DC Bureau - Investigative Journalism, Environmental News, and National Security Stories That Matter

A National Security News Service investigation shows that of the numerous security contractors in Iraq, several are a new breed of CIA front companies that are staffed by Agency employees on leave and run under subcontracts by trusted CIA private contractors. Suspension of normal contracting rules in wartime has allowed a curious mixture of using private and public employees. One CIA officer who was a veteran of the CIA’s proprietary operations in the 1960s, 70s and 80s has been brought back to run such operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. He tells NSNS: “The purpose is to keep Congress and the press from finding out specifics about prisoner interrogation and treatment.”