October 31, 2008 - 09:03 | 
susie dow
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promoted by roxy - orginally published 2008-10-3 17:27:22 -1000
In October 2008, ePluribus Media received new census data from Central Command (CENTCOM) in response to an FOIA request filed back in August of 2007. The data provides an overview of the number of contractors working in Iraq: nationalities, agencies they work, approximate number of employees, contract end date, etc. Most of the contracts continue to fall under Department of Defense and defense related agencies as was evidenced in the Census data released in 2007.
Iraq Contractors: Raw Data From CENTCOM Part II
By Susie Dow, ePluribus Media, October 30, 2008
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Comments
163,000 in Iraq?
So, let me get this straight. We have more civilian contractors in Iraq now... almost 6 years into the war ... than we did before the Surge is Working rhetoric?
Please, please, wake me up when this nightmare is over.
Numbers
Hard to say if the numbers have fluctuated over time.
It may be that census gathering has simply become more accurate. So the count for Jan - Mar FY 08 may reflect more accurate data and not necessarily a surge in personnel. Certainly the first census was patchy sometimes omitting or duplicating data.
In theory, Iraqi personnel should be taking over more responsibility as the US starts to wind down its operations in Iraq. Is that what's going on? I have no idea.
Data
SIGIR's Oct 08 report includes a List of Contracts (.xls) from the following:
- The Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF)
- Iraq Security Forces Fund (ISFF)
- Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP)
- Economic Support Fund (ESF)
Cross comparison
There's an enormous amount of data. At one point, I tried merging the data to try and arrive at a searchable database that included the original source as the different sources contained contract numbers as reference points. Unfortunately, the data fields didn't match up as much as I would have liked making it an enormously time consuming project.
I still believe a database of iraq contract information would be worthwhile but it's a huge undertaking.
Answers
my unasked question. Thanks. FWIW, GAO reports the following: