MILITARY CONTRACTORS Pocketed More Than $ 100 Billion From Two Decades Of War In Afghanistan
By Jessica Corbett
Pentagon contractors operating in Afghanistan over the past two decades raked in nearly $ 108 billion — funds that “ were distributed and spent with a significant lack of transparency ,” according to a new report . “ These contracts show the shadowy ‘ camo economy ’ at work in Afghanistan ,” said report author Heidi Peltier , director of programs for the Costs of War Project at Brown Univesity ’ s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs .
“ Military contracting obscures where and how taxpayer money flows , who profits , and how much is lost to waste , fraud , and abuse ,” she added . “ It also makes it difficult to know how many people are employed , injured , and killed through military contracting .”
Based on Peltier ’ s review of public contracting databases — USASpending . gov and the Federal Procurement Data System — just over a dozen U . S . Department of Defense ( DOD ) contractors got more than $ 44 billion , or about 41 % of the almost $ 108 billion , from 2002 to this year . As the document details : In addition , thousands of smaller companies earned billions in contract spending , and about one-third of the contracts ( in dollar terms ) went to companies that are listed as “ undisclosed ” or “ miscellaneous ” in the data . These designations result from the contracts being given to foreign
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