Exposing UN Congo Corruption 'On-the-Record'

by Tom McGregor @ DallasBlog.com (Click for story)

A United Nations' official terminated from his job for trying to wipe out corruption from the UN mission in Congo sent an 'on-the-record' email to the Dallas Blog. He provides some interesting tidbits of information about Kosovo as well. Here's a copy-and-paste of his email in its entirety:

However, it should be clarified the letter is addressed to a person named "Matthew," who apparently is working for the U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of New York. However, it could not be determined what position "Matthew" holds since his last name is not mentioned, so a "Google" search could not be conducted on the mysterious "Matthew."

Dear Tom,

Congratulations for your article "UN Whistle-blowers Get Salaries for Silence".
During my time in UN, I was not a simple whistle-blower, I spoke about corruption, very openly.
I officially request (many times) for enquires, investigations, etc.. but nothing happened ...
I tried everything, to have things clarified, but ...
Maybe the history below is interesting to you.
Best Regards,

Oscar.

I am a former UN DPKO Staff Member. I worked, first inKosovo (UNMIK) from 2000 to 2001, and then in Congo(MONUC) from 2001 to 2002. I was the Chief, EDP Section (today, Information Technologies). Because of my position, I was very well involved with IT equipment requisitions, biddings analysis, procurement, deliveries, … etc.. and mainly to the ones dealing with the Indian companies (Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd - TCIL, Thunderbird Industries LLC, … etc..). Most of these “activities” very well connected to "irregular" provisions of contractual staff, as well as to US$ millions in “missing” equipment (computers, radio-communication, tele-communication, … etc..) in both UN Missions.

In 2000, after a duty mission to UN DPKO Logistics Base inBrindisi , I realized many “wrong-doing” activities. Investigating them further, I found many, many of them. I wrote related reports, and I tried – for all ways – to call the attention of my supervisors, about the so many, so many bizarre cases, in two of the UN DPKO Sections: “EDP” and “Communications” (today, both are merged in one: “CIT”, Communications and Information Technology Section), without success.

Thanks to personal contacts, I succeeded to meet Mr. Dileep NAIR in Prishtina, Kosovo and Ms. Esther STERN in Kinshasa , Congo . I fully brief them, about many different cases, providing substantial and extensive documentation, but … nothing happened … Oh, sorry ! Yes, something happened: I lost my job ! …

In the Congo Mission, only for one-year budget (2001-2002), I discover that US$ 8 Million in IT equipment was considered“missing”, in related budget listings (Here, I should say that most of the “in house developed” computerized applications, done by DPKO CIT, were completely useless, … maybe related to some “interests”. The “funny” issue was that all this equipment appeared in different UN DPKO budget documents as … already"delivered" (?!?) Following many complains and discussions, I succeeded to “recover” US$ 3 Million, but for the other US$ 5 Million … the common answer always was: “… nobody knows where they are”.

It was investigating about this "missing" equipment, that I discovered many “funny”, related and completely uncontrolled systems. Systems that fully profited different “holes” in the UN Control Procedures, like the one called “inter-mission equipment movement”. A very important part of the most expensive CIT equipment was declared “missing”, following these “transfers”. Another “funny” related method consisted in keeping, new and very expensive equipment, in the CIT Warehouses. Following some “funny” rules, all equipment, after two years in the warehouse, "must" be declared “obsolete”. Afterwards, most of this equipment also “disappeared” and again: … “nobody knows where they are”. When you realize that, only a satellite dish (of a total of near 100, bought only using the MONUC 2001-2002 budget) costs ~US$ 150,000 Dollars ! The market streets in Kinshasa , and other main Congolese cities, were full of all this equipment !! … complete and/or in pieces …

Galaxy, the current UNHQ automated recruitment system, was developed using the funds of the … Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). The project leader (... we are talking about a "recruitment" system) was invited to leave (not fired) UN because it was discovered that his diplomas and certifactes were ... fakes !

Galileo, the current UNHQ automated recovery system, was developed using the funds of the Mission in Congo MONUC).

If somebody, quickly analyses the real costs of these “in-house” developed systems (there are so many, so many others, similar ones …): staff, premises, hardware, software, logistics, administrative, … will found out that they cost in reality: 50 to 100 times, the price of any similar system, currently in the market. Now if somebody takes the time, and analyses them deeply, the found-outs will shake the foundations of UN and DPKO.

The same will happened with contracts, as the one made with the Indian company TCIL, for the supply of “contractors”.

I will never forget the IT “needs” and “requirements” of PAE Daher, the aviation company, to operate the airports in Congo . They were requesting equipment, “sufficient” to operate … all airports in … Africa !

It looks like, UN DPKO “did not learn the lesson” of … IMIS (an other white elephant in UN costing hundreds of US$ millions)

The fact is that, soon after my arrival to the UN DPKO Mission in Congo (MONUC) a real “hunting process” was prepared and performed against me; using a series of incredible methods and unacceptable behaviours, found only in illegal or mafiosi organizations. It was really disgusting !

In April 2003, I wrote a complete report, fully documented, requesting for an investigation (please, see attached document), but, as usual, nothing happened.

By now, 4 years after !!! I found amazing that most of the cases I mentioned in my report are fully related to some of the current judicial cases and processes for corruption, money-laundering conspiracy, fraud and ill-gotten bribes cases, scheduled in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, againstSanjaya BAHEL (UN Staff), Nishan KOHLI (Indian businessman -- TCIL, Thunderbird, ... etc..), Alexander YAKOVLEV (UN Staff) and Vladimir KUZNETSOV (UN Staff).

If you have contacts in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and if they considered it necessary, I could help them, been a witness, in the corruption cases.

Matthew, I would like to help -- as much as possible – all related actions and activities, to avoid – as much as possible – more corruption in UN DPKO. I would like also help in the current re-organization process; mainly in what I know very well: Information and Communication Technologies. This is the main purpose of this message to you.

Thanks indeed of your kind attention.

Kind Regards,

Oscar.

PS. In case, you need more related information or documentation please, let me know.

Mr. Oscar FIESTAS-TEJADA
Strasbourg , France

PS. These are some extracts of a related book, written by a former UN Auditor, ... never published:

…

Where are the Auditors ?

"Edwin, can we meet?"
"Sure," I said, "What's up?"
"I have something to show you."

This was Oscar, the chief of EDP in MONUC, the Congo .

My auditors and I were auditing EDP and telecommunications assets. Oscar impressed me early on when after drafting a questionnaire to assess the level of user satisfaction with telecommunications support in the mission I sent the draft to a few high-tech types for comment before finalizing it.

Oscar was one of them. He took time to redo the questionnaire in a manner that improved its usefulness for the purpose intended. It was clear to me that I was dealing with someone very knowledgeable about the subject. He was clearly a professional and stood head and shoulders above the other people I had come to value in that position.

That meeting took place that same day in my office.

"What do you have?" I asked.
"Just this," Oscar said handing me a spreadsheet analysis of assets under his control. It showed that he was missing nearly $4.8 million in assets procured by Headquarters under his budget.

"Oscar," I said, "can you walk me through the methodology you used?"
Oscar explained that he took all the requisitions against his budget that became purchase orders. He then used those purchase orders to track down all the assets he should have received, and the result was that missing $4.8 million.

That many assets missing from a budget somewhere between $20 and $30 million was a loss rate of almost 20 percent.

I forwarded the results to Headquarters for follow-up; I never heard back.

What made Oscar's case unique was that soon afterwards I started to hear ramblings about his management style. Soon thereafter, his character was being made an issue and there were obvious distortions about his overall conduct. They would say things like "Oscar is difficult to deal with."

As is usually the case in the UN, Oscar received a bad evaluation and when he tried to rebut it, the rebuttal panel took it upon
itself to literally investigate the man. Nothing was spared. It was mainly about the man's character and very little about his performance.

Soon after I left MONUC, rumours started to circulate his contract would not be renewed. Oscar's fate was sealed.

The connection between his discovery of missing assets and his demise was not lost on me. The problem in the UN is once a person is targeted the bureaucracy has little difficulty making their character an issue.

This was not the only case where the auditors were conspicuous by their absence.

The Fear Factor among Auditors

If staffing posts with the right people is a major issue, the failure to act by those with a duty to act is another. I personally believe this derives directly from having the wrong people in place.

Staff members report apparent wrongdoing to auditors who quickly find out their supervisors are reluctant to pursue these leads. At the end of the day, both auditors and staff are discouraged, and wrongdoing continues on unchecked.

A case in point was Oscar, the Chief of Electronic Data Processing in the Congo when I was there. Oscar was professional, efficient, and knowledgeable. When he showed me data he had amassed demonstrating that he was missing nearly $4.8 million in assets procured by Headquarters under his budget, he had everything carefully documented.

That many assets missing from a budget that was in total somewhere between $20 and $30 million was a loss rate of almost 20 percent.
I forwarded the results to Headquarters for follow-up. I never heard back.

Soon afterwards, I started to hear ramblings about Oscar's management style and obvious distortions about his management style.

Next, Oscar received a bad evaluation, and when he tried to rebut it, the rebuttal panel took it upon itself to investigate the man.

The end result was a report that went beyond the terms of reference of a rebuttal panel, which is supposed to confine itself to the disputed issues in the performance evaluation.

Rumours soon started to circulate that Oscar's contract would not be renewed. Oscar's fate was sealed.

The connection between his discovery of missing assets and his demise was not lost on me. The problem in the UN is once a person is targeted, the bureaucracy has little difficulty unfairly making that person's character an issue through rumour and innuendo. Oscar had every right to look to the auditors to investigate his discovery.

In the end, Oscar left the UN, asking the same question member states have been asking: ²"Where are the auditors" ?

tmcgregordallas@yahoo.com

UN Whistleblowers Get Salaries for Silence

by Tom McGregor @ DallasBlog.com (Click for story)

Many wonder if the United Nations is corrupt. They hear many stories of allegations of corruptions, but rarely do whistleblowers speak on-the-record about these allegations. Well, that’s because the United Nations uses American taxpayers’ dollars to pay the salaries of whistleblowers.

Here’s the strategy all UN employees are required to sign non-disclosure forms when they get hired by the U.N. They are offered a generous salary with benefits. They can’t get fired for incompetence, but they can get fired for whistle-blowing on the UN.

If a UN employee is discovered to expose corruption in the UN then they lose their good salary and do not qualify for a pension that keeps them quiet for the rest of their lives. But if a pension isn’t good enough, the UN has a system in place that allows whistle-blowers to file a lawsuit with the UN bureaucracy.

This lawsuit is clever too. When reaching a settlement, the UN finds out how much they must pay the whistle-blower to stay silent and reach an agreement through a non-disclosure settlement. UN employees even receive salaries for not working, so long as they don’t speak on-the-record with the media.

Tmcgregordallas@yahoo.com

Ex-UN official opposes re-election of UN's Ban

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS ON

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The former head of the internal oversight office of the United Nations, who quit last year accusing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of poor leadership, said on Thursday his re-election would be an embarrassment.

Ban's first five-year term expires at the end of the year. He has not so far formally announced that he will stand for a second term, but is widely expected to do so.

Inga-Britt Ahlenius of Sweden, who led the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) until last July, repeated criticism from her end-of-assignment report that the world body was "falling apart" and "drifting into irrelevance" under Ban. The confidential report was leaked to media at the time.

"If my report, which is read and known by all in the secretariat ... becomes widely known, I think it would be pretty embarrassing if he was re-elected. Because that would show that the superpowers could not care less whether the U.N. is a relevant organisation or not," Ahlenius said.

Presenting a book co-written with a journalist on what she called the "decay" of the United Nations, she said mismanagement of the U.N. secretariat affected the organisation's ability to carry out its tasks.

Diplomats give the South Korean U.N. chief a good chance of re-election since he has avoided big conflicts with key powers the United States and China, as well as other permanent members of the Security Council. The council makes a recommendation which is then voted on by the 192-nation General Assembly.

But Ahlenius said that while Washington appeared comfortable with Ban, some member states were critical of him. She hoped her report, and book if translated into English, would make other countries "see that the U.N. can't survive with a person that can't lead the organisation."

She also said the secretary-general should serve one term only, although she suggested that could be extended to six or seven years from the current five.

"The secretary-general should absolutely, in my opinion, have one time-limited mandate," she said. "That would prevent the person concerned being too flexible towards the superpowers and spending too much time on his re-election," she said.

During her time as head of the OIOS, which carries out internal disciplinary inquiries, Ahlenius feuded with Ban over her powers of appointment.

She said he had undermined her unit by preventing her from appointing a former U.S. attorney as head of the OIOS investigations unit. Ban said he was simply following U.N. procedures.

How many DESA managers have conflict of interests?

REFORM U.N. DESA is embarking in a new quest - in the coming days, weeks and months we will publish proof of direct conflict of interest and collusion of many UN-DESA Chiefs of Branches, Directors of Divisions as well as ASGs and USGs.

We will also disclose how many of them have complied so far with the United Nations Financial Disclosure Policy and make transparent to the naked eye of every UN-DESA staff as well as public the falsity of U.N. system.

Today our question is:

IS THERE ANY MANAGER IN DESA WHO HAVE NOT DISCLOSED YET A DIRECT CONFLICT OF INTEREST ?

Was the U.N. Protecting Phony Treaties?

by George Russell at FOXNEWS.COM (CLICK HERE FOR STORY ON FOXNEWS)

The controversy involving a United Nations-affiliated organization that uses members of President Barack Obama's Kenyan family to tout its anti-hunger campaign deepened this week, when Fox News learned that the two treaties upon which the group bases its U.N. credentials may be fakes.

The government of Italy, which supposedly signed the treaties used to give the organization international standing, told Fox News this week that it never did so. And neither treaty is included in a database maintained by Italy's Foreign Ministry of treaties that Italy considers binding and valid.

Fox News questions to the U.N. about the matter earlier this week produced one immediate result: by January 13, the two documents had disappeared from the U.N.'s official registry of international treaties, where they were installed in 2001, as ordered by the U.N. Charter itself, which ordains in Article 102 that "Every treaty and every international agreement entered into by any Member of the United Nations...shall as soon as possible be registered with the Secretariat and published by it."

Fox News' latest series of questions to the U.N about the treaties were sent on the morning of January 12.

But the sudden disappearance of the documents only added to the questions surrounding the treaties and the U.N.'s custodianship of them. Diplomatic sources tell Fox News that the U.N. has known that Italy views the treaties that it supposedly signed as phony for nearly two years—since February 26, 2009, when Italy formally requested that the U.N. remove its name from the documents. Only after Fox News initiated its latest queries did the U.N. do so.

Italy's desire to have its name removed may well have been part of the vanishing official record too, since archival records previously obtained by Fox News show that a "communication" from Italy was registered with the treaty on February 27,2009—the day after Italy's Foreign Ministry delivered its removal request . (Fox News weeks ago asked the U.N. treaty collection for a copy of the "communication" but got no reply.)

Click here for the record of the "communication"

On January 12, diplomatic sources had told Fox News that Italy was continuing to pursue its campaign that the U.N. correct its official record through discreet diplomatic channels, with the aim of having its name completely erased from the documents.

Adding further to the mystery, diplomatic sources tell Fox News that it was the U.N. itself that first raised questions with Italy about the treaties and the organizations they create, back in October, 2008. The exact nature of that communication remains confidential.

How did the tainted treaties become part of the world's most important legal record in the first place? What did the United Nations know about them before Italy did?

Fox News has asked these and a number of related questions of the U.N. Secretariat over the past several days, but has not yet received replies.

The strange case of the tainted treaties adds a new dimension to the controversy surrounding the Intergovernmental Institution for the Use of Micro-Algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM), which claims its main purpose is to make spirulina, a type of algae, "a key-driver to eradicate malnutrition, achieve food security and bridge the health divide with a special priority for the developing world and the least developed countries." Fox News first raised questions about the organization's supposed connection to the United Nations earlier this year.

IIMSAM has reinforced its claim of U.N. affiliate status with a steady flow of press releases since 2006, urging support for its work; extolling the health and nutritional advantages of spirulina platensis, a common algae that is used as a dietary supplement and fish food; issuing elaborate statements on various U.N. issues; and announcing partnerships and projects involving various organizations, corporations international institutions and individuals—including the Obama family. IIMSAM claims an office address in Rome and maintains a suite of offices in mid-town Manhattan.

IIMSAM has habitually claimed that it is "registered under the United Nations Treaty Series Number 37542-37543 dated 7th of June 2001," which are the index numbers in the U.N. Treaty Collection for the documents rejected by Italy.

It has sporadically issued press releases announcing new adherents to the "IIMSAM treaty," which do not show up in the U.N. registry. In May, 2009, for example, it announced that Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetang'ula had done so, resulting in "IIMSAM’s full diplomatic recognition by Kenya."

It has also, in the past, claimed among other things that it carried out operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the aid of such organizations as the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department. When contacted by Fox News, the office of the E.C.'s Humanitarian Commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva, denied ever having had contact with IIMSAM under any circumstances.

IIMSAM not only advertises that President Obama's grandmother, Sarah, and his uncle, Saidi, are "goodwill ambassadors" for the organization, but told Fox News in an interview last month that President Obama himself knows about IIMSAM and his family’s involvement. The White House has denied any knowledge of the organization.

After Fox News publicized the White House position, IIMSAM removed a photo from its website showing a youthful Barack Obama with his grandmother in Kenya, but continues to tout the Obama family connection. The Obama photo currently remains in a video clip extolling spirulina on the IIMSAM website.

IIMSAM claims something called "de facto diplomatic status on U.S. soil," something a State Department official told Fox News he had never heard of.

IIMSAM also has claimed on the home page of its website that it is a "Permanent Observer to the United Nations Economic and Social Council" (ECOSOC)—a designation that does not exist. To date, the U.N. has not answered questions from Fox News about what it is doing to prevent IIMSAM from using the fictitious designation.

Early on the morning of January 13, however, IIMSAM abruptly took down the claim of that status from its home page, but left the claim in a letter to readers on the same page.

Click here for IIMSAM's previous "permanent observer" home page

However, IIMSAM is officially listed on U.N. records as an ECOSOC intergovernmental observer "on a continuing basis," alongside such well-known institutions as the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the U.N.’s own World Tourism Association.

Click here to see the record of IIMSAM's ECOSOC status

Such credentials are not permanent; they must be periodically renewed by the U.N., on the basis of the intergovernmental treaties that establish them. They involve the U.N. Secretariat's Office of Legal Affairs, whose job description includes "preparing agreements and other legal instruments regulating relations of the United Nations with Member States, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and other legal entities."

Italy's Foreign Ministry told Fox News that it had never received any communication from the United Nations about IIMSAM or the controversial treaties prior to 2008.

IIMSAM's current ECOSOC status gives it the right to attend and submit its views where relevant at the Council ‘s meetings and forums, and at other U.N. gatherings that recognize ECOSOC observers. It also gives the organization a profile and prestige with governments and institutions around the world that it would otherwise not have.

All of those activities derive from IIMSAM’s claimed role as a U.N.-endorsed "intergovernmental organization"—which in turn is bestowed on the basis of the treaties that Italy says it never signed.

How IIMSAM got its "continuing" observer status on the basis of the treaties is yet another mystery, since neither document mentions IIMSAM specifically by name. According to the document registered with the U.N. Treaty Collection as Treaty No. 37542, an institution called the "Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-alga Spirulina (Spirulina Program) is designated as an "affiliated body" to yet another organization called the Collaborative Inter-governmental Scientific Research Institute (CISRI), whose creation is the main aim of the treaty.

A second treaty, No. 37543 in the U.N. registry, announces creation of "The International Centre for Food micro-alga against Malnutrition (ICFAM), with "the goal to promote study and production of food micro-algae in favor of people in need." A second institution, the "Intergovernmental University Institution of Cooperation," is also created. Once again, CISRI is prominently named, as the "depositary" of the treaty.

Click here for the treaties

The second treaty is also contains a subtle mechanism: it only goes into effect when the fifth country signs it. In this case, the fifth signatory is Italy. This raises the intriguing possibility that if Italy's inclusion is invalid, the entire treaty is invalid—a kind of legal ghost in the U.N.'s records.

On its own website, CISRI positions itself amid a smog of techno-verbiage that could mean almost anything, or nothing. Its function, CISRI says, is to "promote scientific research, initiatives and education in favor of international cooperation, both at technical and advocacy levels and represents a platform of institutional relevance for the issues related to international and development cooperation." Other statements may indicate the website has not been updated since 2008.

CISRI also claims that it is a member of the Global Compact of the United Nations, which is a U.N.-sponsored "strategic policy initiative for business" that aims to garner corporate-sector adherence to U.N. objectives.

A Global Compact spokesman confirmed that CISRI became an NGO ("non-governmental organization") participant in June, 2005, and said that "we haven't had any contact or relationship with them since."

George Russell is executive editor of Fox News

U.N. DESA's short-term Consultants numbers skyrocket to 2181 - no reports or other paperwork found

Another scandal in UN- DESA is about to blow to unpredictable proportions. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, by the end of December 2010 had hired 2181 Consultants and short-term experts. This means that U.N. DESA had more consultants than staffers.

But the problem is not only that, the issue seem to be that all these "consultants/experts" have:

No paperwork;

No competitive selection;

No final reports; and

No evaluations whatsoever.

Each of this consultancies varies from $350 - $750 dollars per working day only for fees, while those coming from abroad to work in New York City will receive an additional $300-$500 dollars per day for DSA (per diem).

What's important to bring to public attention is that almost 80% of these consultants are :

- without a background check;

- no education or post-educational references;

- many are not even members of any world recognized institution or body;

The funny part of these business is that if anyone would run a simple check on many of these so called consultants/experts on Google or any-other engine most of the time will come up EMPTY with no references at all.

So we would like to ask how come a world top "expert" who earns $750 per day has not Google hits?

The member states and donors should look into the "consultants" business which is one of the main ways for top-corrupt-managers to divert money away from the U.N. we are sure that you will find plenty of daughters, sisters, wife, husbands, boyfriends and gay-friends hired thru this nontransparent mechanism.

New Letter of Ahlenius to Vijay Nambiar shows Ban's Korean Mafia threaten Inga-Britt

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL LETTER OF AHLENIUS TO VIJAY NAMBIAR

Sha Zukang 84 intercontinental travels mount to 672,000 Miles

Our dear leader Sha Zukang, has accumulated close to 672,000 Miles (Airline miles) in his past 84 inter-continental trips.

If Mr. Sha would return those miles for UN-DESA usage it could offset :

6 - Business Class Inter-continental tickets (~ $35,000)

or

52 - inter-regional or within US tickets (~$24,523)

or he can keep them for himself as a bonus for his great leadership and achievements at the helm of UN-DESA in the past three years, on top of this quarter million dollar yearly salary (Net of any Taxes).

Meanwhile in the next few days REFORM DESA will publish a database of the travel and accumulated miles of each DESA Division Director. Let the world judge the ethics of this high level officials and how they profit from their public positions at the United Nations with taxpayers dollars.

Here is DESA's chart.

HuffingtonPost: Huge Salaries With No Accountability

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS ON HUFFINGTON POST

In an October report, the special inspector general for Afghanistan concluded “that the U.S. government is unable to determine how much money it has given the Afghan government in salary supplements since 2002, or how many recipients are being paid.” Anecdotally, however, it didn’t look good.

For example:

[O]ne senior official in the Afghan President's office received a monthly salary supplement of $5,000 from USAID in addition to his monthly government salary of $2,000 and a monthly $1,400 hospitality allowance. That official kept his $5,000 monthly supplement when he left his position to assume a senior position at a ministry that was not part of the USAID salary support program.

The report found that salary supplements paid to Afghan government employees can be as much as 20 times higher than their civil service salaries.

HuffingtonPost: Extortion and Corruption Along The Supply Chain

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS ON HUFFINGTON POST

The House Oversight Committee in June issued a massive report entitled "Warlord, Inc. Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan". The report culminated a six-month investigation into the Pentagon’s “Host Nation Trucking” (HNT) contract. It concluded that
the $2.16 billion contract “fuels warlordism, extortion, and corruption, and it may be a significant source of funding for insurgents.”

The report’s main points:

• Security for the U.S. Supply Chain Is Principally
Provided by Warlords. (The principal private security subcontractors
are warlords, strongmen, commanders and militia leaders who compete
with the Afghan central government for power and authority.)
• The Highway Warlords Run a Protection Racket. (The contractors and
their trucking subcontractors pay tens of millions of dollars annually
to local warlords across Afghanistan in exchange for “protection.”)
• Protection Payments for Safe Passage Are a Significant Potential
Source of Funding for the Taliban. (The highway warlords who provide
security in turn make protection payments to insurgents to coordinate
safe passage.)
• Unaccountable Supply Chain Security Contractors Fuel Corruption.
(There is widespread corruption by Afghan officials and frequent
government extortion along the road. The largest private security
provider for HNT trucks complained that it had to pay $1,000 to
$10,000 in monthly bribes to nearly every Afghan governor, police
chief, and local military unit whose territory the company passed.)