In its review of contracting practices in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting called upon Deborah Avant, UCI political science professor and director of international studies and the Center for Research on International and Global Studies.  On June 18, she provided expert testimony as part of the commission’s hearing, “Are Private Security Contractors Performing Inherently Governmental Functions?” in Washington, D.C. 

Avant specializes in civil-military relations, military change, and the politics of controlling violence and is the author of The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security, in which she provides a detailed account of the trade-offs that privatized security impose on involved parties.

-photo and video courtesy of C-SPAN