Contractors on the Battlefield: Resolving the Remaining Policy Issues

Abstract

Despite progress in policy development, the United States military is not ready to hit the ground running and effectively provide needed contract support in a new, contingency operation in an environment anywhere nearly as complex and challenging as it was in Iraq in 2003. Civilian contractors supporting contingency operations have virtually become a third component, along with the active force and reserve forces, of the U.S. military. In-theater contractor support constitutes both an enhancement of capabilities and a potential constraint on operations. Efforts of contractors supporting contingency operations need to be closely integrated with and responsive to the military command structure. This imperative, in turn, indicates some traditional contract and contract management concepts may be inadequate under conditions likely to be encountered in future contingency operations. Planning, training, concepts of operations, and ways of doing business also need to reflect the likely future environment. This research looks at policy issues from a three-tiered perspective, namely, (1) top-level policy, primarily exemplified by DOD and Joint policy documents, (2) the real world implementation of policy, primarily as reported in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, (3) the institutionalization of policies, as exemplified by the doctrine, personnel, training, logistics and other practices relating to contract support for combat operations by the military services.