Civilian Contractors under Military Law.

摘要

Over the course of its efforts to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States has increasingly relied upon the work of civilian contractors. By the U.S. Central Command's count at the end of 2006, there were nearly 100,000 contractors operating in Iraq alone. An estimated 30,000 -- more than the number of non-U.S. Coalition forces in Iraq -- provide armed military services such as personal and site security. The insertion of five words into Congress's fiscal year 2007 defense authorization act may now subject every civilian contractor operating in a combat zone to the discipline of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). This legislation ostensibly brings long-overdue regulation to contractor behavior, but it also raises a number of questions regarding interpretation and enforcement. By drawing on the lessons of past efforts to control contractors, the military should be able to craft a workable standard for the exercise of its expanded UCMJ jurisdiction.