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In May 2011, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said as of March 2011, the Defense Department (DOD) "had more contractor personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq (155,000) than uniformed personnel (145,000)."
In 2010, an estimated 260,000 of all types were used globally, including by the State Department and USAID.
Some analysts call DOD figures understated. The General Accounting Office (GOA) says they're approximations at best and shouldn't be used for precise analysis. DOD acknowledges data shortcomings, including costs. Estimates exceed $300 billion annually.
Given black budgets and enormous amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse, precise figures are hard to verify. A recent joint congressional investigation estimated around $60 billion. Misappropriations, corruption, and other forms of malfeasance may, in fact, be much greater.
Since the 1990s, as troop levels fell, PMCs increased. From 2000 - 2005, DOD spending doubled from around $134 billion to $270 billion. In war theaters, the ratio of PMCs to troops escalated dramatically. In the 1991 Gulf War, it was one to 50. For the 1999 Yugoslavia conflict, it was one for every 10, and by the 2003 Iraq War, PMCs comprised the second largest force after the US military.
They've also been used in numerous civil wars globally in nations like Angola, Sierra Leone, the Balkans throughout the 1990s, Papua New Guinea, and elsewhere. From 1990 - 2000, they participated in 80 conflicts, compared to 15 from 1950 - 1989.
Widespread PMC Abuses
In April 2011, the University of Illinois Law Review published a study titled, "The Absence of Justice: Private Military Contractors, Sexual Assault, and the US Government's Policy of Indifference."
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