State Department rebuked over lack of Oversight in Use of Mercenary Contractors

State Department rebuked over lack of Oversight in Use of Mercenary Contractors « SlowDecline’s Weblog reveals an extraordinary state of affairs in the undermanned State Dept. According to this blog entry, the budget for state dept employees stretches to 17 people to oversee the entire professional military spend for mercenaries or "professional soldiers" working for DynCorp, Blackwater and the like - a 4 billion dollar overspend.

What is truly disturbing is this:

"There are also expenditures by another department called the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Their contracts worth more than $2.2 billion have gone to training police and the war on drugs. These funds have primarily gone to Iraq, Latin America and Afghanistan (Afghanistan supplies 90% of the world’s heroin production and their production has mushroomed beyond expectations since the US invasion). Approximately 94% of the funds dispersed by the bureau have gone to DynCorp."

So, who is DynCorp? According to their website: DynCorp International is a multifaceted, global enterprise that provides innovative solutions to the diverse technology and professional services needs of government and commercial industry worldwide.

Not so fast, the US State Dept has this to say about Dyncorp.

"A U.S. State Department audit of a Dyncorp International (NYSE:DCP) LLC contract under the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund released Tuesday found that investigators were unable to determine what the company had provided under the contract or how $1.2 billion in funds were spent."

Hmm. Perhaps there is a bit of a problem in the way things are being done over at DynCorp. The Decider is not going to become The Accounts Clerk and sort this mess out. That's Dick's Dept.

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