G4S Secure Solutions (USA) is an American/British-based security services company, and a subsidiary of G4S plc. It was founded as The Wackenhut Corporation in 1954, in Coral Gables, Florida, by George Wackenhut and three partners. In 2002, the company was acquired for $570 million by Danish corporation Group 4 Falck. In 2010, G4S Wackenhut changed its name to G4S Secure Solutions (USA) to reflect the new business model. The G4S Americas Region headquarters is in Jupiter, Florida.
DynCorp International Inc., was an American private military contractor. Started as an aviation company, the company also provided flight operations support, training and mentoring, international development, intelligence training and support, contingency operations, security, and operations and maintenance of land vehicles. DynCorp received more than 96% of its more than $3 billion in annual revenue from the U.S. federal government. The corporate headquarters were in an unincorporated part of Fairfax County near Falls Church, Virginia, while the company's contracts were managed from its office at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas. DynCorp provided services for the U.S. military in several theaters, including Bolivia, Bosnia, Somalia, Angola, Haiti, Colombia, Kosovo and Kuwait. It also provided much of the security for Afghan president Hamid Karzai's presidential guard and trained much of the police forces of Iraq and Afghanistan. DynCorp was also hired to assist recovery in Louisiana and neighboring areas after Hurricane Katrina. The company held one contract on every round of competition since receiving the first Contract Field Teams contract in 1951.
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 military contractors".
KBR, Inc. is a U.S. based company operating in fields of science, technology and engineering.
G4S is a British multinational private security company headquartered in London, England. The company was set up in July 2004 when London-based Securicor amalgamated with Danish firm Group 4 Falck. The company offers a range of services, including the supply of security personnel, monitoring equipment, response units and secure prisoner transportation. G4S also works with governments overseas to deliver security services.
Academi, formerly known as Blackwater and Blackwater Worldwide, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1997, by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors. In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings.
The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan nonprofit government watchdog group based in Washington, D.C..
Aegis Defence Services is a British private military and private security company with overseas offices in Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Somalia and Mozambique. It is part of the Aegis Group of companies, which includes Aegis LLC, which is based in the United States. It was founded in 2002 by Tim Spicer, who was previously CEO of the private military company Sandline International; Jeffrey Day, an entrepreneur; and Mark Bullough and Dominic Armstrong, former investment bankers.
GardaWorld Corporation is a Canadian private security firm, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, with 120,000 employees as of January 2022. Its U.S. business name is United American Security LLC, dba GardaWorld.
The Award for Heroism is an award of the United States Department of State. It is presented to employees of State, USAID and Marine guards assigned to diplomatic and consular facilities in recognition of acts of courage or outstanding performance under unusually difficult or dangerous circumstances, whether or not in connection with the performance of assigned duties.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 is a law in the United States signed by President George W. Bush on January 28, 2008. As a bill it was H.R. 4986 in the 110th Congress. The overall purpose of the law is to authorize funding for the defense of the United States and its interests abroad, for military construction, and for national security-related energy programs. In a controversial signing statement, President Bush instructed the executive branch to construe Sections 841, 846, 1079, and 1222 "in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President".
Hugo Llorens is a retired American diplomat. He is a former U.S. Special Chargé d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, (2016–17) and United States Ambassador to Honduras (2008–2011). In his 36-year career he was posted to numerous countries spanning 6 continents. In 2002–2003, he joined the White House staff and served as Director of Andean Affairs advising the President and National Security Advisor on issues pertaining to Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador.
Earl Anthony Wayne is an American diplomat. Formerly Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, Ambassador to Argentina and Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan, Wayne served nearly four years as Ambassador to Mexico. He was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate in August, 2011. He departed Mexico City for Washington July 31, 2015 and retired from the State Department on September 30, 2015. Wayne attained the highest rank in the U.S. diplomatic service: Career Ambassador. He is currently a Professorial Lecturer and Distinguished Diplomat in Residence at American University's School of International Service where he teaches courses related to diplomacy and US foreign policy. Wayne also works with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Atlantic Council, the Center for Strategic and International Studies,. Wayne is co-chair of the Mexico Institute's Advisory Board at the Wilson Center. He is also on the board of the American Academy of Diplomacy and the Public Diplomacy Council of America. Wayne is an independent consultant, speaker and writer and works with several not-for-profit professional associations. He was an adviser for HSBC Latin America on improving management of financial crime risk from 2015 until 2019 and served on the board of the American Foreign Service Association from 2017 to 2019.
Watan Group is a company based in Afghanistan that provides telecommunications, logistics and security services. It is owned by the Popal brothers who are believed to be cousins of former Afghan President, Hamid Karzai. They are from the Popalzai sub-tribe, to which Ahmad Shah Durrani, often regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan, and several of Afghanistan's former leaders belong.
The Office of theSpecial Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) is the U.S. government's leading oversight authority on Afghanistan reconstruction. Congress created the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction to provide independent and objective oversight of the Afghanistan Reconstruction funds. Under the authority of Section 1229 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, SIGAR seeks to conducts audit, inspections, and investigations to promote efficiency and effectiveness of reconstruction programs, and to detect and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. SIGAR also has a hotline that allows individuals to report suspected fraud.
The Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF) was a Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) security service provider intended to protect people, infrastructure, facilities and construction projects. The APPF is organized as a State Owned Enterprise (SOE) subordinate to GIRoA's Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and is designed to contract with both domestic and international customers for security services within Afghanistan. Between 20 March 2012 and 20 March 2013, the APPF will replace all non-diplomatic Private Security Companies (PSCs) in Afghanistan as the sole provider of pay-for-service security requirements. APPF guards have no mandate to investigate crimes or arrest suspects.
Triple Canopy, Inc., is an American private security company and private military company (PMC) that provides armed security, mission support, and risk management services to corporate and government clients. The firm was founded in May 2003 by United States Army Special Forces veterans, including former Delta Force operators. In June 2014, the firm merged with rival security contracting firm Academi, formerly Blackwater, to form Constellis Group, with Craig Nixon, the former CEO of Academi, becoming the CEO of Constellis Group, and training facilities being consolidated at the existing Academi training facility in North Carolina. It was staffed by, among others, a number of former Army Special Operations personnel, Green Berets, Rangers, SEALs, MARSOC Raiders, other special operations personnel, and several law enforcement officers. At the time of the merger, over 5,000 employees were working for Triple Canopy.
G4S describes itself as "the world's leading provider of security solutions" and provides security services for over 40 embassies around the world, works as stewards at football stadiums and runs over six British prisons, operates prisoner tagging schemes, assists within the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the United Kingdom, and provides administrative roles to the health and education sectors. The company operates as a subsidiary of an American security services provider Allied Universal since April 2021.
On June 20, 2016, at around 0600 AFT, a suicide bombing attack claimed to be conducted by the Taliban or the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-KP) hit a convoy of Canadian embassy security guards en route to the embassy in Kabul. The attack took place in the ninth police district in the Benayi area, Kabul, Afghanistan. Thirteen Nepalese and two Indian contractors were killed in the attack.
The Embassy of the United Kingdom in Kabul was the United Kingdom's diplomatic mission to Afghanistan. The British first established a diplomatic mission, a legation, in 1922 after the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919. The Viceroy of India George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston ordered that a large and opulent compound be constructed and this was completed in 1927. The legation was withdrawn in the Kabul Airlift as a result of the 1928-29 civil war but was re-established in 1930. The legation became an embassy in 1948 but this was withdrawn in 1989 following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. The embassy compound was handed over to Pakistan in 1994. Following the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan an embassy was re-established at a new site in the Wazir Akbar Khan District. The embassy, on the edge of Kabul's secure zone, was considered vulnerable to attack in 2018 and consideration was given to a new site, but did not proceed. Following the start of the 2021 withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan there has been speculation that the embassy might close.
