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Isenberg Video
- Here and There with Dave Marash, February 3, 2015
- Sep. 2, 2014 Al Jazeera English segment on Blackwater trial - Comment by David Isenberg
- Jan 2, 2010, Al Jazzeera (English), re Judge Urbina’s dismissal of charges against Blackwater contractors
- June 28, 2010. heard in “Controversy over CIA Blackwater contract,” The World
- August 17, 2010, on C-Span III, speaks on private military contracting
- Examining the role of the military contractor
- Has the Privatization of National Security Gone Too Far? The Future of Military Contracting, November 14, 2008, 9:30-11:00am, New America Foundation
- David Isenberg on PressTV - US contractor with poor ratings hired again
- Outsourcing War and Peace – Video
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Author Archives: David Isenberg
Kenyan Mercenary Francis Ndarua Claims Viral Video Was Staged Amid Harsh Reality in Russia
Kenyan Mercenary Francis Ndarua Claims Viral Video Was Staged Amid Harsh Reality in Russia Posted Mon, 08/24/2026 @ 05:22pm By Mwakilishi 🕑 3 min read 56 views FacebookXLinkedInEmailWhatsAppCopy LinkShare Kenyan mercenary… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading
Latin American Mercenaries Reportedly Suffer Heavy Losses in Ukraine
Latin American Mercenaries Reportedly Suffer Heavy Losses in Ukraine © North Atlantic Treaty Organization / www.nato.int Author: Dmitry Lukashev 00:42 25-08-2026 A Kharkov official says Latin American mercenaries fighting for Ukraine… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading
Posted in Casualties, Latin America, Ukraine
Tagged Casualties, Latin America, Russia
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Wagner Group: Russian mercenary group
PMC (private military company) Wagner was created as a legal entity in Russia in December 2022, but the mercenary group’s activities predate its official founding by nearly a decade. Because Wagner has spent most of its existence in a gray area of plausible deniability, its origins and organizational structure are, by design, murky. The most credible account of the group’s creation involves Dmitry Utkin, a former GRU and Spetsnaz officer, and a short-lived mercenary company called the Slavonic Corps. The Slavonic Corps was formed in 2013 to provide support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian Civil War, but the unit was routed in its first engagement, a clash with fighters from the Islamic State (ISIL) outside Homs in October 2013. In early 2014 Utkin became associated with a GRU-backed mercenary company that drew at least part of its membership from the Slavonic Corps, and its name—Wagner—was reportedly derived from Utkin’s former radio call sign. Continue reading
Ossoff calls for answers from private military housing developer, continues investigations
“I have heard concerns from my constituents that Balfour Beatty Communities (BBC) is not preparing units in the time necessary for an incoming family to be able to move into upon their permanent change of station (PCS),” Sen. Ossoff reportedly wrote to CEO Jennifer Hill. “Servicemembers and their families give the greatest sacrifice for our Nation; we must ensure that we provide for them at home.” Continue reading
Posted in Companies, Outsourcing/Privatization
Tagged Companies, Outsourcing/Privatization
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Criminal links of South Africa’s private security companies also require scrutiny
Whether for good reasons or bad, many South Africans have been thrust into public prominence by appearing before the Madlanga Commission or Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee inquiries into political interference, and crime and corruption in the police and criminal justice system. Perhaps the most infamous of these is tender tycoon and criminal suspect Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala. Continue reading
Oklahoma Voice: Military contractor aircraft surveil Arizona’s southern border for undisclosed mission
Military contractor aircraft equipped with high-end surveillance gear has been flying along the United States southern border above Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for months. The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security won’t elaborate on what the aircraft are doing. Continue reading
Blackwater founder Erik Prince creates air defence venture with Kyiv
Erik Prince, the founder of the private military contractor Blackwater—which operates today under the name Academi—has established a new enterprise, Vectus Air Defense Systems, that applies a paid subscription model to its air defence systems.
According to a report by the Financial Times (FT), the new company will operate on an “air defence as a service” principle based on software subscriptions. Under multi-year contracts, it will design, install, and maintain multi-layered air defence systems.
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A mercenary from the UK was sentenced in Moscow
In Moscow, a mercenary from the UK was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment in absentia, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said. Continue reading
The Tuareg and jihadist alliance of Mali releases two Russian mercenaries after two years of kidnapping
Two Russian military contractors linked to the Africa Corps have been released after spending two years held by the Tuareg and jihadist coalition fighting against the military junta of Mali, a release achieved thanks to the intervention of Moscow and high-ranking officials of the Libyan Army. Continue reading
PRIVATE EQUITY & THE PMSC INDUSTRY: From Guards-for-Hire to Integrated Military Capability Platforms, 1990–2050
The private military and security contracting (PMSC) industry is no longer well described as a market for armed guards. Its contemporary form spans armed and expeditionary security, military logistics, aviation support, intelligence, cyber operations, training, engineering, and government mission support. Private equity (PE) has been one of the principal forces behind that broadening. Through leveraged buyouts, platform acquisitions, roll-ups, and recapitalizations, PE sponsors have converted what were once relatively narrow contractors into large, diversified government-services enterprises capable of selling states integrated packages of military and security capability.
This report ranks the private-equity firms most consequential to that transformation; examines six portfolio companies — Amentum, Peraton, ManTech, GardaWorld, Allied Universal/G4S, and Constellis — as six distinct models of PE-driven institutionalization; compiles a 50-entry database of PE–PMSC transactions; and projects the industry’s trajectory to 2050. Continue reading