The private security companies protecting U.S. officials, contractors and private businessmen in Iraq are quickly running out of skilled elite professionals to hire — even as violence in Iraq has soared in recent weeks.
“They are hard to come by,” said John MacGaffin, a former CIA chief in Vietnam who is head of AKE Group security firm in the United States.
“In many ways, the pool is drying up,” he said.
Mr. MacGaffin reads some 50 resumes a week from people seeking jobs as security guards.
“A lot [of applicants] I wouldn’t let walk my dog,” he said, dismissing the “shaved-head, Ray-Ban-wearing, gun-toting” heavies who have appeared in photographs from Baghdad and elsewhere. “I need people with proven skills in special forces environment.”
The hostile and fluid situation in Iraq demands an exceptionally high level of experience and knowledge.
Security companies often have close relationships with the U.S. military on the ground and share information with them. Some firms have people embedded with the military and some military personnel get booster training by security groups specializing in covert operations.
As a result, guards hired in the United States by top security companies are typically former Navy SEALs, Army Deltas or people with paramilitary experience at the CIA.
“I hire them not so much by their resumes, but by talking to people who have done this work — not by how fast they can run the 100 yards, but people with judgment. Recruiting is done on the basis of experience and an ability to work cross-culturally,” Mr. MacGaffin said.
Providing top-level security is a big business, and not only in Iraq, although that is the hottest market right now. By some estimates, contractors working to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure are allotting up to 25 percent of their budgets to security, up from 10 percent just a couple of months ago.
The international global risk consulting company Kroll Security International, for example, has its professionals in Iraq and other war zones, but is also looking at expanding into potential terrorist target areas in western Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.
But as long as the threat in Iraq remains extremely high for those trying to work there, Iraq is by far the largest security operation area, and competition is stiff among companies to attract qualified guards.
“Obviously, there is a limitation. In a couple of months, there will be a certain amount of overstretch, which means that the pool of people is limited,” said Alistair Morrison, a British Special Air Service (SAS) veteran and chief executive officer of Kroll in London.
After each violent incident in Iraq, firms quickly huddle to take stock: Are armored cars or low-profile cars the way to go? Lots of guards or a few guards? What is the threat level on a particular road? Is the journey really necessary? Is there another way the client can fulfill the task?
“These are things we look at on a daily basis,” said Mr. Morrison, who has been to Iraq every month since August.
The majority of those hired come from the United States, Britain, New Zealand or other nations whose soldiers are famed for their discipline and fierceness in combat, such as the Gurkhas from Nepal.
But companies are starting to branch out, according to one U.S. business consultant who asked not to be identified, with clients in Iraq hiring South Koreans trained by the United States.
“They are running out of SAS people and they are running out of people in the States, too,” the Washington-based consultant said. “Some are hiring not-so-qualified people now.”
Well-known companies such as Kroll insist they would turn down a job if they felt they were unable to provide guards with the experience and skills needed for the assignment.
Jobs in Iraq vary, from providing security around areas where contractors live and work to personal protection for those who need to travel.
Some contractors based in Baghdad complain that companies are trying to do the job on the cheap, paying for hired guns who don’t always have the experience or access to intelligence that others do.
“The danger is that when it all comes together, when you really need these people to make the decisions, … these people will not be up to the task,” Mr. MacGaffin said.
“Ultimately, what you are really paying for are the people who, when it really comes to the bad stuff, will have the right instinctive reaction. You can’t rehearse that,” he said.
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