Outsourcing Security: Private Military Contractors and U.S. Foreign Policy

I liked the case study approach to finding out when, where, and how many contractors (two kinds) were used to supplement deployments overseas. The use of statistics was B.S. to me since the number of cases added together to create a data set is simply too small to make any real conclusions.The important thing to glean from this book are the thresholds of putting money forth to protect national interests... the tightening budget and national debts have a strong influence upon those thresholds. I’ve said enough as it is for smarter readers to pick up this book.To me, this book is a good starter for understanding where/when actual foreign mercenaries come into play by much smaller sovereign countries. The game of poker comes to mind in terms of anteeing up troops as a deterrent/bluff against other small players attempting to seize control over local resources. Instead of mass mobilizations to keep control over an area, smaller forces of higher quality can be used to deter more sloppy and belligerent forces from abusing the populace.

I recently purchased and read this book as I am interested in assigning it to a future graduate-level course. I’ve taught courses on International Defense Strategies, American Foreign Policy, and Global Security Threats and this book would be a great fit in these courses and many more related to Military Science, Political Science, and Security Studies. The case studies on former operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are relevant to contemporary political and security issues. Perhaps the greatest strength of this book for a graduate-level course is that it offers a great example of mixed methods and shows students how to use the complementary quantitative and qualitative methods in an easily accessible format. Thus, I also recommend this book for introductory courses in applied methodology. Even if the reader isn’t well-versed in these methods, the chapter summaries provide a coherent analyses of the research findings.I highly recommend this book for scholars or practitioners interested in learning more about the use of private security contractors or instructors looking for an example of social science research with policy-relevant content.

This book offers a clear and concise analysis of America's use of private military contractors in combat. The author supports his thesis using a mixed methods approach, and presents his findings in a way that makes the book both useful to scholars and accessible to readers from a wide range of academic backgrounds. This book would be particularly useful in an upper-level undergraduate or graduate course on US Army operations, offering insight into topics ranging from funding and sustaining the war to the impact of contractors on national strategy and public opinion.This study demonstrates that America's use of private military contractors to augment combat forces has both a long history and a significant effect on the character of America's wars. Further, it reveals that America's use of private military contractors is likely to continue into the future. Debates regarding the use of such contractors in recent wars makes this book as relevant and timely as it is clear and convincing. Highly recommended.

An academic work which introduces the reader to many interesting aspects relating to the rise of PMC's and PSC's in recent decades. Not an easy read - but an in depth analysis at almost degree level.