Iraq turns into bonanza for private security firms

[Barrett808]

Iraq turns into bonanza for private security firms
By Sam Dagher in Baghdad
Sunday, 28 December , 2003, 20:56

His steely blue eyes scan the lobby of one of Baghdad's fortress-like hotels, his speech is fast and agitated, peppered with words like "discipline" and "assessment" and he has nothing but contempt for his Iraqi counterparts.

He is a member of a burgeoning and shadowy army of western private security advisors and guards charged with protecting civilian coalition members, private contractors, Iraq's interim Governing Council elite and the country's vital oil infrastructure.

"Clients are looking for the maturity of soldiers that have been in intense security situations and are not going to jump out and start shooting right away," said the British security advisor on condition of anonymity.

...

An advertisement posted on the Internet by DynCorp International, which was hired by the US State Department to train Iraqi police, offers senior advisors 153,600 dollars for a one-year stint in Iraq. All applicants must have at least five years experience as civilian law enforcement or corrections officers.

(more)

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13346967

Good old DynCorp and Pug Winokur, late of the Enron board...

[cosmicdot]

1. another sole-source procurement?

wonder what this contract type is? no cap/limit cost-plus-'fees'?

is this 'reconstruction' based on a central plan? are the efforts of Halliburton, Bechtel, DynCorp et al being coordinated by a master Statement of Work written by gosh-who-knows, approved by whom?

is this 'reconstruction' using the opportunity to build a 21st century infrastructure 2nd to none?

is this 'reconstruction' building a police state, only so it can be destroyed and rebuilt again??

does anyone know what's going on?

ol'Pug -- also, of Harvard Corporation which was involved with *'s Harken Oil Company ... what exactly does Pug's Capricorn Holdings Inc., do do ...

Herbert S. Winokur Jr.

Born in Columbus, Ga., Winokur holds three degrees from Harvard: A.B. '65 ('64), A.M. '65, and Ph.D. '67. His doctoral degree is in applied mathematics (decision and control theory). Since 1987, Winokur has been chairman and chief executive officer of the investment firm Capricorn Holdings Inc., based in Greenwich, Conn. He is also managing general partner of three affiliated limited partnerships, Capricorn Investors, L.P., I, II, and III. The portfolio investments encompass companies with revenues of more than $2 billion and having more than 20,000 employees.

Winokur has maintained close ties to Harvard over the years. A member of the Committee on University Resources since 1989, he has also served since 1995 as a member of the board of directors of the Harvard Management Company. He serves on the advisory committee of Harvard's Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative, as well as on the Technology and Education Planning Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the Committee to Visit the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and previously served on the FAS Planning Committee for Faculty Recruitment and Development. Co-chair of reunion fundraising efforts for the Class of 1965, he is a member of the New York Major Gifts Steering Committee.

An active board member in both the nonprofit and for-profit worlds, Winokur is an honorary director of the UCLA Medical Center, a former trustee of the Greenwich Academy, and a former co-chair of the New York Historical Society. He is on the board of Second Stage Theatre and until recently served on the board of Project 180, an organization that facilitates the restructuring of nonprofit institutions. He is a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Council, and he chaired the search for the Center's current director. His present and past corporate directorships span a wide range of industries, including information technology, energy, water management, and commercial real estate finance.

Before becoming chairman and CEO of Capricorn Holdings, Winokur served as senior executive vice president of the Penn Central Corp., and played a leading role in the corporation's major restructuring and cost reduction efforts. Previously, from 1974 to 1983, he held senior management positions at Pacific Holding Corp., Victor Palmieri and Co., and Pennsylvania Co., Penn Central's principal operating subsidiary.

From 1969 into the early 1970s, Winokur was co-founder and chairman of the Inner City Fund (later ICF Kaiser International), a management consulting firm specializing in policy planning for senior government and business officials, and which also focused on stimulating minority entrepreneurship. For the two preceding years, following the receipt of his Ph.D., he served as an officer in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2000/02.10/corp.html

[Fridays Child]

2. I believe the DynCorp contract was a sole source award, and...

...from what I've heard, they're scraping the bottom of the barrel to find people willing to go over there.