Lawmakers challenge KBR subcontractor’s use of armed guards

In a Dec. 7 letter to outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, two lawmakers said they have obtained memos and contracts from ESS Support Services, a KBR subcontractor, showing ESS entered into a security subcontract with Blackwater USA in 2004.

Under the $16.5 billion Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract held by KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, KBR employees and subcontractors are prohibited from carrying weapons without military approval, according to a July 14 letter from Army Secretary Francis Harvey to the House Government Reform Committee.

KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown and Root, has not requested, nor has the military granted, permission to carry weapons, Harvey said.