Corporate Warriors

by P. W. Singer

Breaking out of the guns-for-hire mold of traditional mercenaries, corporations now sell skills and services that until recently only state militaries possessed. Their products range from trained commando teams to sstrategic advice from generals. This new "Privatized Military Industry" encompasses hundreds of companies, thousands of employees, and billions of dollars in revenue. Private corporations working for profit now sway the course of national and international conflict, but the consquences have been little explored. The privatizatin of warfare allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in the ways that war is carried out. At the same time, however, Singer finds that the entrance of the profit motive onto the battlefield raises a series of troubling questions-for democracy, for ethics, for management, for human rights and for national security.