Embassy guard scandal brews in Afghanistan

By Max Cacas
Reporter
FederalNewsRadio

New charges of shoddy management, lax contract oversight, and inappropriate behavior by security guards are being leveled against the firm that safeguards the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The charges come in a ten-page letter sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by the D.C. based Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

The letter and POGO's investigation are based on complaints the group has received from some of the 450 private security guards who protect the embassy, according to Danielle Brian, POGO's executive director.

"What we found," she told a briefing with reporters, "is an extraordinary amount of problems that amount to, in our minds, real concerns about the effectiveness of the security at the agency."

The State Department contract is with Armor Group North America, an owned-subsidiary of Wackenhut Services, Incorporated. It's worth between 180 and 200 million dollars. Brian says one major concern is that the private guard force is being stretched to the limit, raising legitimate claims about security.

POGO's investigation found sleep-deprived guards regularly logging 14-hour days, language barriers that impair critical communications, and a failure by the State Department to hold the contractor accountable. Guards have also complained of having their leave forcibly canceled by supervisors, in order to cover up severe staffing shortages. POGO says its analysis showed almost 100% turnover among the security guard staff.

Brian also says complaints they have received from guards describe what is called a "Lord of the Flies" environment among the guards, who live at a separate compound known as "Camp Sullivan", several miles away from the main U.S. Embassy complex in Kabul. The reference is to the 1954 novel by William Golding about a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on a desert island and try, but fail, to govern themselves in a chaotic setting.

One e-mail from a guard describes lurid conditions at Camp Sullivan. The message described scenes of abuse including guards and supervisors, and "threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this activity."

Photographs show guards and supervisors in various stages of nudity at parties that took place at the housing of other supervisors. POGO's Brian says some photos depict Afghan security guards working for Armor Group drinking alcohol at these parties, and exhibiting behavior considered insulting in the Muslim culture. Multiple guards say these conditions have created a "climate of fear and coercion."

Those who refuse to participate are often ridiculed, humiliated or even fired, they contended.

ArmorGroup's management is aware of the conditions but has not stopped it or disciplined those responsible, the letter says. Two supervisors alleged to be the worst offenders have been allowed to resign and may now be working on other U.S. contracts, the group said.

POGO's Brian says the State Department has known about the problems with the Armor Group contract for over two years.

It cites a July 2007 warning from the department to ArmorGroup that detailed more than a dozen performance deficiencies, including too few guards and armored vehicles. Another "cure notice" was sent less than a year later, raising other problems and criticizing the contractor for failing to fix the prior ones.

In July 2008, however, the department extended the contract for another year, according to the notice. More problems surfaced and more warning notices followed.

Yet during a congressional hearing on the contract in June, State Department officials said the prior shortcomings had been remedied and security at the embassy is effective.

In July of this year, the contract was renewed again through 2010.

The new allegations might remind some of charges of inappropriate behavior leveled against the Blackwater private security firm, which had a State Department contract to protect VIPs at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. Iraqi civilians were killed several years ago when Blackwater security personnel opened fire at a busy Baghdad intersection.

POGO has recommended that the Pentagon, instead of the State Department, might provide more appropriate oversight of diplomatic security contractors, and urged that action be taken immediately to authorize such oversight. Defense Department officials, queried about this possibility during the Blackwater hearings, suggested that they are not sufficiently staffed to do this kind of work.

Federal News Radio contacted Armour Group North America, and its parent company, Wackenhut Services, Incorporated, neither of which would comment about the POGO report.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Tuesday that Clinton has been apprised of the allegations, and has asked the State Department Inspector General to examine the charges.

"These are very serious allegations," Kelly said, adding that the State Department has been talking to the contractor about "addressing deficiencies in their performance."

Sen. Claire McCaskill(D-MO), on Tuesday called on the State Department to open an investigation into the performance and management of the contract with ArmorGroup North America. McCaskill, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on contracting oversight, said the new evidence calls into question the company's ability to provide adequate security at a key facility.

In a letter to Patrick Kennedy, the undersecretary of state for management, McCaskill also demanded a slew of documents related to the contract, including any department reviews of alleged misconduct by ArmorGroup employees.

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Associated Press Writer Richard Lardner contributed to this report.

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