From OMB Watch:

On June 18, the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan (CWC) held the first of two hearings to examine the proper role and oversight of private security contractors (PSCs) in wartime contingency operations. The commission called six individuals from the private, academic, and nonprofit sectors to testify about the thorny issue of defining and enforcing what should and should not be outsourced to PSCs. While disagreement abounded on the issues, commissioners were able to pick out a few lines of consensus among the witnesses.... Other witnesses, like Danielle Brian - executive director of the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) - and Deborah Avant - a professor at the University of California-Irvine - promoted the idea that the government should examine the context of a situation to help determine whether to outsource a function. Commission member Charles Tiefer - a law professor at the University of Baltimore - later summed up this approach as an examination of three risk factors: the likelihood of contractors injuring or killing civilians, whether the operation is taking place in an area with little or no rule of law, and the risk that a PSC could significantly damage U.S. policy.

For the full story, please visit http://www.ombwatch.org/node/11130.