Pubdate: Fri, 18 May 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Juan Forero

Role of U.S. Companies in Colombia Is Questioned

BOGOTA, Colombia, May 17 -- Their presence grew as Colombia's drug war 
intensified in the 1990's, with the United States hiring American pilots, 
radar operators, former Army Special Forces trainers and other former 
military personnel to carry out important missions.

Under private contracts known to only a few members of the United States 
Congress, these specialists -- all working for American companies -- have 
flown spray planes and helicopters, trained and advised Colombian military 
personnel, repaired high-tech machinery and helped pave remote airfield 
runways. Supporters of private contractors say that, overall, the companies 
have completed important work while relieving key American military 
specialists who would otherwise have had to uproot from strategically 
significant regions.

But now questions are being raised in the American Congress and even by 
Colombian officials about the logic of relying on private companies for 
operations that are not open to public scrutiny.

Americans working in Colombia are constantly exposed to danger, critics 
note, with three American pilots killed since 1997 when their spray planes 
crashed. Also of concern to policy makers in Washington and military 
officials here is whether the United States should be spending tens of 
millions of dollars annually on contractors when Colombian officials say 
Colombians could be trained to complete the same operations for much less 
money.

Indeed, the largest of the companies operating in Colombia, DynCorp of 
Reston, Va., a $1.4 billion company that has handled many tasks here in the 
last 10 years, was awarded a five-year, $170 million contract in 1998, 
according to government reports. American Congressional aides familiar with 
DynCorp say the company's pilots can earn more than $100,000 a year 
conducting operations that Colombian pilots could do for less than $40,000 
a year.

"When we get a contractor here, we always think we could probably get a 
Colombian to do this, and a lot cheaper," said a high-ranking official in 
President Andres Pastrana's administration who is familiar with 
contractors. "We can do it with a Colombian company, and it would cost 60 
percent less."

However, R. Rand Beers, assistant secretary of state for international 
narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said finding qualified personnel in 
Colombia is not always easy. And going to the American military is not the 
catch-all answer, since United States forces do not employ pilots for 
crop-spraying or the mechanics and logistics experts needed for defoliation 
programs.

Hiring private contractors, Mr. Beers said, is often the best option, 
giving the government flexibility to hire for short-term jobs while 
choosing from a pool of experienced companies that offer a range of 
services tailor made for places like Colombia.

The need for such services is likely to increase as the United States 
invests $1.3 billion to destroy Colombia's coca fields. Documents provided 
by Congressional aides show that it is not uncommon for defoliation planes 
flown by Americans and other contract pilots on defoliation missions to be 
hit by gunfire. In fact, rebels or cocaine traffickers have hit OV-10 
planes flown by Americans nearly 70 times since 1998, though none were shot 
down, DynCorp records show.

Then, in April, a Peruvian fighter plane downed a private plane carrying 
missionaries from the United States after an American surveillance aircraft 
staffed by American contractors alerted the Peruvians that the airplane 
might be suspicious because of where it was flying. Although the 
contractors -- employees of the Aviation Development Corporation of 
Montgomery, Ala., and working under contract to the Central Intelligence 
Agency -- apparently tried to call off the fighter from pursuing the 
missionary plane or firing on it, their efforts proved futile. Veronica 
Bowers, a missionary, and her baby daughter were killed.

Representative Bill Delahunt, a Democrat from Massachusetts who sits on the 
House International Relations Committee, said contract work in Colombia 
must become more public "to establish some transparency to ensure 
accountability."

With bipartisan support from other members of the committee, Mr. Delahunt 
sponsored an amendment to a State Department authorization bill that calls 
for detailed reports on contractors in Colombia and for American workers to 
be replaced by Colombians if and when qualified personnel are made 
available. The legislation was approved Wednesday in the House.

"We don't need, given the incident in Peru and our experiences in Latin 
America in the past, shadowy relationships where information is difficult 
to secure and where activities tend to be obscure," Mr. Delahunt said.

Some military experts note that contractors have fulfilled necessary and 
important missions since World War II. They tend to be highly trained -- 
often experienced former military men and women -- who offer expertise when 
the American military is stretched thin, said Gabriel Marcella, who teaches 
at the United States Army War College and has written extensively about 
Colombia's conflict. These specialists, military experts say, can quickly 
fill posts in places like Colombia without compromising American military 
commitments in other regions.

"In many cases it's easier to do it with a contractor," said Gen. Ed 
Soyster, a retired general who is the spokesman for Military Professional 
Resources Inc., a Virginia company that recently completed a contract with 
Colombia's Ministry of Defense. "They can count on the right people without 
affecting the readiness of your forces."

To human rights groups and some policy makers in the United States 
Congress, the use of contractors provides a way for the American government 
to deny or play down any responsibility if something goes wrong. And some 
policy makers fear that, if Colombia's conflict escalates, the use of 
contractors could grow.

"What we're seeing is the out-sourcing of the war down there," said a 
senior Republican aide in Washington. "The State Department gives lip 
service to Colombian nationalization of the program, and so it is just more 
and more gringos, at more and more expense."

The State Department has started to be more open about what contractors are 
doing in Colombia, and its officials stress that American policy is to 
replace Americans with Colombians as soon as they are trained.

Recent figures from the State Department show that on any given day there 
are 160 to 180 American civilians in Colombia working under contract with 
the State Department, the Department of Defense or in social programs for 
the United States Agency for International Development. DynCorp employs 
about 100 Americans in Colombia, as well as 100 Colombians and 
third-country nationals, according to the State Department.

Twelve Americans rotate in and out to fly spray planes. Escort helicopters 
that accompany spray planes and search-and-rescue helicopters are also 
staffed by American pilots and medics.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager