DynCorp

DynCorp International Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Private military contractor (PMC)[1]
Founded	1946
Headquarters	Falls Church, VA, USA
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Steven F. Gaffney (Chairman) Steven F. Gaffney (CEO) Steven Schorer (President)[2]
Products	Aviation maintenance, air operations, drug eradication, law enforcement training, logistics, contingency operations, security services, operations and maintenance for land vehicles (MRAPs), maintenance for aircraft, support equipment, and weapons systems, intelligence training and solutions, international development, intelligence training and solutions, international development.[3]
Revenue	US$ 3.047 billion (2010)
Operating income	US$ 120.00 million (2008)
Net income	US$ 47.95 million (2008)
Total assets	US$ 1.402 billion (2008)
Total equity	US$ 424.29 million (2008)
Owner(s)	Cerberus Capital Management
Employees	16,800 (2009)[4]
Website	Dyn-intl.com

DynCorp International /ˈdaɪn.kɔrp/^[5] is a United States-based private military contractor.^[6] Begun as an aviation company, the company now also provides air operations support, training and mentoring, international development, intelligence training and support, contingency operations, security, and operations and maintenance of land vehicles.^[7] DynCorp receives more than 96% of its more than $3 billion in annual revenues from the US federal government.^[1][8]

The corporate headquarters are in an unincorporated part of Fairfax County near Falls Church, Virginia. However, substantially all of the company's contracts are managed out of its office at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas.

The company has provided services for the U.S. military in several theaters, including Bolivia, Bosnia, Somalia, Angola, Haiti, Colombia, Kosovo and Kuwait.^[9] DynCorp International also provided much of the security for Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai's presidential guard and trains much of Afghanistan's and Iraq's fledgling police force.^[10] DynCorp was also hired to assist recovery in Louisiana and neighboring areas after Hurricane Katrina.^[11][12] DynCorp and the Department of State have been criticized by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGAR) for not properly accounting for $1.2 billion in contract task orders authorized by the State Department to be used to train Iraqi police, although the SIGIR noted that “there’s no indication DynCorp has misspent any” of the funds for the Iraqi police training.^[13][14][15] DynCorp has held one contract on every round of competition since receiving the first Contract Field Teams contract in 1951. DynCorp won the LOGCAP II contract and is one of three contract holders on the current LOGCAP IV contract.

History

DynCorp traces its origins from two companies formed in 1946: California Eastern Airways (an air freight business) and Land-Air Inc. (an aircraft maintenance company).

Two years after being organized, California Eastern Airways — despite emerging as the second largest independent air carrier—- filed for bankruptcy in May 1948.^[16] Meanwhile, Land-Air, Inc. reached a major milestone in 1951, when it was awarded the first Contract Field Teams (CFT) contract by the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC). (DynCorp International and its predecessors have provided services under the CFT program continuously since being awarded that first contract, having been awarded one CFT contract in every round of recompetition including the most recent round which began in October 2008.)

Land-Air purchased the remnants of California Eastern Airways and assumed the purchased company's new name. Thereafter the company went through a series of name changes (first to California Eastern Aviation, Inc., then in 1962 to Dynalectron Corporation) before settling on DynCorp in 1987. During this time DynCorp became an employee owned company.

In December 2000, DynCorp formed DynCorp International LLC, and transferred to it all of its international business to this entity while DynCorp Technical Services LLC continued to perform DynCorp’s domestic contracts.

In March 2003, DynCorp and its subsidiaries were acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) for approximately US$914 million.

Less than two years later, CSC announced the sale of three DynCorp units (DynCorp International, DynMarine and certain DynCorp Technical Services contracts) to Veritas Capital Fund, LP for US$850 million.^[17]

In 2006, DynCorp went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DCP.^[18]

On April 12, 2010 DynCorp announced a conditional deal to be acquired by private equity investment firm Cerberus Capital Management at a price of $17.55 per share ($1 Billion).^[19] The deal was agreed on 7 July 2010.^[20]

Services

Aviation

DynCorp International began as an aviation company in the 1950s and continues to provide aviation support globally. Aviation capabilities include supporting the fleet of aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base ^[21] and providing aerial support to fight forest fires in California.^[22]

Controversies

Latin American Incidents

See also: Colombian armed conflict and Plan Colombia

In September 2001, a group of Ecuadorian farmers filed a class-action lawsuit against DynCorp under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), the Torture Victim Protection Act and state law claims in US federal court in the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs claimed that from January to February 2001 DynCorp sprayed the herbicide almost daily, in a reckless manner, causing severe health problems (high fever, vomiting, diarrhea, dermatological problems) and the destruction of food crops and livestock of approximately 10,000 residents of the border region. In addition, the plaintiffs alleged that the toxicity of the fumigant caused the deaths of four infants in this region.

The plaintiffs alleged under ATCA that DynCorp's intensive aerial spraying of a toxic fumigant amounted to torture, a crime against humanity and cultural genocide. DynCorp moved to dismiss the case, arguing that it raised non-justiciable questions of foreign and national security policy. DynCorp also argued that the plaintiffs' claims of violations of international law were based on actions by DynCorp that were expressly authorized by the US Congress under Plan Colombia. In May 2007, the district court granted DynCorp's motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' claims under the Torture Victim Protection Act, but ordered that the balance of the plaintiffs' claims should stand. The court found that the case did not raise non-justiciable questions because the action did not call into question US foreign policy in Colombia. The court also found that the claims raised by the plaintiffs were outside the scope of the Congressional authorization of DynCorp's contract.

In December 2006, 1,660 citizens of the Ecuadorian provinces of Esmeraldas and Sucumbios who were not part of the class-action lawsuit described above filed a separate lawsuit against DynCorp in US federal court in Florida. The provinces of Carchi, Esmeraldas and Sucumbios also sued DynCorp in Florida federal court over the spraying, in lawsuits filed in December 2006, and March and April 2007. The plaintiffs in these four cases allege that DynCorp's spraying of fumigants injured the residents of these provinces, for which they are bringing claims under Florida state law, Ecuadorian law and international law.^[23]

DynCorp employees "are engaged in combatant roles, fighting in counterinsurgency operations against the Colombian rebel groups," says P. W. Singer, a foreign-policy fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Corporate Warriors. "Indeed, the DynCorp personnel have a local reputation for being both arrogant and far too willing to get 'wet,' going out on frequent combat missions and engaging in firefights."^[1] DynCorp has not responded to the allegation.^[1]

In this regard, concerning the company's activities and alleged abuses in Colombia, an extensive accusation was presented against DynCorp at the Hearing on Biodiversity of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, session on Colombia, which took place at the Cacarica Humanitarian Zone from February 24 to 27, 2007.^[24]

Three DynCorp employees died when their helicopter was shot down during an anti-drug mission in Peru in 1992.^[1]

On November 29, 2008, a lengthy New York Times article questioned the potential conflict of interest in the hiring by Veritas Capital Fund, LP, holding company for DynCorp, of Gen. Barry McCaffrey. McCaffrey had previously served as White House "Drug Czar" where he shaped future federal public-private partnership in drug enforcement policy.^[25]

1999 Bosnia Incident

In the late 1990s, according to whistleblower Ben Johnston, a former aircraft mechanic who worked for the company in Bosnia and Herzegovina, DynCorp employees and supervisors engaged in sex with 12 to 15 year old children, and sold them to each other as slaves.^[26] Ben Johnston ended up fired, and later forced into protective custody. According to Johnston, none of the girls were from Bosnia and Herzegovina itself, but were kidnapped by DynCorp employees from Russia, Romania and other places.

On June 2, 2000, members of the 48th Military Police Detachment conducted a sting on the DynCorp hangar at Comanche Base Camp, one of two U.S. bases in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and all DynCorp personnel were detained for questioning. CID spent several weeks working the investigation and the results appear to support Johnston's allegations. For example, according to DynCorp employee Kevin Werner's sworn statement to CID, "during my last six months I have come to know a man we call 'Debeli,' which is Croatian for fat boy. He is the operator of a nightclub by the name of Harley's that offers prostitution. Women are sold hourly, nightly or permanently."^[27]

Johnston is not the only DynCorp employee to blow the whistle and sue the billion-dollar government contractor. Kathryn Bolkovac, a U.N. International Police Force monitor hired by the U.S. company on another U.N.-related contract, filed a lawsuit in Great Britain against DynCorp for unfair dismissal due to a protected disclosure (whistleblowing), and on 2 August 2002 the tribunal unanimously found in her favor.^[28] DynCorp had a $15 million contract to hire and train police officers for duty in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time she reported such officers were paying for prostitutes and participating in sex-trafficking.^[29] Many of these were forced to resign under suspicion of illegal activity, but none have been prosecuted, as they also enjoy immunity from prosecution in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bolkovac's story was made into a film, The Whistleblower, in 2010. She has also co-authored a 2011 book with Cari Lynn titled The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors And One Woman's Fight For Justice.

DynCorp has admitted it fired five employees for similar illegal activities prior to Johnston's charges.^[30] In the summer of 2005, the United States Defense department drafted a proposal to prohibit defense contractor involvement in human trafficking for forced prostitution and labor. Several defense contractors, among others DynCorp, stalled the establishment of a final proposal that would formally prohibit defense contractor involvement in these activities.^[31]

Dancing boy incident

One of the US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks^[32][33][34] said that DynCorp workers who were employed to train Afghan policemen took drugs and paid for young "dancing boys" (child prostitutes) to entertain them in Kunduz. The cable stated that the Afghan interior minister at the time, Hanif Atmar asked the assistant US ambassador to try to "quash" both the story and release of video from the incident. The story was eventually published by The Washington Post in July 2009^[35] and downplayed the incident, calling it a "questionable management oversight" when it was in fact being discussed at the highest levels of the Afghan government. According to The Guardian, the incident was influential in causing the Afghans to demand that private security companies were more strictly controlled by governments,^[36] although the leaked diplomatic cable states that "placing military officers to oversee contractor operations at RTCs [i.e., DynCorp Regional Training Centers] is not legally possible under the current DynCorp contract."

At the time of the leaked cable's writing, an investigation was on-going and disciplinary actions had been taken against DynCorp leaders in Afghanistan. An investigation by Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior (MOI) resulted in the arrest of two Afghan police and nine other Afghans for the crime of "purchasing a service from a child." The United States' Assistant Ambassador to Afghanistan cautioned that an overreaction by the Afghan government would "only increase chances for the greater publicity the MOI is trying to forestall."^[32]

According to employees who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution, four senior managers were sacked as a result of this and other incidents in Afghanistan.^[35] The State Department was reportedly investigating whether DynCorp had ignored signs of drug abuse among employees in Afghanistan. According to the State Department Inspector General, a "substantially completed" review specifically pertaining to the dancing boy incident had uncovered no criminal activity. Following government investigations into its programs in Afghanistan and other conflict zones, DynCorp was reported to be strengthening its ethics practices, and had created a chief compliance officer position whose focus included ethics, business conduct, and regulatory compliance.^[35]

Iraq Incidents

The New York Times reported on February 1, 2007 that the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) found that DynCorp seemed to act almost independently of its reporting officers at the Department of State, billing the United States for millions of dollars of work that were not authorized and beginning other jobs without a go-ahead. According to the report, the findings of misconduct against DynCorp on a $188 million job to buy weapons for, and build quarters for, the Iraqi police were serious enough to warrant a fraud inquiry.^[37]

In February 2007 federal auditors cited DynCorp for wasting millions on projects, including building an unapproved, Olympic-sized swimming pool at the behest of Iraqi police officials.^[38]

On October 11, 2007, a DynCorp security guard in a US State Department convoy killed a taxi driver in Baghdad. According to several witnesses, the taxi did not pose a threat to the security of the convoy.^[39]

A US government audit report of October 2007 revealed that $1.3 billion was spent on a contract with DynCorp for training Iraqi police. The auditors stated that the program was mismanaged to such an extent that they were unable to determine how the money was spent.^[40]

A January 2010 report by the SIGIR assessed that oversight of DynCorp police training contracts by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs found that INL exhibited weak oversight of the DynCorp task orders for support of the Iraqi police training program. It found that INL lacks sufficient resources and controls to adequately manage the task orders with DynCorp. As a result, more than $2.5 billion in U.S. funds were vulnerable to waste and fraud.^[41]

In April 2011, DynCorp agreed to pay $7.7 million to the US government to settle claims that it had inflated claims for construction contracts in Iraq.^[42]

July 2010 Afghan incident

On July 30, 2010, it was alleged that four Afghan civilians were killed on a road near Kabul International Airport when their car was struck by a vehicle belonging to DynCorp. After the accident, the DynCorp employees were attacked by a crowd and their vehicle was set on fire. A second vehicle with DynCorp employees came to the site to assist, but was also attacked, and their vehicle was also set on fire.

Kabul police then arrived on scene and dispersed the crowd, after which they safely removed the DynCorp teams. DynCorp said it was investigating the accident which involved employees who were working under a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.^[43]

Although initial reports blamed the company and claimed four Afghans were killed in the accident, Sayed Abdul Ghaffar, the head of the Kabul police criminal investigations division, told the New York Times that the Afghan driver had caused the accident and said only one Afghan died in the wreck. (source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/world/asia/02afghan.html)

August 2009 Thomas Campbell lawsuit

In August 2009, Forbes reported a lawsuit brought by former DynCorp executive Thomas Campbell against former DynCorp Chairman Robert McKeon. Campbell, formerly McKeon's closest friend as well as business partner, alleges that McKeon forced him out of the DynCorp deal at the last minute in order to prevent him from getting any of the huge payout. McKeon allegedly made hundreds of millions of dollars while Campbell was left out altogether.^[44]

See also

Top 100 US Federal Contractors
Private Military Contractor

Major competitors

• Pinkerton USA
• Carratu International Plc UK
• Kroll Inc. USA
• Blackwater Worldwide
• KBR, Inc.
• AECOM (Government Services Division)
• Fluor Corp.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Yeoman, Barry (2003-06-01). "Soldiers of Good Fortune". Mother Jones. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/05/ma_365_01.html. Retrieved 2007-05-08. 
2. ^ Company Annual Report For the period from April 1, 2010 (Inception) to December 31, 2010; http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/DCP/1239529515x0x455907/be7ad559-cc39-4fba-8d77-90f5d822ba6f/DTH%2012-31-2010%20Annual%20Report.PDF
3. ^ http://www.dyn-intl.com/what-we-do.aspx
4. ^ ""Increasing the Number of U.S. Border Patrol Agents" - statement of Robert B. Rosenkranz. June 19, 2007" (PDF). Committee on Homeland Security. 2007. http://homeland.house.gov/SiteDocuments/20070619152426-71242.pdf. Retrieved 2007-07-25. 
5. ^ The pronunciation of the company has been confused in the past, with mispronunciations such as "Dine-Core" (silent "p") and "Dine-uh-Core" commonplace; the proper pronunciation is "Dine-Corp," which includes the "p" sound, as stated by Herb Lanese, the new CEO, at an employee town hall meeting, January 2007 in Fort Worth.
6. ^ "Cerberus to Buy DynCorp for $1.5 Billion". New York Times. April 10, 2010. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/cerberus-to-buy-dyncorp-for-1-5-billion/?ref=dyncorpinternationalinc. 
7. ^ http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/06/06/dyncorp-top-100-government-contractors.aspx
8. ^ http://washingtontechnology.com/toplists/top-100-lists/2011.aspx
9. ^ "Outsourcing Post-Conflict Operations" (PDF). Princeton University. 2004. Archived from the original on September 21, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060921152541/http://www.princeton.edu/~jpia/pdf2004/Chapter+2.pdf. Retrieved 2006-11-11. 
10. ^ "IRAQ: Misjudgments Marred U.S. Plans for Iraqi Police". New York Times Company. 2006. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13600. Retrieved 2006-11-11. 
11. ^ Merle, Renae (2006-03-14). "Storm-Wracked Parish Considers Hired Guns". Washington Post: A01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/13/AR2006031301777_pf.html. Retrieved 2006-05-21. 
12. ^ Jonsson, Patrik (2006-03-28). "Katrina survivors play defense against looting". Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0328/p01s02-ussc.html?s=t5. Retrieved 2006-12-15. 
13. ^ [ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a3OU6HxRrwSU]
14. ^ "Letter to Secretary Rice: from Chairman Waxman". 2007-10-22. p. 3. Archived from the original on November 1, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071101025136/http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20071022162111.pdf. Retrieved 2007-10-22. 
15. ^ "report Most of $1.2 billion to train Iraqi police unaccounted for - CNN.com". CNN: A01. 2007-10-23. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/22/dyncorp.spending/index.html?iref=mpstoryview. Retrieved 2007-10-23. 
16. ^ "California Eastern Files Under Bankruptcy Act". Wall Street Journal. 1948-05-14. p. 9. 
17. ^ "CSC Sells DynCorp Units for $850m". Datamonitor Computerwire. 2004-12-14. http://www.computerwire.com/industries/research/?pid=4BD38C8F-6D60-449D-901E-DD60A342337F. Retrieved 2006-10-16. 
18. ^ DCP
19. ^ http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-12/dyncorp-to-be-acquired-by-cerberus-for-1-5-billion-update1-.html
20. ^ Clabaugh, Jeff (2010-07-07). "Cerberus completes DynCorp acquisition". http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2010/07/05/daily30.html. 
21. ^ "DynCorp wins $401M Andrews AFB contract". Washington Business Journal. August 17, 2011. http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2011/08/17/dyncorp-wins-401m-andrews-afb-contract.html. 
22. ^ "Report from the Aerial Firefighting Conference held in Washington, DC, May 25–26". Wildfire Today Bill Gabbert. June 21, 2011. http://wildfiretoday.com/2011/06/21/report-from-the-aerial-firefighting-conference-held-in-washington-dc-may-25-26/. 
23. ^ "Business & Human Rights : DynCorp lawsuit (re Colombia & Ecuador)". Business-humanrights.org. http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Lawlawsuits/Lawsuitsregulatoryaction/LawsuitsSelectedcases/DynCorplawsuitreColombiaEcuador. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
24. ^ "Accusation against the Transnational DynCorp", Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, 2007, http://www.prensarural.org/spip/spip.php?article673
25. ^ international&st=nyt&scp=14
26. ^ Capps, Robert (2002-08-06). "Sex-slave whistle-blowers vindicated". salon.com. http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2002/08/06/dyncorp/index.html. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
27. ^ Bosnia and Herzegovina Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Woman and Girls to Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution. Human Rights Watch. pp. 63–64. http://books.google.com/books?id=KYLiRbLlMwoC&lpg=PA63&dq=%22He%20is%20the%20operator%20of%20a%20nightclub%20by%20the%20name%20of%20Harley's%22&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
28. ^ Bolkovac, Kathyrn (2011-01-22). "Human trafficking,Bosnia and Herzegovina (News),World news,Law,Europe". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/jan/22/whistleblower-sex-traffickers-bosnia. 
29. ^ "The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors And One Woman's Fight For Justice, by Kathryn Bolkovac". The Guardian (London). 2011-01-22. http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/jan/22/whistleblower-sex-traffickers-bosnia. 
30. ^ by Kelly Patricia O'Meara (2002-01-14). "CorpWatch : US: DynCorp Disgrace". Corpwatch.org. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11119. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
31. ^ Simpson, Cam. "U.S. stalls on human trafficking". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0512270176dec27,0,1632557.story. 
32. ^ ^{a b} "09KABUL1651: 06/23/09 MEETING, ASSISTANT AMB MUSSOMELI AND MOI". Wikileaks. 2009-06-24. http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/06/09KABUL1651.html. Retrieved 2010-12-08. 
33. ^ Linkins, Jason. "WikiLeaks Reveals That Military Contractors Have Not Lost Their Taste For Child Prostitutes". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/08/wikileaks-reveals-that-mi_n_793816.html. 
34. ^ "US embassy cables: Afghan government asks US to quash 'dancing boys' scandal". The Guardian (London). 2010-12-02. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/213720. 
35. ^ ^{a b c} Ellen Nakashima (27 July 2009). "Amid Reviews, DynCorp Bolsters Ethics Practices". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/26/AR2009072602358.html. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
36. ^ Boone, Jon (2 December 2010). "Foreign contractors hired Afghan 'dancing boys', WikiLeaks cable reveals". London: Guardian News. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/02/foreign-contractors-hired-dancing-boys. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
37. ^ Glanz, James (2007-02-01). "U.S. Agency Finds New Waste and Fraud in Iraqi Rebuilding Projects". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/world/middleeast/01reconstruction.html?_r=1&scp=47&sq=dyncorp+international&st=nyt. 
38. ^ Rosen, Nir (2007-05-01). "Riding Shotgun With Our Shadow Army in Iraq". Mother Jones. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/05/iraq_contractors-2.html. Retrieved 2007-05-15. 
39. ^ Glanz, James (November 12, 2007). "Security Guard Fires From Convoy, Killing Iraqi Driver". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/world/middleeast/12contractor.html. Retrieved 2007-11-17. 
40. ^ "US-Iraqi contract 'in disarray'". BBC News. 23 October 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7057629.stm. Retrieved 2007-11-17. 
41. ^ "Quarterly Report from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction". Sigir.mil. 2010-01-30. http://www.sigir.mil/publications/quarterlyreports/January2010.html. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
42. ^ Bloomberg L.P., "DynCorp To Settle Over Claims For Iraq Work", Washington Post, 23 April 2011, p. 9.
43. ^ "Four Afghans die in Kabul in accident involving U.S. contractor". Wireupdate.com. 2010-07-31. http://wireupdate.com/wires/8220/four-afghans-die-in-kabul-in-accident-involving-u-s-contractor/. Retrieved 2010-12-03. 
44. ^ Vardi, Nathan (2009-08-03). "Wall Street Goes to War". Forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0803/iraq-afghanistan-obama-wall-street-goes-to-war.html. Retrieved 2010-12-03.