P. W. Singer

P. W. Singer
Born	Peter Warren Singer 1973/74
Nationality	American
Fields	Political Science, International Relations, Modern Warfare
Institutions	Brookings Institution Harvard University US Department of Defence International Peace Academy
Alma mater	Princeton University (B.A.) Harvard University (Ph.D.)
Known for	Corporate Warriors, Children at War, Wired For War

P. W. Singer (born Peter Warren Singer, 1973/74) is an American political scientist and international relations scholar and is a preeminent specialist on 21st century warfare. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he is Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative.

Career

Prior to his current position, Singer was founding Director of the Project on U.S. Policy Towards the Islamic World at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. He has also worked for the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, the Balkans Task Force in the U.S. Department of Defense, and the International Peace Academy. Singer received his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University and an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

At age 29, Singer became the youngest scholar named a Senior Fellow in the ninety-year history of Brookings. He is considered one of the world's leading experts on changes in 21st century warfare and has written for many of the world's major media and journals, including the Boston Globe, L.A. Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Current History, Survival, International Security, Parameters, Weltpolitik, and the World Policy Journal. He has been quoted in every major U.S. newspaper and news magazine and delivered talks at venues ranging from the U.S. Congress and Pentagon to more than 50 universities around the world. In 2009, Singer was named to Top 100 Global Thinkers list by Foreign Policy Magazine.^[1] He also serves on the advisory group for Joint Forces Command, helping the US Military visualize and plan for the future.

Singer served as coordinator of the Defense Policy Task Force for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

Singer has provided commentary on military affairs for many of the major TV and radio outlet, including ABC-Nightline, Al Jazeera, BBC, CBS-60 Minutes, CNN, Fox, NPR, The Daily Show, and the NBC Today Show. He is also a founder and organizer of the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, a global conference that brings together leaders from across the US and the Muslim world.^[2] Singer's work has also been used for the 2008 Don Cheadle movie Traitor as well as the 24: Redemption movie/DVD, broadcast in 2008.

Books

Corporate Warriors

His first book Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell University Press, 2003) was the first to explore the new industry of private companies providing military services for hire, an issue that soon became important with the use and abuse of these companies in Iraq.^[3] The book, originally planned for a 500 copy print run, has sold over 40,000 copies, gone through three print runs and a paperback version, as well as being translated into Japanese, Korean, Urdu, German and Italian. It was named best book of the year by the American Political Science Association, among the top five international affairs books of the year by the Gelber Prize, and a "top ten summer read" by Businessweek. It is now in the assigned texts at venues ranging from Yale Law School to the Army War College.

Singer continues to serve as a resource on the private military issue to the U.S. Congress, U.S. Department of Defense, the CIA, and the European Union and he helped bring to light the role of private contractors in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and the Halliburton contract controversies in Iraq. Singer's work was featured in the History Channel documentary "Soldiers for Hire" and he served as a consultant on the topic for the TV drama "The West Wing".

The use of private contractors or mercenaries goes back thousands of years, the earliest references to it in history include the army of King Shulgi of Ur (2094–2047 BCE) and the battle of Kadesh between the Egyptians and the Hittites (1294 BCE).^[4] In the Middle Ages, companies formed that hired themselves out where soldiers would travel to gether and work for profit. They often focused more on taking prisoners than killing since they could be held for ransom. In the 18th century the conviction grew that people who fought wars for profit were little more than criminals.^[5] The current rise of corporate military companies is beginning to change that conviction.

Like traditional military activity, secrecy is the norm unless it helps to disclose information to improve public image. Private military firms have been used in most current conflicts including wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The customers for these firms range across the moral spectrum from Ruthless dictators and drug cartels to legitimate sovereign states, multinational corporations and humanitarian organizations.^[6] Private Military Firms are often subsidiaries of larger corporations. The United States has used many subcontractors including MPRI and Brown and Root who built the prison at Guantanamo bay.^[7] The use of contract soldiers has made it easier to keep troop levels down and make conflict more acceptable to the public but it reduces accountability.

Military firms are often hired when there is little or no oversight since they go to places where there is no strong government to maintain order. In some cases military contracts have been reputedly "wired," that is the contract winner has been predetermined when politically connected firms are favored.^[8] This has allegedly happened with DynCorp and MPRI. In some cases these firms aren't held to public scrutiny especially if the US government isn't directly handling the contract like one case where DynCorp allegedly provided unsuitable police on its behalf to the UN.^[9] Corporations often hire Private Military Firms in order to protect there investments in 3rd world countries where there is little order.^{[10][11][12][13]} The result is that the rebels of those countries often shift their activities to those who can't afford to defend themselves. In many cases the resources of the country bring little or no benefit to the local people since they don't receive any of the proceeds but they still have to deal with the conflict over control of those resources. This includes areas that are rich in diamonds, oil and Coltan.^{[14][15][16][17]} In many cases the military firms have an incentive to avoid ending the conflict in the most efficient way possible since that would end their employment. They also have in incentive to avoid unnecessary risks.^[18] When the client is at its weakest Military firms may use this as an opportunity to renegotiate contracts.^[19] Some clients may become over confident as a result of the support promised by military firms and initiate conflict they would not otherwise have started even if they are not actually at an advantage. Military aid is often used as leverage to obtain concessions they wouldn't have obtained otherwise.

In one case DynCorp was implicated by a whistle blower in the Balkans where employees were accused of committing sex crimes including a supervisor who even videotaped himself raping two young women. The whistle blower was fired and later sued under the RICO act. Spearhead, an Israeli company has also been implicated with working for drug cartels.

Many of these private military Firms rely on databases of former veterans that they can contact to form armies fast so that they can become virtual companies that only maintain a workforce when they need them and they can move from one country to another to avoid accountability. The use of veterans enables these firms to benefit from the training provided by reputable countries.^[20]

Singer describes the different functions various military firms do. This varies from active participation to support and training services. Some of the support services don't provide any actual combat activities they just provide food, housing, engineering etc. the active services are also divided at times into defense and combat however at times it may not be easy to tell the difference between the two. One mans defense may seem like another mans combat. Generally Firms are quick to claim they're strictly defense. Adviser and training firms may not participate directly in combat but they teach the local population to do so and in many cases they have gone rogue and been implicated in war crimes.^[21][22][23]

One of the most notorious Military firms is Executive Outcomes. This military firm was founded by former South African veterans. When South African's Truth and reconciliation commission helped end apartheid by giving people pardons this didn't include retraining for the soldiers and all they were qualified to do was participate in combat.^[24] They later added mostly black soldiers to their firm but the majority of the leadership was still white. They have participated in some of the biggest African conflicts including Angola and Sierra Leone. At times they were commended for helping protect human rights groups but some people claim this was primarily a public relations ploy to add legitimacy to their firm.^[25]

Another of the largest firms is MPRI, which was founded by U.S. veterans many of high rank. These veterans often keep in close contact with former associates still in the military and often exchange confidential information.^[26] MPRI has claimed it only works on contracts approved by the US government. In many cases the US government is the client. MPRI has participated in the training of Croatian and Kosovo rebels. Without MPRI's training the Croatian rebels would never have been able to launch Operation Storm which turned the tide of the Bosnian war.^[27][28] This wasn't done by the US government however many of the people involved assumed it was and held the US government accountable. So this operation and others by US firms including some in Columbia has influenced the prestige of the US government. One example is an incident in Peru where a CIA surveillance plane mistakenly led a Peruvian Air Force plane to shot down a passenger plane that was carrying missionaries. This was done by employees of Aviation Development Corporation who thought they were drug smugglers. Operations by US firms don't have to inform congress of their activities unless the contract is over 50 million dollars.

Another major US firm contracting for the US government is Brown and Root Services (BRS) subsidiary of Halliburton. They don't provide combat services instead they provide contracts for food housing and engineering. The US government rarely ever goes into conflict without the use of BRS anymore.^[29] BRS has been implicated in sexual and racial discrimination law suits as will as fraudulent billing practices by whistle blowers within the company.^[30][31][32] BRS has enabled the US government to participate in conflicts with fewer official troops making these conflicts more tolerable to the American public including the Bosnian conflict where they enabled the US to use 8,900 fewer troops for the Balkan deployment.

Some of these firms have also been involved in the gathering of market related information for major corporations including DeBeers diamond and BP oil companies. These military firms endorse the idea that power goes to those that can afford it. As long as war exists the demand for military expertise will exist. The most effective way to minimize the abuses of power requires international oversight. In order to do this it is necessary to obtain input from all those involved including corporations, military firms, governments, humanitarian organizations and the public. In order for this to be successful it is necessary that everyone involved is better informed. Regulations based on false assumptions are guarantied to fail.

Children at War

Singer's next book, Children at War (Pantheon, 2005), explored the rise of another new force in modern warfare, child soldier groups. Singer's "fascinating" (New York Post) and "landmark" (Newsweek) work was the first book to comprehensively explore the compelling and tragic rise of child soldier groups and was recognized by the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book of the Year Award. His commentary on the issue was featured in a variety of venues ranging from National Public Radio and Fox News to Defense News and People magazine. Singer has served as a consultant on the issue to the U.S. Marine Corps and Congress, and the recommendations in his book resulted in changes in the UN peacekeeping training program. An accompanying A&E/History Channel documentary entitled Child Warriors was broadcast in 2008.

In the book Singer explores how children are used in warfare throughout history and how it has increased in recent decades partly due to the availability of small arms fire and decreasing values. He discusses how children are often indoctrinated in the glory of war and often the glory of a religious cause. Children are being used in warfare in dozens of countries around the world, the countries that uses children the most include Colombia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo and Myanmar. This problem is most common in third world countries without sufficient education systems. In most cases the youngest children are used for noncombat duties however that isn't always the case. The organization with the dubious distinction of using the youngest child for combat is the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) of Uganda. Children are often put in the front lines to be used as cannon fodder or used as "mine detectors". They are considered cheaper since they don't have to be paid and they are easier to indoctrinate. They are sometimes recruited by attacking schools and kidnapping children. This often makes wars last longer than they would otherwise. The United States has at time found itself fighting against children in both Iraq and Afghanistan. These wars are often supported indirectly by corporation's dealing with some of the leaders of these abuses. In some cases educational material glorifying war has been financed by US government grants.

Peter Singer also explores ways to put an end to these abuses and how to reintegrate children back into society through support groups. They are often rejected from their own home towns since their families and neighbors often fear them and consider them lost causes. In some cases they are treated like criminals or terrorists. The people who abduct these children often try to influence them starting when they are very young. Ideally prevention of this should also start very young but if that isn't possible a greater effort needs to be made as soon as possible. An effort needs to be made to provide hope and supervise the reintegration back into society. An effort needs to be made to place the blame on those that abduct and indoctrinate the children not the children themselves. However they still need help reintegrating back into society since they may have a harder time than adult soldiers dealing with post traumatic stress disorder. There also needs to be a greater effort to acknowledge their presence in the battle field. At times when cease fires have been negotiated the presence of children was ignored. Many treaties have already been signed to address this issue but there has been insufficient follow up to enforce the treaties. Ultimately in order to be successful in the long run the war has to be brought to an end. In South Africa the Truth and reconciliation commission was helpful in bringing this practice to an end.

As one child soldier puts it "Its a good start to write documents and stuff, but it's time to stop theorizing and start doing work to end this." I., age thirteen.

Wired for War

Main article: Wired for War

Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century (Penguin, 2009) is a best-selling book by P. W. Singer. It explores how science fiction has started to play out on modern day battlefields, with robots used more and more in war. For the book research, Singer interviewed hundreds of robot scientists, science fiction writers, soldiers, insurgents, politicians, lawyers, journalists, and human rights activists from around the world. Even before publication, the work had already been featured in the video game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, as well as in presentations to audiences as diverse as the U.S. Army War College, Air Force Institute of Technology and the National Student Leadership Conference. Singer's 2009 book tour included stops on NPR's Fresh Air,^[33] the Daily Show with Jon Stewart,^[34] the opening of the TED conference, the Royal Court of the United Arab Emirates and presentations at 75 venues around the United States. The book was a non-fiction book of the year by the Financial Times and named to the official reading lists for the US Air Force, US Navy, and Royal Australian Navy

See also

• The Brookings Institution

For more information about child soldiers see

• Military use of children
• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
• Jimmie Briggs investigator and author of Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War
• Children of War

Notes

1. ^ http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/30/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers
2. ^ US-Islamic World Forum
3. ^ Cornell Press
4. ^ Taulbee, "Reflections on the Mercenary option", Small wars and insurgencies 9 no. 2 Autumn 1998 p. 145
5. ^ Van Creveld, "The Rise and Decline of the State" 1999 p.161
6. ^ Doug Brooks and Hussein Solomon. "From the editor's desk" conflict trends no. 6 July 2000
7. ^ Carol Rosenberg, "The building of prisons at Guantanamo Bay Begins" Miami Herald 2/28/2002
8. ^ Donahue, John "the Privatization Decision: Public Ends Private Means" 1989 p.218
9. ^ O'Meara "DynCorp disgrace" Insight 2/4/2002
10. ^ Duffield, Mark "Internal Conflict: Adaptation and Reaction to Globalization." The Cornerhouse Briefing 12 1999
11. ^ http://www.psrast.org/corrupt.htm
12. ^ "Risky Returns: Doing Business in Chaotic and Violent countries." The Economist 11/20/1999
13. ^ New Zealand Herald: March 9, 2000 "ExSAS men in secret Rescue"
14. ^ Neild, Robert "Expose the Unsavory Business Behind Cruel Wars" International Herald Tribune 2/17/2000
15. ^ Blaine Harden "Africa's Gems: Warfare's Best Friend NY times 4/6/2000
16. ^ Marina Jiminez, "Canadians seek Fortune in Land of Anarchy, Violence" the National Post (Canada) 8/23/1999
17. ^ Chris Gordon "Mercenaries Grab Gems" Weekly Mail and Guardian 5/9/1997
18. ^ Machiavelli "The Prince"
19. ^ Kathleen Melymuka "Kabloom! the Field of IT outsourcing I dotted with Land Mines" Computerworld 3/17/1997 www.computerworld.com
20. ^ "Executive Outcomes implicated in recruiting mercenaries" SABC News 2/27/2000
21. ^ Doug Brooks, "Write a check end a War Using Private Military Companies to end African conflicts." Conflict trends, no.6 July 2000
22. ^ Daniel McGregory and Nicholas Woods, "Soldiers for Sale," London times 5/9/1998
23. ^ Spicer, Tim "An Unorthodox Soldier" 1999 p. 21
24. ^ Elizabeth, Rubin "An army of Ones Own" Harper's Magazine feb. 1997
25. ^ United Nations Commission on Human Rights 53rd session, Item 7 Special Rapporteur, 2/20/1997
26. ^ Ed Soyster quoted in Paul De La Garza and David Adams "Military Know-How Finds Niche-And Some Critics" St. Petersburg times, 12/3/2000
27. ^ Paul Harris "Bosnians sign for US Expertise Jane's Seninal Pointer July 1996
28. ^ Paul De La Garza and David Adams "Military Know-How Finds Niche-And Some Critics" St. Petersburg times, 12/3/2000
29. ^ Tom Ricks and Greg Schneider "Cheney's Firm Profited From 'Overused' Army" Washington post 9/9/2000
30. ^ Larry Margasak "Report on Cheney Bathrooms" associated Press 9/10/2000
31. ^ Pratap Chatterjee "Soldiers of Fortune" San Francisco Bay Guardian 5/6/2002
32. ^ "Cheney, Halliburton Sued" CNN.com 7/9/2000 "Halliburton Falls on SEC Probe" CNN.com 5/29/2002
33. ^ [1]
34. ^ http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?title=p.w.-singer&videoId=217010

External links

• P.W. Singer Author website
• Curriculum vitae
• Brookings Institution
• Children at War book website
• Wired for War book website
• Video (with audio-only available) of conversation with Singer and John Horgan on Bloggingheads.tv
• Interview with Peter Singer on Child Soldiers, Private Soldiers and Robots by Theory Talks
• Interview on Wired for War at the Pritzker Military Library
• Audio: Peter Singer in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme The Forum
• 2010 audio interview on the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast

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