ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES WHY BLACKWATER? The Motives of the USA to De ploy Private Military Companies Master thesis “International Public Management and Policy”, M.Sc. Student: Bettina Hornbach, student number 369007 Supervisors: Mr. Voûte and Prof. Dr. Colijn Rotterdam, 01.08.2013 Wordcount: 31.970 Content Abbreviations List of Figures Abstract 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Literature Overview and Background Information ....................................................................... 3 2.1. Sovereignty ................................................................................................................................ 3 2.2. Private Military Companies ....................................................................................................... 6 2.2.1. Use of Force .................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.2. The Unaccountability of Private Military Companies .................................................... 8 3. The United States, Private Military Companies and the War on Terror ..................................... 11 3.1. The United States and Private Military Companies ................................................................. 11 3.2. The War on Terror and Private Military Companies ............................................................... 14 3.2.1 Afghanistan .................................................................................................................... 15 3.2.2 Iraq ................................................................................................................................. 16 3.3. Research Question(s) ............................................................................................................... 18 4. Research Design and Methodology ............................................................................................ 19 4.1. Research Design: Causal-Process Tracing ............................................................................... 19 4.2. Research Methodology: Observation ....................................................................................... 22 4.3. Reliability and Validity ............................................................................................................ 23 4.3.1. Reliability ...................................................................................................................... 23 4.3.2. Validity ......................................................................................................................... 23 4.3.3. Summary ....................................................................................................................... 23 5. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................................... 24 5.1. The International Architecture ................................................................................................. 24 5.2. Security Governance ................................................................................................................ 26 5.3. Norms and Ethics ..................................................................................................................... 29 5.4. Representation of Interests ....................................................................................................... 31 5.4.1. Summary ....................................................................................................................... 32 5.5. Hypotheses ............................................................................................................................... 33 5.6. Operationalization according to Causal-Process Tracing ........................................................ 35 5.7 Relevance of the Research ........................................................................................................ 36 5.7.1. Theoretical Relevance ................................................................................................... 36 5.7.2. Social Relevance ........................................................................................................... 36 6. The Search for Causal Conditions .............................................................................................. 38 6.1. The Storyline ............................................................................................................................ 38 6.1.1. Afghanistan ................................................................................................................... 39 6.1.2. Iraq ................................................................................................................................ 40 6.1.3. The Perception of Sovereignty ...................................................................................... 41 6.2. Smoking Guns and Confessions .............................................................................................. 44 6.2.1. Afghanistan ................................................................................................................... 44 6.2.2. Iraq ................................................................................................................................ 47 6.2.3. Summary ....................................................................................................................... 51 6.3. Discussion and Answers to the Question ................................................................................. 53 7. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 59 Literature Appendices Appendix I: The War on Terror and the United States ...................................................................... i Appendix II: The Development of Blackwater ................................................................................ iii Appendix III: Task Orders for the Security Service Contract of the DS (2004) .............................. iv Appendix IV: Tasks Orders of the WPPS II Contract (2005) .......................................................... iv Appendix V: Excerpts of the Hearing about Contracting in Counterinsurgency .............................. v Appendix VI: Questioning of Prince ............................................................................................... vi Appendix VII: Conversation in the Course of the Hearing about Contracting in Counterinsurgency of Chairman Waxman, Congressman Davis and founder and CEO of Blackwater Prince .................. viii Abbreviations ACA…………... Arms Control Act AEI…………… American Enterprise Institute ATS…………… Alien Tort Statute CIA…………… Central Intelligence Agency CNTPO…….… Counter Narco-Terrorism Program Office CPA…………... Coalition Provisional Authority CPT…………… Causal-Process Tracing DCAF………… Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces DoD…………... US Department of Defense DS…………….. US Department of State FBI …………… Federal Bureau of Investigation GAO………….. Government Accountability Office GCS…………... Global Civil Society ICRC………….. International Committee of the Red Cross IR……………... International Relations ISAF………….. International Security Assistance Force ISOA………….. International Stability Operations Association ITAR………….. International Traffic in Arms Regulations MEJA ……….... Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act MIC…………… Military-Industrial Complex NATO………… North Atlantic Treaty Organisation OEF…………… Operation Enduring Freedom OIF……………. Operation Iraqi Freedom PMC(s).………. Private Military Company(-ies) PMF(s)………... Private Military Firm(s) PMSC(s)……… Private Military and Security Company(-ies) PNAC………… Project for a New American Century PSC(s)………… Private Security Company(-ies) PSS…………… Protective Security Specialists R&D………….. Research and Development SOFA…………. Status of Force Agreement SOSS………….. Society of Sovereign States UCMJ………… Uniform Code of Military Justice UN / UNO…….. United Nations / United Nations Organisation US / USA…… United States / United States of America US CENTCOM. United States Central Command WMDs…...…… Weapons of Mass Destruction . WoT…………... War on Terror WPPS …............ Worldwide Personal Protective Services List of Figures Page Figure 1: US Department of Defence armed Private Security Contractor Personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan……………………………………………………………………... 14 Figure 2: Number of US troops and PMCs in Afghanistan, contracted by the Department of Defence………………………………………………………………………………… 15 Figure 3: Number of US Troops and PMCs in Iraq, contracted by the Department of Defence……………………………………………………………………………………. 16 Figure 4: Causal-Process Tracing………………………………………………………. 21 Figure 5: Causal pathway towards the deployment of Blackwater.........................………. 58 Source of the picture on the cover page: http://www.blackwaterusa.com/skin/frontend/ultimo/blackwaterusa/images/logo. pnghttp://www.blackwaterusa.com/skin/frontend/ultimo/blackwaterusa/images/logo.png , retrieved 16/6/2013 Abstract Nowadays, states increasingly hire Private Military Companies to assume security services and military tasks. However, as there is no distinct legal framework to govern such companies, their deployment undermines the state monopoly on force which