Friday, September 23, 2016

Did You Say Private Intelligence Services? Why do We need them?

   A report that the U.S. is contracting for "intelligence analysis service" in Syria draws my surprise. What? With all the intelligence agencies the U.S. has, there is need for a private contractor?
   The Daily Beast reported in a Aug. 8 post that Six3 Intelligence Solutions Inc., out of McLean, Virginia, is providing the "intelligence analysis service."
  And, if I am surprised at so much as one incidence of a private contractor doing intelligence work, then it adds to my surprise to read how, "The intelligence community is particularly reliant on contractors today." (The source for that? David Isenberg, author of Shadow Force: Private Security contractors in Iraq.)
  I wonder on all this, on the need for private intelligence services. Why do we do this? What can they provide that the CIA or some other agency cannot provide?
   I do not know the answer. Maybe there is a good one. I find myself wondering, though, if it all comes down to a combination between someone in government with someone seeking to make a buck.

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