Foro de Inteligencia, Espionaje y Servicios Secretos

American Defense Contractors Mark Five Years as Hostages
By James T. deGraffenreid, publisher, Serviam

Would the American public tolerate another hostage crisis in which armed fanatics held U.S. diplomats or soldiers captive for year after year?

Of course not.

Why the double standard with American civilians who work on contract for the Pentagon?

February 13 marks the fifth anniversary of the kidnapping of three American defense contractors by Colombian narcoterrorists. Thomas Howes, Keith Stansell and Marc Gonsalves were flying a counternarcotics mission on contract for the U.S. Department of Defense in 2003 when their plane went down in territory controlled by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) insurgents. The FARC captured and quickly murdered pilot Thomas Janis, an American citizen, and Colombian intelligence officer Luis Alcides Cruz, and took Howes, Stansell and Gonsalves hostage.

The Americans were contract employees of Northrop Grumman’s California Microwave Systems subsidiary, which ran the US SOUTHCOM Reconnaissance System on contract to collect intelligence in FARC-dominated areas in Colombia. FARC receives territorial sanctuary and other forms of support from the government of Venezuela.

Janis, a decorated Vietnam veteran, was a retired Army chief warrant officer. “I did my darndest to talk him out of the job,” said his widow, Judith, “but Tom was a soldier and this was just another way of being a soldier.”

Unlike soldiers, who usually are sent into combat zones with plenty of backup, the Pentagon contractors did their dangerous work with no significant military support. And that’s the point: Contractors at the tip of the spear often operate in far more dangerous conditions than our uniformed warfighters. When they get in trouble, they’re often on their own.

Captive Howes is an experienced counternarcotics pilot. Stansell is a systems analyst. Gonsalves is an imagery processor. Their families, who visited Colombia together last September, are suffering beyond belief.

The State Department reports that the Colombian government has been extraordinarily helpful in trying to release the Americans. Congressional pressure on the Colombian government to secure the hostages’ release, however, has been misguided. President Alvaro Uribe is a staunch U.S. ally and sworn enemy of the FARC narcoguerrillas. Uribe, whose father was murdered by terrorists, needs no incentives and certainly no pressure. He planned military operations to rescue the hostages, but held back because of the high probability that the American captives would be killed in the process. Uribe has been trying to get Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, who sympathizes with the FARC, to secure the hostages’ release. As of this writing, Chavez has failed to do so.

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) has been one of the captured private military contractors’ main champions on Capitol Hill. “I have a special interest in the fate of Marc Gonsalves, whose mother, Jo Rosano, is a Connecticut resident. Marc’s father, George Gonsalves, is also a resident of our state. At every opportunity, I have worked to bring about the release of these three Americans,” Dodd said in a statement marking the kidnapping.

The Bush administration has worked closely with Colombia on the best means to secure the contractors’ release. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the country in October and came back convinced of President Uribe’s seriousness. “I know that Colombia is doing everything in its power to secure the release of the hostages, and anything we can do to help this process we would be happy to contribute,” the Pentagon chief said.

“Any attempt at a rescue would have to be very, very carefully thought through and [would depend on] the circumstances and the quality of intelligence,” Gates said after meeting with Uribe.

“Everything would have to be just right. Priority has to be on the safe return of the hostages. My view is that it probably requires more patience,” said Gates.

Maybe so. But have we really pulled out all the stops?

The State Department is offering up to $5 million for information leading to the apprehension or conviction of anyone involved in the murder of Janis or the kidnapping of the other three contractors through its Rewards for Justice program. Rewards for Justice funds secured actionable intelligence that enabled Colombia to capture a senior FARC member.

But again: Is the U.S. government really doing enough to free the American hostages? Is it really doing everything, the way we would expect it to do for our troops?

Somehow it doesn’t seem that way.

Another reason why the private military and security contractor business is so dangerous: Its people do the job that the military can’t or won’t do, and often without the protections they need.