Since the end of the Cold War, nonstate actors have become increasingly important players in the security field, challenging the state's traditional monopoly over the use of legitimate force. Although nonstate actors have participated historically in conflict, in the modern era these groups and individuals have played only a marginal role in warfare. Mercenaries, for instance, have generally been individual combatants or informal groups of former soldiers selling their services to the highest bidder. In contrast, the world has recently witnessed the emergence of a new breed of private actors who represent the modern, corporate evolution of mercenary forces. These private military firms are profit-driven corporations that trade in professional services intricately linked to warfare and that work for international organizations, humanitarian groups, multinational corporations, and national governments.' Employing former soldiers and police officers from around the world, these firms offer their clients a wide range of services including both armed and unarmed support of military operations, military training and advice, and logistics support.In the early 1990s, firms such as the now defunct Executive Outcomes played crucial roles in several developing world conflicts, working on behalf of weak governments to defeat rebel insurgencies. Western militaries have also employed these firms, contracting out training and base support services, and have increasingly used them to augment military capabilities on international operations. Western militaries are now employing the full range of private military services in combat operations, a practice once reserved for African despots. The American military has been the leader in this regard, contracting logistics, intelligence, site security, and convoy security services in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many other western militaries have followed suit.2The Canadian military has followed this trend of privatizing military functions. Since the 1990s, the Canadian forces have come to rely heavily on contracted services, ranging from logistics support to strategic lift, primarily to alleviate the stress experienced by key forces' occupations that are repeatedly deployed abroad. Although the forces have been using private military services in international operations for several years, past employment of private firms by the Canadian military was restricted to the relatively safe environments of peace-support operations. Moreover, the Canadian military did not use private firms in all expeditionary operations. Rather, decisions to employ private contractors were made on an ad hoc basis contingent upon the specific operating conditions of each mission.The precedent set by Canada's use of private firms in Afghanistan, and the funding envelope and policy guidelines established by the 2008 Canada defence strategy, however, will make the future use of private firms by the Canadian forces a virtual certainty. To prepare for this eventuality, the Canadian government must ensure the proper coordination and control of Canadian contracted firms, carefully control the management and oversight of all contracts, and develop a policy framework to properly integrate these firms with Canadian military personnel.This article addresses the Canadian military's use of private firms in international operations. The first section provides a brief overview of Canada's historical use of private firms to demonstrate how the forces' employment of contractors has evolved during operations in Afghanistan. The article goes on to argue that current Canadian defence policy ensures that private firms will be used by the Canadian military in all future international operations. This is followed by an examination of some of the key challenges posed by the forces' use of private military services. The article concludes by making recommendations for future government action.THE PRIVATIZATION OF THE CANADIAN FORCESIn the wake of the defence spending cuts introduced by the Liberal government of Jean Chretien in the 1990s, the Canadian forces began exploring private-sector delivery of defence functions as a means of saving budgetary resources through the alternative service delivery program. …
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