Afghanistan • In December 2009, the
Congressional Research Service, which provides background information to members of the
United States Congress, announced that the deployment of 30,000 extra US troops into Afghanistan could be accompanied by a surge of "26,000 to 56,000" contractors. This would expand the presence of personnel from the US private sector in Afghanistan "to anywhere from 130,000 to 160,000." The CRS study said that contractors made up 69 percent of the Pentagon's personnel in Afghanistan in December 2008, a proportion that "apparently represented the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by the Defense Department in any conflict in the history of the United States." In September 2008, their presence had dropped to 62 percent, and the US military troop strength increased modestly. • Also in December 2009, a
US House of Representatives oversight subcommittee stated that it had begun a wide-ranging investigation into allegations that American
private security companies that were hired to protect Defense Department convoys in Afghanistan would be paying off warlords and the
Taliban to ensure safe passage. That would mean that the United States unintentionally and indirectly engaged in a protection racket and might be indirectly funding the very insurgents it is trying to fight. A preliminary inquiry determined that the allegations warranted a deeper inquiry and focused initially on eight trucking companies that share a $2.2 billion Defense Department contract to carry goods and material from main supply points inside Afghanistan (primarily
Bagram air base) to more than 100
forward operating bases and other military facilities in the country.
Africa contractors providing security for
President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadéra • In 1994 and 1995, the South African-based PMC
Executive Outcomes was involved in two military actions in Africa. In the first conflict, Executive Outcomes fought on behalf of the Angolan government against
UNITA after a UN-brokered peace settlement broke down. In the second action, Executive Outcomes was tasked with containing a guerrilla movement in
Sierra Leone, the
Revolutionary United Front. Both missions involved personnel from the firm training four to five thousand combat personnel for the Angolan government and retaking control of the diamond fields and forming a negotiated peace in Sierra Leone. • In 2000,
ABC Television's international affairs program
Foreign Correspondent broadcast a special report, "Sierra Leone: Soldiers of Fortune", focusing on the exploits of South African pilot
Neall Ellis and his
Mi-24 Hind gunship. The report also investigated the failures of the UN Peacekeeping Force and the involvement of mercenaries/private military contractors in providing vital support to UN operations and British military Special Operations in Sierra Leone in 1999–2000. • In mid-May 2006, police in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo arrested 32 alleged mercenaries of different nationalities: 19 from
South Africa, 10 from
Nigeria and three from the
United States. Half of them worked for the South African company
Omega Security Solutions, and the Americans worked for
AQMI Strategy Corp. The men were accused of plotting to overthrow the government, but charges were not pressed. The men were deported to their home countries. • Due to strain of
United States Armed Forces, the
US State Department and
The Pentagon have also outsourced the expanded military training in Africa to three companies:
Military Professional Resources Inc., DFI International, and Logicon (now owned by
Northrop Grumman). • The Central African-based park ranger organization African Wildlife Defence Force contracts former servicemen and law enforcement personnel to protect national parks and private game ranches in Africa. Candidates must undergo additional retraining to become park rangers. They are also referred to as Private Ranger Contractors or PRC. • According to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), since 2017, the Russian-based PMC, Wagner Group, has been operating continuously in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, as well as in other African countries. Under the guise of helping governments defeat violent insurgencies or fight Islamic extremist movements, the Russian Wagner Group is believed by several US and African government sources to be responsible for significant
crimes against humanity. It is reported that hundreds of contractors from the Russian PMC enter these countries each year. The Wagner Group has been accused of extreme violence against African civilians and human rights violations by the US State Department and most European governments. • In the mid-2000s, a group of self-proclaimed former ANC
freedom fighters, known as the TRAKboys, began to emerge in fringe political circles within Johannesburg and Cape Town. They gained national attention in South Africa when they began calling upon leaders to demand an investigation by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development into the foreign and domestic activities of Executive Outcomes. Failed assassination attempts on several high-profile members of the TRAKboys, such as former Cape Town-based manufacturing tycoon, Dylan4K, have led to speculation, conspiracy theories and public outrage directed towards Apartheid-era, Afrikaner-owned PMCs operating in southern Africa.
Balkans • In 1995, both Croatia and Bosnia hired
Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI) to equip, train, and professionalize their armed forces. • In 1999, an incident involving
DynCorp in
Bosnia was followed by a
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit being filed against DynCorp employees stationed in Bosnia. It alleged that "employees and supervisors from DynCorp were engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior and were illegally purchasing women, weapons, forged passports and participating in other immoral acts."
Iraq of
Baghdad In December 2006, there were estimated to be at least 100,000 contractors working directly for the
United States Department of Defense in
Iraq which was a tenfold increase in the use of private contractors for military operations since the
Persian Gulf War, just over a decade earlier. The prevalence of PMCs led to the foundation of
trade group the
Private Security Company Association of Iraq. In Iraq, the issue of
accountability, especially in the case of contractors carrying weapons, was a sensitive one. Iraqi laws do not hold over contractors. On 5 December 2005, US
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld justified the use of PMCs in Iraq on the basis that they were cost effective and useful on the ground. He also affirmed that they were not subject to the
Uniform Code of Military Justice. Two days before he left Iraq,
L. Paul Bremer signed "
Order 17" giving all Americans associated with the
CPA and the American government immunity from Iraqi law. A July 2007 report from the American
Congressional Research Service indicates that the Iraqi government still had no authority over private security firms contracted by the US government. In 2007, the
Uniform Code of Military Justice was amended to allow for prosecution of
military contractors who are deployed in a "
declared war or a contingency operation." After the
withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, the
US State Department is reportedly planning to more than double the number of its private security guards, up to as many as 7,000. Defending five fortified compounds across the country, the security contractors would operate radars to warn of enemy rocket attacks, search for roadside bombs, fly reconnaissance
drones and even staff quick reaction forces to aid civilians in distress. Its helicopter fleet, which will be piloted by contractors, will grow from 17 to 29. PMCs supplied support to US military bases throughout the
Persian Gulf, from operating mess halls to providing security. They supplied armed guards at a US Army base in
Qatar, and they used live ammunition to train soldiers at Camp Doha in
Kuwait. They maintained an array of weapons systems vital to the invasion of Iraq. They also provided bodyguards for VIPs, guard installations, and escort supply convoys from Kuwait. All these resources were called upon constantly. although none have faced prosecution unlike US military personnel. The video has been linked unofficially to
Aegis Defence Services. According to the posters, the man who is seen shooting vehicles on this video in Iraq was a South African employee of Aegis Victory team named Danny Heydenreycher. He served in the British military for six years. After the incident, the regional director for Victory ROC tried to fire Heydenreycher, but the team threatened to resign if he did. Aegis, the US Army, and the US State Department each conducted a formal inquiry into the issue. The Army determined that there was no "probable cause to believe that a crime was committed." • On September 17, 2007, the Iraqi government announced that it was revoking the license of the American security firm
Blackwater USA over the firm's involvement in the deaths of seventeen Iraqis in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade. The company was allowed to continue to operate in Iraq until January 2009 when the
US–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement took effect. Blackwater was one of the most high-profile firms operating in Iraq, with around 1,000 employees as well as a fleet of helicopters in the country. In 2014, four Blackwater employees were tried and convicted in US federal court over the incident; one of murder, and the other three of manslaughter and firearms charges. • On March 12, 2017,
Sallyport Global fired two investigators who alleged sex trafficking, alcohol smuggling, and security lapses by Sallyport employees at
Balad Air Base in Iraq.
Middle East • On March 27, 2006,
J. Cofer Black, the vice chairman of
Blackwater USA, announced to attendees of a special operations exhibition in
Jordan that his company could now provide a
brigade-size force for
low-intensity conflicts. According to Black, "There is clear potential to conduct security operations at a fraction of the cost of NATO operations." Those comments were later denied. In March 2024,
Intelligence Online reported that an ad was being circulated by former French special forces soldiers for around 3000–4000 foreign recruits. The ad was backed by Abu Dhabi-based Manar Military Company (MMC), which is run by a former French special forces officer, and is financially linked to a politically influential and wealthy Abu Dhabi family. The ad suggested that the UAE aimed to establish an elite foreign legion. Despite MMC claiming that the project was canceled and the ad was disinformation, experts said an Emirati foreign legion could be real. Since 2009, the UAE had been utilizing PMSCs, initially with
Erik Prince. Investigations also revealed the UAE's involvement in hiring mercenaries for assassinations in Yemen and for supporting the Wagner Group.
Latin America • In 2006, a US congressional report listed a number of PMCs and other enterprises that have signed contracts to carry out anti-narcotics operations and related activities as part of
Plan Colombia.
DynCorp was among those contracted by the State Department, and others signed contracts with the Defense Department. Other companies from different countries, including
Israel, have also signed contracts with the Colombian Defense Ministry to carry out security or military activities. Several other mercenary groups have been in evidence, such as
Redut, the ministerial-affiliated
Patriot group, as well as dozens of other formations. According to one Dutch study, it was estimated that no more than approximately 35,000 operators of private military and security companies ever participated in combat in the
Russo-Ukrainian War as of 2024.
Yemen • Since 2015, the
United Arab Emirates hired an estimated 1,800
Latin American contractors and 400 Eritrean troops for training and combat to support the
Yemeni government's efforts against the
Houthi rebels during the
Yemeni Civil War.
China • Contractors from the
Hong Kong-incorporated
Frontier Services Group (FSG) like
Erik Prince have established close ties with Chinese state-owned firms since 2014 by providing security, logistics, and aviation for Chinese companies in dozens of countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe in connection with China's
Belt and Road Initiative. • In November 2018, FSG or its founder, incorporated a subsidiary in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo with "a mandate to extract minerals and timber and conduct financial operations." with one of the largest pools of
foreign assets in the world. • In February 2019, FSG signed a preliminary deal with the Chinese government to establish a training base in
Kashgar,
Xinjiang.
Russia The
Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993, and entered into force on 25 December 1993. Article 13.5 reads: "The establishment and activities of public associations whose goals and activities are aimed at the forcible changing of the basis of the constitutional order and at violating the integrity of the Russian Federation, at undermining its security, at creating armed units, and at instigating social, racial, national and religious strife shall be prohibited." In addition, it has been illegal since at least the 1996 edition under Article 359 of the
Russian criminal code to recruit, train or finance a mercenary. Also the use of him in an armed conflict or hostilities shall be punished. The existence of Russian PMCs seems to go as far back as 2011, when the
Syrian Civil War kicked off and violent unrest was felt in
Libya before
Muammar Gaddafi was eliminated in October. Russians had big investments in both of these countries. although owners of Russian PMCs have claimed that because Russia inherited its legal system from the
Byzantine Empire, anything that is not explicitly prohibited is allowed. The Syrian gains of
ISIS in 2012 caused the Russian contingent to hire PMCs from the
Moran Security Group (MSG) headed by
Alexey Badikov, Meanwhile, 100 of the 267 men hired in spring 2013 by Slavonic Corps perished in October 2013 in a firefight with
ISIS. Out of the ashes of the Slavonic Corps was born the
Wagner Group. Two recruiters for the Slavonic Corps were ultimately jailed in October 2014 for their violation of Article 359. They faced up to eight years imprisonment but were convicted for three. Regular squad members were reportedly unpaid and faced no prosecution in Russia. The organisation Molfar has investigated 37 private military companies in Russia, and found that all of them are or have been connected to Kremlin. Most of them are also funded by Kremlin. More than half of them are participating in the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In total, they have activities in 34 different countries. Russian PMCs are involved in oil and mining operations in 19 countries in Africa. ==Other miscellany==