Contractors were hired to oversee interrogations

Some contractors working at U.S.-run prisons and military locations in Iraq were expected to oversee, monitor and manage security and intelligence-related activities, including the interrogation of detainees, government contracting documents show. The description of their work stands in contrast to the picture painted in the wake of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, when officials indicated military personnel were in charge of operations at U.S. sites.

The job descriptions are detailed in two task orders awarded to military contractor CACI International and obtained by Government Executive under the Freedom of Information Act. They show that while mid- to lower-level contractors were expected to operate within the military hierarchy, senior-level "advisers" would work directly with military commanders and, at times, oversee and manage the activities of the subordinate contractors, who interrogated detainees and analyzed the information obtained from them.

One statement of work for intelligence and interrogation services supplied for the Army says the adviser "oversees…interrogation operations and HUMINT [human intelligence] reporting," and was expected to "prepare plans and issue orders to conduct the daily operations of his human intelligence teams."

The adviser position "is designed to assist the [military] commander in the management and oversight of HUMINT operations, and performs all duties as a member of the [Army general] staff," the document says.

In another work statement for an adviser to coalition military commanders, the contractor was asked to "provide oversight and other directed intelligence support to [coalition] screening and interrogation operations, with special emphasis on high-value detainees" -- the military's designation for prisoners thought to be holding particularly useful information, possibly about insurgent attacks in Iraq.

The senior advisers comprised a small percentage of the overall interrogator and analyst workforce, which the documents show totaled nearly 80 employees.

The work statements required all contractors to have between five and ten years of interrogation and intelligence experience, and to know the military's procedures for interrogation operations and to be familiar with the computer systems used to store and analyze information obtained from detainees.

The adviser to the Army was required to have a minimum of 10 years of field experience, according to the work statement. "Individuals must be knowledgeable of Army/Joint interrogation procedures, data processing systems ... [and] must have a current top secret clearance." Most employees were hired to work 12 hours per day, six days a week. Military officials had final say on who would be hired for the positions.

The contractors were expected to work in fixed locations, such as detention facilities, holding areas, bases or camps and other installations, in order to free up military intelligence units to perform missions elsewhere in Iraq, the documents show. However, the contractors were not to be armed or used in combat operations.

Given the level of familiarity with proprietary military systems and procedures required for employment, military commanders could have expected that potential contractors might be former military intelligence officers. A CACI subsidiary originally held the contract with the government that was used to supply the interrogators and intelligence workers. That company, Premier Technology Group Inc., was reportedly founded and largely staffed by former military intelligence officials.

CACI bought Premier in May 2003 to obtain its military intelligence business, and gained the rights to the contract. For the work in Iraq, the military didn't procure the services directly, but sought out a unit in the Interior Department, known as the National Business Center, that conducts procurement on behalf of other agencies for a fee. Military commanders in Iraq specifically requested that the business center hire the contractors from Premier, through CACI, according to Interior officials.

An Interior spokesman said that Army personnel "supervised the contract workers on site in Iraq," and if officials chose to use the workers as supervisors, "that was an Army decision and not necessarily a violation of contract rules."

"The Army writes the specs for the jobs, sets the policy for how these contract workers will be used and has supervisory responsibility for all contract workers," said the spokesman, Frank Quimby.

For its part, CACI said it posted job notices to hire interrogators and received about 1,600 resumes. The company said it approved less than 3 percent of them for submission to the military, and that less than 2 percent have been employed in Iraq. "At all times the U.S. government has had and continues to have oversight of all of our employees reporting for work," the company said in a statement.