Contractors, media now under UCMJ
According to Defensetech.org, a little known line of legislation was inserted in a spending bill that required contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan (and wherever else we have them) to fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Funny thing is, the legislation also included media embeds! According to the story…
Previously, contractors would only fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, better known as the court martial system, if Congress declared war. This is something that has not happened in over 65 years and out of sorts with the most likely operations in the 21st century. The result is that whenever our military officers came across episodes of suspected contractor crimes in missions like Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, or Afghanistan, they had no tools to resolve them. As long as Congress had not formally declared war, civilians — even those working for the US armed forces, carrying out military missions in a conflict zone — fell outside their jurisdiction. The military’s relationship with the contractor was, well, merely contractual. At most, the local officer in charge could request to the employing firm that the individual be demoted or fired. If he thought a felony occurred, the officer might be able to report them on to civilian authorities.
I can’t argue with this analysis. At the FOB I was working security at, the most we could really do with a contractor - any contractor - was to kick him off the FOB and have him banned in the identification system, so he couldn’t work in Iraq again. Fortunately, the worst I personally had to deal with was some illicit drug sales and some simple assaults. If there had been something big - like a rape or murder - I’m not sure what recourse we would have had.
Now, the left is crowing about this, focusing on private military corporations - their favorite eeeevil target. But this also includes all of the contract truck drivers, mess hall workers, linguists, etc. who never touch a weapon while in Iraq. In fact, the eeevil KBR personnel aren’t allowed to carry weapons at all.
As I’ve said before, I really don’t mind the contract security guys, or all the other civilians working in Iraq. Hey, the opportunity is there for a good paying job and I can’t fault them for taking some risk for the pay check. Hell, if I didn’t have so many years left until my own retirement, I’d be doing it myself.
However, I can see some real issues with this new law. What about the Bangladeshi mess hall worker, subcontractor of a subcontractor, who is caught with drugs. That’s an offense under UCMJ. Will a U.S. Army JAG prosecute him? Will we be locking him up in U.S. military detention facilities? Or, will we just say “screw it” and kick him out of the country?
How about the media embed from, say, the United Kingdom, who is caught stealing? What will happen to him? Same story, prosecuted by a U.S. court martial and thrown in a military prison?
It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
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