Contractor Support to Military Operations

Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. military has increasingly relied on private contractors to accomplish its missions overseas. It does so for a number of reasons, most prominently, a perceived financial savings. Contractors, however, face a number of host-nation legal barriers the U.S. government doesn’t have to contend with when acting on its own. This is seen in a wide range of controversies that arise on a recurring basis, involving everything from the exercise of criminal jurisdiction to exemptions from customs, taxes, licenses, and immigration rules. These barriers arguably lead to degraded performance and increased costs to the government - costs that were not considered when the Department of Defense started its rush to outsource and privatize many of the functions previously performed by active-duty personnel. Combined with other significant policy, operational, and legal issues raised by the use of contractor support, these status-related problems call into question the wisdom of increasing our reliance on private means to effect public ends.

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