Miami Mercenaries: International Security Business Is Booming in South Florida
Miami New Times  |  30 July 2013
> In the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Miami has quietly sprouted more private security companies than anywhere else in the nation. As America waged wars overseas, a cottage industry of guns for hire sprouted in South Florida, which is now headquarters for nearly twice as many security companies as Washington, D.C.

Afghan government's monopoly on private security raises cost concerns, watchdog says
Washington Post  |  29 July 2013
> Afghanistan's government has established a monopoly in the country's lucrative private security business, which could force U.S.-funded project managers to pay arbitrary fees for years to come, the inspector general overseeing reconstruction efforts there warned in a report issued Tuesday.

In Afghanistan, troop drawdown hems in U.S. diplomats who oversee development projects
Washington Post  |  29 July 2013
> The State Department is planning some unusual ways to continue monitoring U.S.-funded projects. It will hire private contractors, who will submit photos with time and location stamps to prove that they visited the sites.

U.N. mulls use of private security groups
UPI  |  26 July 2013
> The United Nations is assessing private military and security companies and their commitment to international norms, an envoy said from New York.

Security companies mushrooming
Indian Ocean Newsletter (subscription)  |  26 July 2013
> The Canadian group Garda and the American company Bancroft, which works for Amisom, are by no means the only private security companies in Mogadishu.

ISO PAS 28007 (Maritime) Pilot Completed
The Maritime Executive  |  25 July 2013
> Port2Port Maritime has successfully completed a pilot audit assessment for ISO/PAS 28007. The ISO Publically Available Specification (PAS) 28007, as part of the ISO 28000 Security Management System family, establishes the internationally recognised guidelines for Private Maritime Security Companies (PMSCs)

Private security guards 'terrorising' villager
BD Live  |  21 July 2013
> The hidden role of private security operatives in fueling the unrest around the troubled platinum belt near Marikana has come into sharp focus. Communities in the area around Rustenburg, who are bent on seceding from the Bafokeng nation, claim they have been threatened, intimidated and harassed by covert security forces working for large platinum companies and the Royal Bafokeng tribe.

DoD, State see light at end of wartime contracting reform tunnel
Federal News Radio  |  18 July 2013
> There's little doubt that the three agencies responsible for overseas contingency contracting have improved since the Wartime Contracting Reform Act of 2012 became law in December. But recent audits show major problems in how the Defense and State departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development continue to spend billions of dollars in Afghanistan.

Liberia: We Were Mercenaries - Inside Witness Claims
New Democrat (Monrovia)  |  17 July 2013
> The trial of 19 Liberians indicted to face multiple charges of cross-border attack into Cote d'Ivoire Monday took a dramatic turn when indicted Prince Barclay said he and others standing trial participated in the post-election war in Cote d'Ivoire and were paid CFA 3 million by former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo.

MEPs voice worry on security deals at EU embassies
EU Observer  |  15 July 2013
> MEPs have voiced concern about security arrangements at EU embassies, amid a "surprising" new decision on bodyguards in Kabul. German centre-right deputies Ingeborg Graessle and Markus Pieper, who sit on the parliament's budgetary control committee, filed a formal query to the EU Council, the European Commission and to the European External Action Service (EEAS) last Thursday.

Energy Companies Turning To Private Security To Counter Rising Terrorism
Economy Watch  |  15 July 2013
> Norwegian energy company Statoil has become the latest oil giant to turn to private security firms to handle its operations in North Africa, amid rising violence and organized attacks on its energy assets.

G4S faces fraud investigation over tagging contracts
The Guardian  |  12 July 2013
> The Serious Fraud Office has been called in by the justice secretary to investigate the private security company G4S for overcharging tens of millions of pounds on electronic tagging contracts for offenders

A very British export: guns and mercenaries to fight piracy in Somalia
The Guardian  |  11 July 2013
> Lately however, the Exeter-based company appears to have been branching out into rather more exotic territory: details released by the government under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that it received licences last year to export more than 1,000 assault rifles, combat shotguns, pistols and other weapons to Sri Lanka.

Gogebic Taconite: private security needed because of protesters
WSAU  |  10 July 2013
> Senate Democrat Bob Jauch of Poplar and Assembly Democrat Janet Bewley of Ashland are calling on Gogebic Taconite to immediately remove the "heavily armed masked commando security forces" currently hired to protect the company's mining site in the Penokee Hills of Ashland and Iron counties. "The company that claims they want to do good for northern Wisconsin is arming itself against northern Wisconsin."

Eight private security companies served show-cause notices
News International  |  10 July 2013
> The Sindh Home Department has taken action against eight private security companies over their security guards' "involvement in robberies and other crimes", said a handout issued on Tuesday.

Granddad mercenary admits to arms training
Brisbane Times  |  10 July 2013
> A Victorian disability pensioner has pleaded guilty to training as a mercenary to fight the Indonesian government in West Papua.

The Privatisation of War: "Private Security Companies" on Contract with UN "Humanitarian" and "Peace Keeping" Operations
Center for Research on Globalization  |  09 July 2013
> In order to discuss the use of armed private military and security companies to protect UN personnel and UN premises in the field as well as the use of such companies in United Nations peace and humanitarian operations, the UN is convening an Expert Panel Event in its New York Headquarters, on 31 July 2013.

Halliburton Can't Dodge Suit over Iraq Contracts
The AmLaw  |  07 July 2013
> A federal trial judge on Monday declined to shut down a whistleblower's suit that alleges defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root and its parent company, Halliburton Co., passed along to the U.S. government the inflated cost of laundry services provided to American bases in Iraq

Security firms target shippers' millions in anti-piracy plans
Business Daily  |  07 July 2013
> Foreign private security firms have opened offices in Mombasa and Mauritius to cash in on the piracy fears by commercial shippers and oil exploration vessels operating within the East African coastline.

Blurring boundaries on national security: the government and private industry
The Hill  |  03 July 2013
> This scandal only foreshadows the substantial role that private industry will play in national defense in the future, as a result of cyber threats.

Exclusive: Arms ship seized by Yemen may have been Somalia-bound: U.N.
Reuters  | 01 July 2013
> Although piracy off Somalia's coast had decreased, it said some of the demobilized pirates were providing private security services to unlicensed fishing vessels off Somalia's coast.

7,000 small arms yet to be claimed, says IG
The Star (Kenya) |  01 July 2013
> More than 7,000 small arms used in escorting marine vessels into the country are still under police custody, Inspector general of police David Kimaiyo has said.

Proposal to rein in security firms
IOL News  |  01 July 2013
> The Green Paper on Policing, which was drawn up by the Civilian Secretariat for Police, and is open for public comment, has called for "strong checks and balances" on the private security industry.