AFGHANISTAN |
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| 8-10 | Allegations Involving DynCorp |
TRANSCRIPT:
(...)
QUESTION: Could you bring us up to date on President Karzai's security detail? How is that going with DynCorp?
MR. BOUCHER: We took over -- our Diplomatic Security Service took over responsibility for the protection of President Karzai in mid-November. The situation in Afghanistan, as we all know, presents some unique challenges and Diplomatic Security Service is receiving support from specialists from DynCorp in this effort. The DynCorp contractors are former military personnel. They have vast experience working in a very difficult environment such as that in Afghanistan, and they work under the supervision of Diplomatic Security agents.
The team of Diplomatic Security Service and DynCorp is comprised of professionals. They are all well qualified. They are all fully capable to carry out this mission successfully, and they have the complete confidence of the Secretary and the Department.
QUESTION: Why were they -- can you remind us why the U.S. Special Forces initially had the job of protecting President Karzai and it was given to the State Department?
MR. BOUCHER: The State Department has had a long history of protection of VIPs. We've done a lot of training overseas. In the military situation that existed in Afghanistan it was logical, at a certain point, for assistance to be provided by Special Forces, but I think you found that the Defense Department senior people talked to senior people over here and decided last fall to turn it over to us since we had more expertise in the particular area of VIP protection. But given that there are still unique circumstances, we also needed to supplement that expertise with some professional former military people who could help us.
QUESTION: There have been some -- can I have just one more?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes.
QUESTION: There have been some allegations of DynCorp, particularly in Bosnia. Have you looked into these allegations of sex trading and has it affected your worldwide contract with them in any way?
MR. BOUCHER: We are certainly aware of the allegations and I think all the allegations involving Bosnia, whether it was contractors from one company or others, have been looked into extensively, have been adjudicated, as appropriate. Some of it may still be ongoing. But in any case, I think yes, the circumstances in Bosnia have certainly been looked into thoroughly.
This is a different operation. It's a different set of circumstances and not related to that.
QUESTION: How old are those allegations, again, in Bosnia? How many years?
MR. BOUCHER: I can't remember. Two years ago? Something like that. I wouldn't hazard a total guess.
QUESTION: Are you aware of any recent -- why would it be coming up now?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not sure. I don't know of anything new, but there's always, you know, ongoing work on things like that.
(...)
[End]
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