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Confronting the hidden costs of war - Blog [1]

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Date: 2023-01

Transparency International Defence and Security’s latest report – Hidden Costs: US private military and security companies and the risks of corruption and conflict – details the dangerous repercussions of this trend, focusing on the United States (US), which leads the world in exporting PMSC services. Companies in the US and other major economies increasingly seek to expand their sales of surveillance, armed security and military training services in countries that have critically weak protections against defence sector corruption.

These efforts allowed the private military and security sector to swell. It is now worth US$224 billion – a figure that is expected to double by 2030. US services make up nearly a third of this industry and are predicted to be valued at more than US$80 billion in the near future, making them the largest contributor. But the industry – and the harms it causes – are global.

In 2010, for instance, an Afghan PMSC owned by a relative of the president reportedly engaged in fake firefights, and even paid local insurgents to attack a NATO supply convoy as a means of inflating threat perceptions and securing new contracts. It’s likely that such actions contributed to the perception of many Afghans that the US government supported corruption – which in turn fuelled resentment and weakened the legitimacy of the US-supported Afghan police forces.

Unfortunately, Afghanistan is not a solitary case. In Latin America, PSMCs have been reported to engage in trafficking and extortion. In Brazil, an investigation by the federal police found that almost a third of all firearms held by local security firms in Rio de Janeiro were trafficked to criminals. In Africa, reports have pointed to additional crimes, including suspected war crimes in Mozambique. In Libya and Yemen, claims have been made that groups are engaging in cyber attacks against political opponents, human rights activists and journalists.

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[1] Url: https://www.transparency.org/en/blog/confronting-the-hidden-costs-of-war

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