To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Congress: Don't Hide the Count of Pentagon Contractors
Just Foreign Policy
Oppose any provision in the defense authorization bill that would reduce the transparency & accountability of the Pentagon's use of private contractors.
Why is this important?
A provision in the Senate’s defense authorization bill (S 2943) would limit the information the Pentagon is required to report about its use of private contractors. [1] If the Senate's provision were passed, the Pentagon's reported figures for the number of private contractors it is using would be so underestimated as to be useless. A House-Senate conference committee is now writing a final version of the bill. Whatever emerges from that conference will almost surely become law.
An unaccountable army of private Pentagon contractors doesn't just waste taxpayers' money - that's bad enough. According to one estimate, the Pentagon could save more than $20 billion per year just by reducing its contractor work force by 15%. [2]
But just as privatized prisons establish an unnecessary financial incentive for creating more prisoners, privatized Pentagon services establish an unnecessary financial incentive for wars of choice - like the current U.S. participation in the civil wars in Yemen and Syria.
Urge your Senators and Representative to oppose any provision in the defense authorization bill that would reduce the transparency and accountability of the Pentagon's use of private contractors by signing our petition.
References:
1. "Pentagon Reports Sharp Drop in Use of Contractors," John M. Donnelly, CQ Roll Call, Oct. 4, 2016
2. http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2015/10/08/pentagon-needs-to-cut-shadow-contractor-work-force
An unaccountable army of private Pentagon contractors doesn't just waste taxpayers' money - that's bad enough. According to one estimate, the Pentagon could save more than $20 billion per year just by reducing its contractor work force by 15%. [2]
But just as privatized prisons establish an unnecessary financial incentive for creating more prisoners, privatized Pentagon services establish an unnecessary financial incentive for wars of choice - like the current U.S. participation in the civil wars in Yemen and Syria.
Urge your Senators and Representative to oppose any provision in the defense authorization bill that would reduce the transparency and accountability of the Pentagon's use of private contractors by signing our petition.
References:
1. "Pentagon Reports Sharp Drop in Use of Contractors," John M. Donnelly, CQ Roll Call, Oct. 4, 2016
2. http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2015/10/08/pentagon-needs-to-cut-shadow-contractor-work-force