Licensed to Kill
Page 40
CRM—Crisis and Risk Management
DBA—Defense Base Act Insurance
DC—District of Columbia
DCI—Director of Central Intelligence
DEVGRU—Development Group (SEAL Team 6), short for United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group
DIA—Defense Intelligence Agency
DoD—Department of Defense
DPG—Defense Planning Guidance
DSL—Defence Systems Limited
DSS—Diplomatic Security Service (U.S. State Department)
EEZ—Exclusive Economic Zone
EKG—Electrocardiogram (EKG comes from the German name Elektrokardiogramm)
EO—Executive Outcomes
ESS—Eurest Support Services
FLIR—Forward-looking infrared
GAO—Government Accountability Office
GC—Governate coordinator
GMC—General Motors Corporation
GMSSCO—Global Marine Security Systems Company
GPS—Global Positioning System
Green Badger—Freelance CIA contractor
Green Zone—Ten-square-kilometer fortified area along the banks of the Tigris chosen as the U.S. occupation center in Baghdad
H&K—Heckler & Koch
HVT—High-value target
IC—Independent contractor
ICDC—Iraqi Civil Defense Corps
IED—Improvised explosive device
IPOA—International Peace Operations Association
ISI—Inter-Services Intelligence
JDAM—Joint Direct Attack Munition
JSOC—Joint Special Operations Command
JSOTF—Joint Special Operations Task Force
KAS—Kilo Alpha Services
KBR—Kellogg, Brown and Root
KIA—Killed in action
KPD—Karzai Protection Detail
K-Town—Khartoum, Sudan
LOGCAP—Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (U.S. Army)
LURD—Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
M4—The M4 carbine, a more compact version of the M16A2 rifle with a shorter barrel and a telescoping four-position buttstock
M16—The standard-issue U.S. rifle
MACV-SOG—Military Assistance Command Vietnam–Special Observation Group
MI6—UK Military Intelligence Section 6
MiG—Russian aircraft designers Mikojan & Gurevich
MNF—Multi-national forces
MP—Military police
MRE—Meals ready to eat
MTS—Meteoric Tactical Services
MTS—Military Technical Services
MVM—Marquez Vance Marquez
NA—Northern Alliance
NBC—National Broadcasting Company
NGO—Nongovernmental organization
NOC—Nonofficial cover
NVA—North Vietnamese Army
NVGs—Night-vision goggles
ODA—Operational Detachment, Alpha
OGA—Other governmental agencies
Ops—Operations
ORHA—Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance
OSS—Office of Strategic Services
PBS—Public Broadcasting Service
PCO—Project and Contracting Office
PKM—Pulemyot Kalashnikova Modernizirovanniy, the standard general-purpose machine gun adopted in 1961 that fires the heavier 7.62 × 54 R bullet
PMC—Private military company
PNAC—Project for the New American Century
PNG—Papua New Guinea
PNGDF—Papua New Guinea Defence Force
POW—Prisoner of war
PRS—Primary ring security
PSC—Private security company
PSD—Personal security detail
R & R—Rest and relaxation
REMFs—Rear-Echelon Mother Fuckers
Red Zone—Baghdad outside the Green Zone
RFP—Request for proposal
ROWAL—Ranger Oil West Africa
RPG—Rocket-propelled grenade
RSO—Regional Security Officer
RTI—Research Triangle Development, Inc.
RUF—Revolutionary United Front (Sierra Leone)
SAD—Special Activities Division (CIA)
SADF—South African Defence Force
SAS—Special Air Service (UK)
SAW—Squad automatic weapon
SCI—Sensitive Compartmented Information above “top secret,” an access restriction applied to information that could cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security
SCG—Smith Consulting Group
SEAL—Sea, air, land (U.S. Navy)
SF—Special Forces (U.S. Army)
SOAR—Special Operations Aviation Regiment
SOCOM—Special Operations Command
SOFLAM—Special Operations Forces Laser Marker
SUV—Sport utility vehicle
TAC-P—Tactical air controller party
TCNs—Third-country nationals
TF—Task force
TFE—TotalFinalElf
UAV—Unmanned aerial vehicle
UN—United Nations
UNITA—União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola
USAID—United States Agency for International Development
USIS—United States Investigations Services
Vanilla SF—Overt Special Forces Groups
VBIED—Vehicle-borne improvised explosive device
VIP—Very important person
VP—Vice president
ZDI—Zimbabwe Defence Industries
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
* * *
I’d like to express my profound gratitude to the countless people who’ve helped me in my journey, especially my agent, Paul Bresnick, for his vision and commitment; my unflagging editor, Christina Davidson, for her patience and care; and Chris Jackson and Rick Horgan at Crown, who saw the reason why this book should be brought to market. As with all my books, Licensed to Kill would be nothing without the extraordinary trust, assistance, and insight from individuals, groups, and organizations that agreed to let me into their world. To these named and unnamed people in this book who share my devotion to the truth, I thank you.
Copyright © 2006 by Adventurist Corp
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
Crown is a trademark and the Crown colophon is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pelton, Robert Young.
Licensed to kill : hired guns in the war on terror / Robert Young Pelton.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. War on Terrorism, 2001– 2. Iraq War, 2003– 3. Mercenary troops—United States. 4. Mercenary troops—Iraq. 5. United States—Military policy. I. Title.
HV6432.P45 2006
355.3'540973—dc22 2006016029
eISBN: 978-0-307-34545-5
v3.0