New Article: Diplomatic Security for Hire

Eugenio Cusumano, a security studies scholar at Leiden University in the Netherlands, recently published a new article in the Hague Journal of Diplomacy on the causes and implications of outsourcing diplomatic security personnel. His study, which is the first comprehensive examination of private security contractors (PSCs) for diplomatic protection, seeks to address two interrelated issues: to what extent are PSCs an appropriate resource for diplomatic protection and what policy recommendations can improve the effectiveness and accountability of commercial diplomatic security providers? While looking specifically at the U.S. Government’s use of armed contractors, Cusumano’s research offers lessons for other nations and international organizations that also outsource diplomatic security personnel. He concludes with an analysis of the 2007 Blackwater military scandal that “partly undermined the success of the diplomatic activities….enabled” by the U.S. State Department in Iraq, underscoring the relationship between statecraft, security and public diplomacy. 

The full article is available here. 

Photo by Leon Lee | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0