ACTION ALERT! January 26, 2010:

Jan Schakowsky (Rep-IL) has reintroduced the “Stop Outsourcing Security Act,” (H.R.4650) to responsibly phase out the use of private security contractors, such as Blackwater, for functions that should be reserved for U.S. military forces and for government personnel. Bernie Sanders (Sen-VT) has concurrently introduced a companion bill into the Senate (S.3023).

As Rep Schakowsky said in her letter to her fellow members of the house, “In 2009, the U.S. government employed well over 20,000 armed private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there is every indication that these figures will continue to rise in 2010. These men and women are not part of the U.S. military or government. They do not wear the uniform of the United States, though their behavior has, on numerous occasions, severely damaged the credibility and security of our military and harmed our relationship with other governments.”

Rep. Schakowsky’s bill recognizes that with our military already so very overtaxed that it will take time to eliminate the use of private contractors for functions that should be reserved for U.S. military personnel. Her bill is also in keeping with the recommendations made in July of 2009 by the U.N. Working group on the Use of Mercenaries.

This bill puts our government back on the path of restoring military functions to the U.S. military. “The legislation would prohibit the use of private military contractors for military, security, law enforcement, intelligence, and armed rescue functions unless the President tells Congress why the military is unable to perform those functions. It would also increase the transparency over any remaining security contractors by increasing reporting requirements and giving Congress access to details about large contracts.”

Three New York reps have signed on so far. They are John Hall, Maurice Hinchey and Carolyn Maloney. Please contact your representative and ask him/her to sign on as an original co-sponsor of this bill. If your representative has already signed on, please contact him/her to say "thank you." Please email Bernadette with their response at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Democracy for NYC supports this bill and has sent this letter to each member of our NYC Congressional Delegation asking them to co-sponsor this bill.