US agencies sign pact on Iraq security firms

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The Pentagon and U.S. State Department signed a pact Wednesday to improve oversight of private security contractors in Iraq, part of reforms aimed at avoiding incidents that have caused friction with Baghdad.

Senior defense and State officials reached the agreement after a review sparked by a September shooting in Baghdad in which security guards from U.S. firm Blackwater, working for the State Department, are accused of having killed 17 Iraqis.

"We think this a very good and strong memorandum of agreement between our two departments and should vastly improve the coordination and control of private security contractors operating in Iraq," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

The two U.S. agencies with key roles in Iraq sought a "common understanding of how and when force, and particularly deadly force, should be used by private security contractors," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

But Peter Singer, a Brookings Institution expert on private security companies, said key issues remained unresolved.

"The hard questions of legal accountability, tough oversight and management, and just what governmental roles should be done by private contractors or not, these are all still being dodged," he said.

"It's as if we all woke up to the fact that the emperor had no clothes, and so have gathered a study group that concluded the best answer is to ask him to kindly wear a scarf."

PERSISTENT COMPLAINTS

Private security companies have been the subject of persistent complaints by Iraqis, who accuse them of abusing their power and acting like private armies above the law.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in October that guards were responsible for incidents in which "to put it mildly, the Iraqis have been offended and not treated properly."

He said those actions were at odds with the larger U.S. mission of winning support from the Iraqi population.

Wednesday's deal tries to strike a balance between the U.S. military's desire to gain a clearer picture of the actions of private security companies while preserving State Department control over the movements of its personnel.

The pact gives the U.S. military a greater coordination role in the movements of contractors for both the Pentagon and the State Department, but the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad has final authority for the movement of State Department convoys.

The departments also pledge to put in place clear standards for coordinating contractors' operations, investigating incidents and holding guards accountable for transgressions.

The memorandum gives private guards the right to use deadly force to defend themselves or others when they have reason to believe they face the imminent risk of death or serious harm.

Additional authority to use lethal force to protect national security assets or to prevent theft of dangerous property, such as weapons, may be granted to the private guards under specific contract terms, the agreement says.

The killing of the Iraqis on Sept. 16 created tensions between the Iraqi and U.S. governments, and Baghdad took its own steps to tighten controls on contractors.

The security firm Blackwater said its guards acted lawfully after being shot at, but the Iraqi government said the guards "deliberately killed" the 17 people.

Iraq says there are more than 180 mainly U.S. and European security firms in the country, with estimates of the number of individual security contractors between 25,000 and 48,000.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)