Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry by P. W. Singer. Cornell Studies in Security Affairs, Cornell University Press (http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu), Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850, 2003, 352 pages, $39.95 (hardcover).
In the past 10 years, in the aftermath of the Cold War, military forces and military budgets have become smaller. The superpower standoff has disappeared, allowing former client states to engage in internal and external wars with impunity. Wars are more frequent, and those who would intervene have less capacity to do so. Militaries are also trying to maximize tooth and minimize tail. Filling all the gaps are corporate warriors, private armies willing to go anywhere and do almost anything—for a price.
P. W. Singer traces the history of mercenaries and other private forces, noting that the tradition is as old as civilization—beginning in Ur thousands of years ago. Given that the “modern” national state military dates back only 200 years, the privatized military industry
(PMI) is not the departure from tradition that it first seems. But PMIs are not purely mercenaries. They come in three general types: providers, consultants, and support services. Executive Outcomes was a provider (i.e., a combat force). Consultants are more accurately designated military advisors and trainers; for example, Military Professional Resources Incorporated
(MPRI), a spin-off from the Lockheed-Loral merger, built the Croat army. A representative support PMI is Brown & Root Services, the Halliburton subsidiary that is currently a major contract rebuilder in Iraq.
PMIs are problematic. For one thing, the commander loses disciplinary control over contract employees; the penalty for breach of contract differs greatly from that for being absent without leave. For another, the fact that these companies generally have cost-plus contracts and proprietary information makes it hard to determine whether or not the PMI is really providing the right service. In the worst case, governments can lose the ability to handle their own defense. Furthermore, there is reason to worry about the implications for nation-states in a world of extremely well armed global corporations.
Corporate Warriors breaks new ground as the first serious study of a decade-old phenomenon that evolves with each merger and absorption of the PMI into a global conglomerate. It should be required reading for military professionals and anyone else concerned about the unfolding of our American experiment in civilian control of the military and the state control of force.
John H. Barnhill
Tinker AFB, Oklahoma
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.
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