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L-3 MPRI, was a global provider of
private military contractor A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private militar ...
services with customers that included
U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
,
U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
, U.S. Department of Justice,
U.S. Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
, law enforcement agencies, foreign governments, government agencies and commercial businesses. L-3 MPRI was based in
Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
. L-3 MPRI's President was retired US Army General
Bantz J. Craddock Bantz John Craddock (born August 24, 1949) is a former United States Army general. His last military assignment was as Commander, United States European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe from December 2006 to June 30, 2009. He als ...
. The CEO was
Carl E. Vuono Carl Edward Vuono (born October 18, 1934) is a retired United States Army general who served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1987 to 1991. Early life and career Vuono was born on October 18, 1934 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania ...
.


History

Incorporated in 1987 and founded as MPRI by eight former senior military leaders. Former Army Chief of Staff
Carl E. Vuono Carl Edward Vuono (born October 18, 1934) is a retired United States Army general who served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1987 to 1991. Early life and career Vuono was born on October 18, 1934 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania ...
joined MPRI in 1993. General
William F. Kernan General William F. "Buck" Kernan (born January 29, 1946) was born in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was commissioned in November 1968 from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Our L ...
of the U.S. Army also joined the firm after his military service. Acquired in June 2000, L-3 MPRI is a division of L-3 Communications Corporation. L-3 specializes in Command, Control and Communications,
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance ISTAR stands for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employing its sensors and managing t ...
(C3ISR), government services, training and simulation, aircraft modernization and maintenance, and has a broad base of electronic systems. L-3 is also a major provider of homeland defense products and services. L-3 MPRI was included in the spin off L-3's Government Services group to create a new independent company ENGILITY Corporation.


Training

MPRI began by almost exclusively employing retired U.S. military personnel. It used retired military personnel and current
U.S. National Guard The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.Reserve Officer Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
programs at more than 200 universities. Other employees have worked in U.S. Army recruitment centers and trained U.S. soldiers. With offices in other countries, employees also have trained foreign armies at ranges in
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...
,
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...
, and
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
. MPRI had reassured their clients with services from teams of military leaders, law enforcement officers, strategic analysts,
disaster management Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actual ...
experts, and diplomatic and private sector leaders. In 1995 before
Operation Storm }) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...
, there is considerable circumstantial evidence to suggest that MPRI prepared and trained the
Croatian Army The Croatian Army ( hr, Hrvatska kopnena vojska or HKoV) is the largest and most significant component of the Croatian Armed Forces (CAF). Role and deployment The fundamental role and purpose of the Croatian Army is to protect vital national i ...
for its offensive to retake the Krajina region. In April 1995, Democracy Transition Assistance Program (DTAP) training began at the "Petar Zrinski" military school in
Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
. Deborah Avant discusses the controversy in her book ''The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security''. MPRI provided (along with a
French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, cavalry, engineers, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow foreign nationals into the French Army ...
organized training camp in Šepurine near Zadar) mainly training for commissioned officers, but a 1999 study published in the journal of the
U.S. Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officer ...
concluded that the company had no significant intelligence activities or professional influence on senior Croatian military strategy and tactics. , Its engagement was approved by the U.S. government. Local forces in
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...
were referred to MPRI by the
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
and used their training. 120 African leaders and more than 5,500 African troops have been trained by MPRI on security issues. MPRI started training the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for $140 million, after 1995 when the
Dayton Accords The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( Croatian: ''Daytonski sporazum'', Serbian and Bosnian: ''Dejtonski mirovni sporazum'' / Дејтонски мир� ...
were established. On the back of its success in Croatia, MPRI won the approximately $50 million ‘Train and Equip’ contract for the Bosnian Federation army, which ran from July 1996. The training contract was accompanied by an approximately $100 million arms transfer program. The contract began with restructuring the Ministry of Defence and claimed to create a combined logistics system between the initial separate Muslim and Croat armies. While the contractors claimed they had combined the logistics system, assessments made in the 2000s disagreed: ‘the force integration of the Federation army has been superficial and limited to some cooperation at the HQ level.’ The contract also included development of training policy, assisting with unit training, establishment of a central combat training centre, including a school at Hadzici and a field combat simulation centre at Livno. While the facilities may have been constructed, whether the training and logistics systems changes lasted is uncertain, given Maxwell’s assessment. MPRI trained security forces were used to defeat an attack on the presidential palace of
Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...
's long-serving dictator
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (; born 5 June 1942) is an Equatoguinean politician and former military officer who has served as the second president of Equatorial Guinea since August 1979. He is the longest-serving president of any country ev ...
.


Defense contracts

In the early 1990s, MPRI signed a 5-year contract with the U.S. State Department involving the shipment of donated medical supplies and food to former
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
states. In 1998, the government of
Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...
asked MPRI to evaluate its defense systems, particularly its need for a coast guard to protect its
oil reserves An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...
. To be eligible for the job, MPRI needed a license from the U.S. State Department. The Clinton administration rejected the request, citing the West African nation's human rights record. In 2000, after lobbying by MPRI, the State Department issued the license. MPRI did not reveal the terms of its contract with Equatorial Guinea. In 1999 MPRI signed an 18-month, $4.3 million contract to work with military in
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
on the drug war. The contract expired in March 2001 and was not renewed allegedly because the
Colombian Defense Ministry The Ministry of National Defence ( es, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional) is the national executive ministry of the Government of Colombia charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government relating directly to n ...
and its officers were upset by recommendations such as "Hit the enemy with a closed fist; do not poke at him with fingers of an open hand." (Note: this is a maxim of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
German General
Heinz Guderian Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in th ...
.) According to a
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
census, MPRI has at least 500 employees working in Iraq on 12 different contracts including mentoring civilian workers at the
Ministry of Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...
. MPRI under a US Department of Defense contract conducted training and advisory services for the Afghan National Army (ANA). Also supported in various areas logistical and advisory services in regional areas of Afghanistan. MPRI is a contractor for the US State Department Bureau of African Affairs with training in African countries to include Uganda, with emphasis on pre-deployment training of UPDF en route to support African Union initiatives in Somalia.


Lawsuit

A group of
Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of ...
who lived in Krajina until
Operation Storm }) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...
sued MPRI accusing them for "participation in genocide", militarily equipping the
Croatian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Oružane snage Republike Hrvatske – OSRH) is the military service of Croatia. The President is the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, and exercises administrative powers in times of war by giv ...
, training the Croatian officers and developing a plan of Operation Storm. The claim was presented to the Federal Court in Chicago, and plaintiffs were asking for $10.4 billion compensation. On September 26, 2014 the lawsuit was rejected by Judge John Lee because the war in former Yugoslavia is not under jurisdiction of this court.


References

{{reflist, 2


Further reading

* Deborah Avant, 'The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatising Security,' Cambridge University Press, 2005 * Fred Tanner, Security Sector Reform: Lessons from Bosnia and Hercegovina,
Geneva Centre for Security Policy The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) is an international foundation that was established in 1995 under Swiss law to "promote the building and maintenance of peace, security and stability". The GCSP was founded by the Federal Department o ...
, paper prepared for DCAF-IISS Workshop on Security Sector Reform, 23–24 April 2001


External links


America’s For-Profit Secret Army
Companies based in Alexandria, Virginia Private military contractors American companies established in 1987