The invisible jackboot of the market

Intelligence, Inc.
CorpWatch

While military contracting for construction or weapons manufacturing is nothing new, the privatization of intelligence instruction is a new and rapidly expanding sector that came about less than four years ago. One estimate in Mother Jones magazine, compiled from interviews with military experts, suggests that as much 50 percent of the $40 billion given annually to the 15 intelligence agencies in the United States is now spent on private contractors.

Part of the problem with hiring private contractors, [former CIA officer, Bob] Baer believes, is the lack of checks and balances. "Now if you ask a private company to produce a report on Afghan opium production, they will produce the report, but it might not be the truth. If you ask a CIA nitwit to write the report, he will care about getting it right, although he will probably get it wrong. But at least his motivation is
correct."

On a related topic, also see Soldiers of Good Fortune, Warriors for hire in Iraq, The Rising Corporate Military Monster, Mercenary Boom in Iraq Creates Tension at Home and Abroad and Contractors Implicated in Prison Abuse Remain on the Job. To avoid dyspepsia after all that, see Privatizing the Military.