook and Marine Corps V-22 Osprey convertiplanes. At the second object, 35 kilometers south of Kobani - airstrip, which was built with the participation of American engineers.
As activists of the volunteer organization Lions Of Rojava write, not only veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan go to Syria from America and Europe, but also adventurers, and sometimes outright criminals, trying to escape justice. However, if Western volunteers are mainly fighting on the side of the Syrian Kurds, who occasionally clash with Assad's army, but mostly fighting ISIS, then the countries of the Persian monarchies often recruit outright thugs, who travel to Syria “commit jihad”. As reported 10 August Iranian Fars News agency, citing a Syrian parliamentarian, Saudi authorities decided to support the opposition in the Aleppo region, send more there 10 thousand mercenaries and 95 tanks. experts note: Iranian media love to embellish reality, however, support for the opposition is really coming, and this is recognized even by such media, like the Financial Times. Recently, the publication published an article about help, provided by sponsors during the recent breaking of the blockade of Aleppo in the Ramoussa region.
But back to American private companies.. What kind “intelligence services” they can provide to the Pentagon and what is their role in the Syrian war?
“New generation war concepts (also known as hybrid wars or proxy wars), by American ideologues, include a combination of not only military and economic factors, but also diplomatic and information, - notes military expert Anatoly Nesmiyan (El Murid). - And often the military component, that is, direct hostilities, plays a minor role here. But just intelligence is the key point, and not necessarily in the usual sense of the word. Private intelligence companies like Stratfor and others play a significant role”.
If American Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI) developed the operation “storm” in Croatia in 1995 year, and PMC Blackwater (now Academi) guarded facilities in Iraq, now private intelligence corporations are becoming more and more active, whose employees monitor, including social networks. At all, the experience of recent wars shows, that with the right analysis and approach, information from there can often give more, than agents.
let us say, the Americans themselves wrote, that during the battle for Fallujah and recent events in Aleppo 70% they received information from the accounts of local militants, Syrians, civilians, and in real time. And since they have the opportunity to monitor social networks, so, there are some methods and mechanisms of analysis, software. At the present time, the services of private traders are cheaper than the maintenance of their own department. Kinda seems, that private firms have higher prices for services, than government agencies, But this is only at first glance. Americans love to count money. It will come as no surprise, if in five years the main flow of intelligence information will be supplied by private corporations, working under contract with the military and civilian departments.
As regards work in “field”, the number of private specialists involved in Iraq and Syria depends on the financial capabilities of the customer. Some time ago there was information, that the salary of an instructor in “hot spot” is 15 thousand. dollars a month. Respectively, if the locals have money, then they can hire as many operators as they want in a variety of specialties. As far as Syria is concerned, the, based on available information, in the two and a half months of the operation to storm Manbij, about 40 foreigners in the Kurdish-Arab coalition “Syrian Democratic Forces”. It's hard to say whether they are Americans or Europeans.. But, likely, I'm talking about instructors., since there are either advisers as part of the Kurdish detachments, or scouts under cover of volunteers. As far as, there are no mercenaries as such, but volunteers from America and Europe in the YPG Kurdish units are really fighting. As it appears, they come to Syria privately.
Research Fellow, Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Editor in Chief “Arms export” Andrey Frolov does not exclude, that the material of The Daily Beast is information stuffing, whose goal is not to tell the truth, and confuse the tracks.
“But if we assume, that the information provided in the publication is true, then the situation can be described as “bureaucrat games”.
Since the war in Afghanistan (from 2001 of the year), The Pentagon and the CIA are increasingly shifting responsibility to people, which are affiliated with departments, but at the same time they are not employees of law enforcement agencies. What for?
At first, it's such a bureaucratic trick: it seems that the staff in the ministry itself is being reduced, but people move to another company, which is not formally part of the ministry, but people work, continuing to receive salaries already under other schemes. Secondly, in case of any problems, the involvement of private traders does not create political risks: you can always say, that contractors from PMCs themselves chose such a risky job. Thirdly, perhaps, that employees, involved in, as stated in the post, "intelligence analysis" are not involved in any responsible work, and do the dirty work, freeing staff members, - sifting through information, preparing certificates, participate in the information war, etc.. d.
PMC, in the state of which there are many retired military and CIA officers, have been working closely with the Ministry of Defense for many years, but the involvement of analysts to carry out intelligence information is a new word in their cooperation. The only question is, whether these specialists sit in the field or work in “field”.
At all, in relation to the Syrian war, it is necessary to separate specialists from Western PMCs, mercenaries, acting on behalf of such private companies, volunteers and mercenaries, who are recruited by the Gulf countries to act in various opposition groups. They have, so to speak, completely different tasks and risk level.
“In the 70s and 80s, mercenaries were viewed as "dogs of war", often calling them criminals. This kind of activity was perceived by the entire political mainstream as extremely negative., but a lot has changed since then, - Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute for the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, notes. — During the war in Iraq, the United States actively used the services of PMCs, i.e, in fact, the same mercenaries, who are also recruited through some offices. They were engaged not only in the supply and security of infrastructure and individuals (At one time, the head of the Iraqi Interim Coalition Administration, Paul Bremer, was guarded by Blackwater employees), but often performed “dirty” work. for example, guarding and interrogating prisoners in an Iraqi prison “Abu Ghraib”. And “privateers” there were quite a few in Iraq: their total number at the height of the Iraqi war was comparable to the American military contingent.
Not surprising, that Americans are now using the services of PMCs in Syria, because it removes a lot of problems at once. for example, if another American soldier returns home in a closed coffin for burial at Arlington Military Cemetery, then this is an informational occasion for the opponents of the current government, to declare him incompetent and that, that it was drawn into a completely unnecessary war for the nation. If an employee of a private company dies, then his death, as though it may sound cynical, few people are interested, breakwater, the man knew what he was doing and he was paid good money for it. For these reasons, the private military business is actively developing. Furthermore, some of the largest PMCs have already become transnational corporations. Their specialists are actively involved in the fight against piracy, perform security functions and, respectively, carry out missions in “hot spots”.
Regarding Six3 Intelligence Solutions, it's hard to say, what functions do its employees perform in Syria and what are their sources of information. maybe, in some cases, the Pentagon considers, that when collecting data, contractors will follow the rules and subordination less, than active-duty American intelligence officers.
For reference
In its modern form, PMCs are not American, a British invention. AT 1967 David Stirling - the creator of the famous elite British special forces Special Air Service (SAS) - organized the first official private military company Watchguard International (WI), which included retired officers and sergeants of the SAS.
For Americans, PMCs have become extremely relevant after 11 September 2001 of the year, when the terrorist attack happened. Then the States understood, that they have a lot of gaps in various areas of defense, and that they need a huge number of specialists in various fields - in intelligence, computer security, protection, which are not formally within the competence of the state. After that, companies began to multiply like mushrooms.. Eventually, PMCs have occupied a serious niche in the field of global security. Now it's big business, which makes a lot of money, and tool, which helps to solve a lot of delicate tasks for the state, but not by his hands.
In the US, PMCs have the strongest lobby. These companies include retired politicians, generals, CIA officers, which help push through the interests of companies and get serious contracts. for example, Dick Cheney - Former Vice President of the United States, from 1995 by 2000 year was chairman of the board of directors and chief executive of Halliburton Co.. The concern's construction subsidiary is a private military contractor - Kellog, Brown & Root (KBR) received virtually all contracts for the logistics of the US Army.
