Sexual molestation rituals … illegal brothel visits … drunken brawls … unauthorized “cowboy” missions. That’s life for New Zealanders in the private security unit set up to guard the US Embassy in Kabul.

This is one story from Afghanistan that seems made for New Zealand's bigger media organisations, but once more they seem to be missing it.

In the past week, the US Department of State has told American-based private security company ArmorGroup America (AGNA) that its $189 million contract to protect its Embassy in Afghanistan will not be renewed next year.

This follows a State Department inquiry into a string of complaints about AGNA’s performance deficiencies and allegations that its employees in Kabul engaged in fraudulent activity, used brothels notorious for their involvement in the illegal trafficking of women from China, and engaged in lewd behavior and sexual misconduct at their living quarters. (Photos here and here).

AGNA is known to have recruited New Zealanders with military experience. New Zealand is listed among the nations contributing English-speaking “ex-pats” to its operation in Kabul.

As yet, there is no evidence that New Zealanders were involved in the activities that have been under investigation. However, the key “whistle-blower” who brought AGNA’s shortcomings to official attention is a New Zealander.

James Gordon describes himself as citizen of New Zealand with seven years experience as a commissioned officer in the New Zealand Army. He joined AGNA in 2004 and moved through a variety of positions to become its Director of Operations in 2007.

Gordon is currently suing AGNA, its associate company ArmorGroup International, and its owners, Wackenhut Services [a subsidiary of the monolithic English international security company, GS4] for constructive dismissal in 2008.

He claims his job was made impossible after he alerted the State Department to a number of deficiencies in AGNA’s Kabul operations that he could not convince his employers to rectify. In a statement to the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, his lawyers present a long list of his complaints against AGNA. They include

• Severely under-staffing the guard force necessary to protect the US;
• Hiring and retaining a “Gurkha” workforce to help guard the U.S. Embassy, many of whom were Nepalese farmers with no formal British Army training who could not speak English, in violation of AGNA’s contract with the State Department;
  
• Failing to properly investigate reports that AGNA managers and employees frequented brothels notorious for housing trafficked women in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act;
  
• Endangering the safety of the guard force during transport to and from the Embassy by attempting to substitute company-owned sub-par, refurbished vehicles from Iraq rather than purchasing new armored escort vehicles as promised to the State Department; and
• Knowingly using funds to procure cheap counterfeit goods from a company in Lebanon owned by the wife of AGNA’s Logistics Manager.

L awyers acting for Gordon also told the commission of “sexual hazing” [bullying] of AGNA recruits at the training facility used by AGNA in the United States, and continuing hazing rituals that occurred in Kabul at the AGNA unit’s base at Camp Sullivan and even while its squads were on shifts carrying out patrol duties. His lawyers told the Commission:

“We are told that some of the more bullying members of this shift inflicted a game called

‘Gay Chicken’ on other members of the [Charlie] Shift, whereby they ran their hands along the victim’s leg up to his genitals trying to get the victim to flinch. The ‘goal’ of this game was to be ‘man enough’ to allow the groping to take place without reacting. Guards with whom we have spoken have confirmed that this practice was highly disturbing and distracting during a time they were supposed to be vigilant and attentive.”

Gordon’s lawyers also detail his concern about an apparently unauthorized surveillance mission conducted by AGNA’s Charlie Shift in Kabul. In “Operation Snack Pack”, Charlie Shift members dressed as Afghans and set up positions in abandoned buildings around the city. They did so despite a contractual obligation to wear their uniforms on duty.

They were not trained for such a mission, exposed themselves to risk of confrontation with Afghan government units or capture by Taliban, and exposed the Embassy to risk by taking out military equipment, including night goggles, leaving the Embassy largely “night blind”.

Gordon’s complaints have been supported by more graphic evidence gathered by the independent, watchdog group Project on Government Oversight [POGO]. It shows that the State Department had repeatedly raised concerns about performance with AGNA and had issued a “Cure Notice” in 2007 that listed 14 separate deficiencies for correction and a “Show Cause Notice” in 2008 that it was considering terminating the contract.

In March 2009, State again informed AGNA that it had "grave concerns" relating to AGNA's continuing failure to provide sufficient numbers of guards. According to POGO, in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that “makes a clear case that the State Department has failed in its oversight of its security contractor.”
Among POGO’s evidence is a pile of photographs (see links above) that show guards—including supervisors— “at parties in various stages of nudity, sometimes fondling each other. Multiple guards say this deviant hazing has created a climate of fear and coercion, with those who declined to participate often ridiculed, humiliated, demoted, or even fired.”

POGO’s evidence includes one email from a current guard who describes scenes in which guards and supervisors are "peeing on people, eating potato chips out of [buttock] cracks, vodka shots out of [buttock] cracks, broken doors after drunken brawls, threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this activity.”

So, what’s the relevance of all this to our country?

New Zealanders are involved as employees of ArmorGroup and other armed private security organizations carrying out quasi-military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three of the four New Zealanders known to have been killed in the course of these operations were employed by ArmorGroup. We need to ask what the NZ Defence Force is doing to ensure that its staff are aware of the risk when they are tempted by private recruiters.

Second, we are about to establish our own embassy in Kabul. Whether we rely on public or private security, we will need to get better protection than the US Embassy has had since it put its security in private hands three years ago.