State Department Seeks Shooters for Iraq, A'stan
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http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/0...departmen.htmlThe State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security is looking to bolster its ranks with more bodyguards to serve in high-threat areas like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Bureau yesterday posted a job ad for a new position, Security Protective Specialist. According to the help-wanted listing, these specialists will work at high-threat posts overseas, augmenting the force of Diplomatic Security special agents in protective details and motorcades.
Vacancies are available at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad; Iraq Regional Embassy Offices in Erbil, Al Hillah, Tallil and Basra; at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul; and at Consulate General in Jerusalem.
Diplomatic Security Special Agents are what's known as "Foreign Service specialists," and a job with the bureau is a career appointment. Security Protective Specialists will work on renewable one-year contracts; their positions will be "limited non-career appointments" that they can hold for a maximum of five years.
In effect, it looks like the State Department is supplementing its force of career security agents with a new crop of internal hires. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is a relatively small force that is stretched thin; in Iraq alone, they must oversee security for nearly 1,000 personnel involved in reconstruction efforts. Diplomatic security in high-threat areas has become heavily outsourced: In July 2005, State selected three companies - Blackwater, DynCorp and Triple Canopy -- to compete for task orders under the Worldwide Personal Protective Service (WPPS) II contract, worth a potential USD1.2 billion to each contractor over a period of five years; the main WPPS II task orders are in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel.
Outsourcing security has had serious consequences. Blackwater shooters escorting a diplomatic convoy in Baghdad were involved in the 2007 Nisour Square shootings; the company is now supposed to be barred from further work in Iraq. In many respects, the backlash against contractors was a mess of State Department's making. The military often grumbled that the zealous efforts of contracted security firms to "protect the principal" were at odds with sound counterinsurgency practice (i.e., not pissing off the local population); further complicating matters, State's convoys often did not coordinate their movements with the military's operations center in Baghdad.
After the Nisour Square incident, State moved to tighten oversight of its contractors, and ordered diplomatic security agents to ride along with Blackwater convoys. These new security specialists will fill a similar role. According to the job annnouncement, the new specialists "will work in tandem with DS Special Agents (SA) to ensure that a DS supervisor is always present and involved with every protective motorcade element. The SPS or SA may act as the Detail Leader and may supervise other DS or contractor personnel."
The job offer also opens the door to ex-contractors. The announcement states: "Persons with current or recent experience in PSD [personal security detail] operations, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, are encouraged to apply."
Base pay for a Security Protective Specialist would be $52,221 per year -- much less than the six-figure pay a U.S. operator for a company like Triple Canopy, DynCorp or Blackwater would expect, but that salary figure would not include overseas allowances and pay differentials. More importantly, a federal officer would presumably the full legal protection -- something that contractors in Iraq can no longer count on.
Apply here:
http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/getjob....ity+specialist
