Force for Hire

Former auto industry mogul Carlos Ghosn was smuggled out of Japan in true Hollywood heist movie fashion while awaiting trial for corporate fraud. Now Special Forces Veteran Mike Taylor and his son Peter have been extradited to Japan in connection with Ghosn's evasion of Japanese authorities.

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Stay tuned for Military Matters, the new podcast from Stars and Stripes. Listen as U.S. Air Force veteran and Force for Hire host Desmon Farris and U.S. Army warrant officer Rod Rodriguez examine the topics that matter to service members, veterans, and the people and communities that support them. Subscribe now to Military Matters, launching in January 2020.

In this final episode of Force for Hire, we examine some key issues about the private military contracting world that we uncovered.

The cost effectiveness of contracting kept coming up as one of the major questions during the season, and experts had widely differing answers.

We found that the broad use of third-country and host-country nationals in security contracting often goes overlooked, particularly when it comes to their casualty rates.

We examine the use of private contractors by the Defense Department for intelligence, and how intelligence agencies have relied on them since 9/11.

Addressing one of the main questions of the series, we look at trends within the military contracting industry and examine its future.

Thank you for listening to Force for Hire. Stay tuned for Military Matters, our new topical podcast that will launch this fall. We hope you’ll join us.

The full transcript of the podcast can be found here.

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In this penultimate episode of Force for Hire, we welcome on air Neryl Joyce, an Australian servicemember who turned to contracting when she wasn’t allowed to deploy with her fellow soldiers. 

She soon found out that what kept her from deploying with the Australian military was one of her greatest assets in the private sector. 

Joyce worked with a couple of different private military contractors, one of which was the infamous Blackwater. In this episode she talks about her experiences with both, her time in Iraq and what it was like being a woman in the PMC world. 

Next week we’ll be wrapping up Force for Hire with a look back at the biggest issues facing the private security and contacting worlds. We hope you’ll join us. 

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Thanks to high-profile cybersecurity operations — the recent U.S. cyberattack against Iran and Russia’s 2016 attack on Ukraine’s power grid, for example — the public is much more aware of the digital threats that the U.S. faces.

While the public lags behind in understanding these threats, the U.S. has for years been taking steps to keep U.S. assets safe from foreign and domestic hackers. The National Security Agency has long been responsible for cybersecurity operations, and the military has stepped up by raising individual cybersecurity commands.

Private contractors have also taken part — or even led the charge — in the digital defense arena, but not without controversy.  A Navy contractor was responsible for a Chinese hack last year that resulted in stolen U.S. anti-ship missile data. Edward Snowden, an NSA contractor, became a household name after leaking reams of sensitive data.

Richard Clarke, special cybersecurity adviser to President George W. Bush and author of "The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats," joins us this week on Force for Hire.

Clarke addresses cybersecurity threats and how military contractors have helped and hurt U.S. national security. Clarke has worked for the Pentagon, State Department and the White House, and his decades of experience make him among the top experts in the field.

Attorney Kimberley Motley has spent years fighting for justice in a country where most women are still fighting for basic human rights.

As the first foreigner to litigate cases in Afghanistan’s criminal courts, Motley faces judges whose concept of “not guilty” is often as foreign as the “perahan tunban” is to Americans.

This week Force for Hire welcomes Motley, who has made a career out of fighting corruption in Afghanistan and has helped bring justice to those working to support the U.S. military. Her story, which she shares with us on this week’s episode, is one of determination, courage and legal intrigue. You won’t want to miss this one.

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Military contractors in Iraq have had to deal with a near constant threat of violence, corrupt politicians and untrusting locals who often saw them as an invading force. South African national Johann Raath had to deal with all of that during his many years working security in the Middle East.

But when the Islamic State came to power in 2014, he — and other contractors supporting the U.S. mission in Iraq — faced a new threat. As one the most bloodthirsty terrorist organizations in recent memory took control of areas of the country, foreigners of any kind were rounded up. 

This included contractors who worked with Americans or the Iraqi government. Men like Raath. Some were thrown in prison. Others were executed. 

Raath talks about his experiences working in Iraq during the rise of ISIS and how he escaped death more than once – and came back for more. 

A full transcript of this episode can be found here.

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Maritime security operations are complex. The mesh of international politics, private company procedures and the uncaring nature of the open seas make for a security situation best handled by professionals. 

More often than some may think, those professionals are private military contractors. It’s those security professionals often tasked with keeping vital shipping lanes open, fighting off threats and keeping the goods people worldwide depend on, safe. 

On this week’s episode of Force for Hire, we welcome aboard a pair of former Royal Marines – both maritime security experts – to talk about the complexities of modern maritime security operations. And yes, one of the threats ships face out there on the open waters are pirates. They exist and when security is lax, they strike. 

So, how do contractors keep pirates and hostile foreign powers at bay on the open seas? You’ll have to tune in to find out.

The day Russell Frost and two former American soldiers were kidnapped was an unusual one, even by the standards of 2016 Baghdad.

On Jan. 15, as the battle against Islamic State raged across the country, Frost and his two fellow contractors — former U.S. Army soldiers Amr Mohamed and Waiel el-Maadawy — found an interpreter to assist in their government mission of training coalition forces.

The interpreter was a strange one, Mohamed said, offering the men liquor and women in an area where such things at the time could lead to death. Against their better judgment, the three men met at the interpreter’s house to finalize a working relationship over tea.

As night began to fall, Mohamed insisted they leave. When the Americans attempted to do so, they were surrounded by dozens of armed men, members of a Shiite militia supported by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

What followed was a horrific, 31-day ordeal in which the three — accused by their captors of being CIA operatives — were brutally tortured and imprisoned in inhumane conditions.

It was the first kidnapping of Americans in the country since 2011 and while it was widely reported, the reason why the men where kidnapped by a faction ostensibly working with U.S. forces — and why it took so long for them to be released — remains murky.

This episode of Force for Hire welcomes Mohamed to talk about the ordeal and its fallout. Frost died in November 2017 of complications from the kidnapping and torture. We’re proud to have Frost’s family on this episode to talk about how his death has impacted them and what they’re doing to help ensure the sacrifices of military contractors aren’t being forgotten.

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Michael Thomas Hoare has lived a life that, were it not endlessly documented, would seem a pastiche of barroom brags, urban legends and anecdotes lifted from mid-21st century military pulp fiction.

Hoare, better known as “Mad Mike,” is a soldier of fortune. A mercenary. He has seen combat in multiple battles during World War II with the British army, and in numerous conflicts across the Congo and elsewhere. He recently celebrated his 100th birthday — apparently, living hard is no predictor of longevity.

Hoare is a decorated combat veteran. He’s been an African safari guide, an accountant and a Hollywood technical adviser. He’s been a leader of men in combat as well as a prisoner, convicted of hijacking a plane after a failed 1981 coup in the Seychelles.

Chris Hoare, his son and the author of “’Mad Mike’ Hoare: The Legend,” joins us this week to talk about some of his father’s greatest moments, as well as his impact on private military contracting.

Some of the stories Chris Hoare tells on this episode of Force for Hire are not for the fainthearted. From bloody conflicts in the Congo to a failed coup that led to “Mad Mike’s” imprisonment, nothing is held back. You won’t want to miss this one.

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