Osan Air Base on lockdown after reports of active shooter

12 minutes ago

Staff Sgt. Pierre Johnson, 51st Security Forces Squadron patrolman, during an active shooter exercise at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea, Nov. 13, 2014.
Matthew Lancaster/U.S. Air Force

By by Ashely Rowland

Stars and Stripes

Published: November 30, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea – Osan Air Base was under lockdown Monday morning due to reports of an active shooter on the base, according to the 51st Fighter Wing.

Wing spokesman 1st Lt. Brandon Baccam said security forces have responded to the incident, but officials were still gathering information and further details – including the shooter’s location -- were unavailable as of 11:20 a.m.

Several security forces personnel and vehicles were spotted around 11:15 a.m. at the base’s middle school and high school. The base was otherwise deserted as the season's first snow flurries fell, with a loudspeaker repeating the same message every few minutes in both English and Korean: “Lockdown, lockdown, lockdown. Seek safety and shelter.”

A post on the wing’s Facebook page just before 11:20 said that due to reports of a possible active shooter, a perimeter had been established and security forces were sweeping the area, with a 50 percent sweep of three buildings completed. The buildings were not identified.

“At this time, there have been no reports of suspicious activity reported,” the post said.

The 51st Security Forces Squadron practiced responding to a live shooting situation in mid-November, using Osan Middle School as the setting for a mock shooting. Responders practiced clearing the building and used rubber bullets during the exercise to make sure there were no injuries, according to the wing’s website.

Rowland.ashley@stripes.com

Amid sound and fury, some military bills likely to go nowhere

WASHINGTON — The current Congress, entering its final weeks, is on course to be one of the least productive in history.

The passage of new laws hit record lows during the 113th Congress, which spans the last two years. It was not for a lack of trying; about 1,600 bills related to the military were introduced, while only 48 were signed into law, according to a government database that tracks legislation.

A variety of military issues languished — suicide screenings, illegal immigrants in officer schools and toxic exposure. Some were sent to committees, where they quietly died. Others remained in play as lawmakers prepared for a harried last few weeks of legislating following the Thanksgiving break.

Historically, only about 5 percent of bills pass into law, which has meant 300 to 600 new laws per Congress, said Josh Huder, a senior fellow with the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University in Washington.

But partisan wrangling and filibusters have dramatically reduced the number that ever make it to a vote, let alone become law. Only about 185 laws have been passed by this Congress, Huder said.

Those that pass often “aren’t even good bills” because the parties are unwilling to compromise on more complex issues, he said. There have been a lot of bills naming post offices.

The gridlock appears to be having another effect on the military legislation: Lawmakers are filing bills aimed at scoring political points, said Jerry Mayer, associate professor in the School of Policy, Government and International Affairs at George Mason University.

Many tap into important or hot-button issues for troops. Lawmakers may be unsuccessful but know they can always point to the proposals as proof they are working for military constituents.

“It is position-taking. It is not about policy,” Mayer said. “It is about showing you love the military more than the other party does.”

As the curtain comes down on the 113th Congress, Stars and Stripes pulled together a collection of the military bills that might have been or may still be:

Draft cards for all

H.R. 748, The Universal National Service Act.

Last action: March 2013 referred to a House Armed Services subcommittee.

Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., says he knows a way to make the country think more deeply before getting involved in another war: Bring back compulsory public service. His bill calls for the first military draft of the post-Vietnam War era. All 18- to 25-year-olds could be called to fight during wartime and would be required to put in military or civilian public service during peacetime. Rangel wrote in a September op-ed in the Guardian newspaper that it "would compel everyone in the nation to stop and rethink about who we send to wars, how we fight — and why we fight them at all." A draft remains a very tough sell in a country that has relied on an all-volunteer force for decades. Still, the bill "has been referred to the committee, where it will most likely die," a Rangel staffer told Stars and Stripes. "There’s no question that it will be reintroduced."

Getting paid for camo cameos

S.1669, Military Equitable Reimbursement Act.

Last action: November 2013 sent to Senate committee.

The Transformers movie franchise has grossed hundreds of billions of dollars. The U.S. military could have seen some of that money. The Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines eachall supported the movies —– treating it as a public relations bonanza —– by offering up hundreds of servicemember extras, equipment including F-22 jets and Predator drones, and access to facilities such as Edwards Air Force Base in California and the Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. So, who pays and who gets paid for the screen cameos? The military can be reimbursed for the movie productions but current laws make it uncertain whether it can keep the money for use of installations like White Sands. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., proposed closing the loophole and getting the services paid. "Clarifying the reimbursement policy for the film industry allows movie productions to realistically portray the skill, heroism, capability and challenges of our Armed Forces and their families while ensuring local installations are directly reimbursed for use of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment," Heinrich said in a written statement.

Border jumpers in the academy

H.R. 4723, Opportunity for Military Academies and Readiness Act.

Last action: June 2014 sent to House Armed Services subcommittee.

With immigration remaining a contentious issue, some lawmakers and the Pentagon worked around the perimeters of the issue to reform military policy toward undocumented citizens. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, introduced a bill that allows those who were brought here as children and are now authorized to work tocan be admitted to military academies and become commissioned as officers. The Pentagon in September decided to expand its Military Accessions Vital to the Nation Interest program to allow those immigrants to enlist due to a need for specialties in health care and language. But access to military academies and officer posts remains uncertain. Republican leadership blocked a vote earlier this year on whether to add Castro’s measure to an annual defense bill. The rejection likely doomed the legislation during this Congress.

Mental health evals

H.R. 4305, Medical Evaluation Parity for Servicemembers Act.

Last action: May 2014 added to the House version of the national defense budget.

A Pennsylvania congressman has a proposal he says could stem the military’s suicide epidemic and may even help preventstop deadly shooting rampages on bases. The bill introduced earlier this year by Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., calls on the National Institutes of Health to create a universal mental health evaluation for potential recruits that would identify past suicide attempts as well as psychiatric disorders. The data could be used by the services to weed out candidates with potentially dangerous mental health issues. "The MEPS Act enables the Pentagon to establish a baseline to properly track changes in servicemembers’ behavioral health, by instituting a requirement that all incoming troops undergo a mental health assessment upon enlistment," Thompson said in a November floor speech. The proposal won the votes need to be included in the House’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act. But it is still uncertain whether Thompson’s proposal will make the cut as negotiators from both chambers of Congress work on a last-minute compromise defense budget that will include elements of the House-passed NDAA.

Taxpayers as conscientious objectors

H.R.2483 – Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Act.

Last action: June 2013 referred to House Ways and Means Committee.

Anti-war sentiment has been a common theme among bills stalled on Capitol Hill. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and studies Gandhi, took up the cause of conscientious objectors inspired by the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling in the Supreme Court, which famously ruled the government cannot stop corporations from spending in support of political candidates. Lewis and a national group of religious leaders argue that citizens should also have a right to opt out of war by withholding tax money from the military. "What it is, is a bill to help people exercise their religious freedom," a Lewis staff member said. The bill creates a separate fund to receive income, gift and estate taxes of those who do not want to the money going to military purposes.

More ‘Oorah!’ in the Navy department

H.R. 124, Re-designate the Department of the Navy as the Department of the Navy and Marine Corps.

Last action: May 22 added into the House defense budget.

You might say Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has made it his mission to get the Marine Corps higher visibility. Jones, whose district includes the Camp Lejeune, has introduced legislation every year since 2001 to have the service’s name added into the Navy’s official department title, according to his website. The congressman is among those who feel the service, which has historically existed within the Navy, has been slighted by not being acknowledged as a full partner: The Department of the Navy and Marine Corps. The idea got a strong boost from the House earlier this year when it was included in the chamber’s annual defense budget, but Congress is wrangling over a compromise budget, and it is unclear whether it might make the final cut.

Ringing up the bill

H.R. 1238, True Cost of War Act.

Last action: March 2013 referred to House committee.

A recent Harvard study estimated the costs for the Afghanistan and last Iraq wars could be $4 to $6 trillion — the current national debt is just short of $18 trillion — but the ultimate cost is largely unknown. That is because much of the cost is incurred decades after conflicts through the payout of benefits to troops and veterans. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, who lost in the midterms to Joni Ernst, repeatedly proposed a law requiring the White House to make an official calculation of those long-term costs including care for injured vets, mental health treatment, prosthetics and spouse benefits. But the last version of the bill he introduced, the True Cost of War Act, stalled in committee and appears unlikely to make a resurgence before his time in Congress is over.

The name says it all

H.R. 4632, If Our Military Has to Fly Coach Then So Should Congress Act.

Last action: May 9 referred to a House committee.

The titles of bills are often descriptive of what is inside of them, but Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., managed to include a full political philosophy. When it was introduced in May, Gosar released a statement saying, "At a time of massive deficits and with a national debt in excess of $17 trillion, members of Congress should not be using taxpayers’ hard-earned money to buy luxury airline seats. If members of our military can’t fly first class using taxpayer funds, neither should members of Congress." The title appears to have some political motivations. The Washington Post reported that a co-sponsor, Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., had been getting hammered in an election year for previously voting against a similar bill. It has remained stalled in committee for the past six months.

A long-sought ‘sorry’

H.R. 44, Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act.

Last action: June 14 passed to the Senate in an omnibus bill.

Many Guamanians believe the U.S. abandoned it during the early days of World War II, allowing Imperial Japanese forces to occupy. Some there still remember Japanese atrocities such as mass executions, forced labor, torture, internment and rape. Marines liberated the island after heavy fighting, but for about 30 years Guam lawmakers have pushed for U.S. reparations. Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, sponsored the most recent legislation. The bill passed the House as part of an omnibus bill including legislation for other territories but Senate leadership has not moved on a floor vote.

Toxic near Tokyo

H.R.4517, Examination of Exposures to Environmental Hazards during Military Service and Health Care for Atsugi Naval Air Facility Veterans and their Families Act.

Last action: July 1 sent to House committee.

Beginning in 1985, a Japanese commercial waste incinerator pumped smoke over the adjacent Naval Air Facility Atsugi near Tokyo. The Shinkampo Incinerator Complex disposed of 90 tons of industrial and medical waste daily and raised such high concerns with the Navy that it pressed for it to be shutdown in 2001. The Department of Veterans Affairs warns that those stationed theres might suffer a variety of illnesses, including an elevated lifetime risk of cancer. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., was approached by servicemembers in his district concerned about exposure. His bill would require the Defense Department and the VA to create an advisory panel to study cases of exposure, examine individual health claims, and create a list of all the troops and family members who might have been exposed.

Men who cut up goats

S. 1550, Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training Practices Act.

Last action: September 2013 sent to Senate committee.

The Pentagon has repeatedly said using live animals in trauma training saves the lives of U.S. troops on the battlefield. But the practice of killing goats and other animals to simulate real-world experience — splinting broken bones and cutting tracheotomies — has rankled some in Congress as well as animal rights groups. Last year, a new generation of high-tech trauma mannequins were demonstrated on Capitol Hill, opening the possibility that animal simulations could someday be replaced. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sponsor of the Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training Practices Act, argued that time is already here. "It’s wrong to kill animals when better training methods exist," Wyden said. "Today’s technology can provide extremely lifelike training simulations that better represent the anatomy of a soldier and more realistically simulate the conditions on the battlefield." But the 113th Congress is not likely to be the time for his bill to pass.

In-vitro vets

S. 131, Women Veterans and Other Health Care Improvements Act.

Last action: September 2013 placed on the Senate calendar.

For those wounded in battle, difficulty having children can be an issue. The military covers treatments such as in vitro fertilization, where a sperm and egg are joined outside of the body, but the VA does not. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said that is forcing Iraq and Afghanistan veterans wounded in roadside bombings and other combat to pay tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket for treatment or put off starting a family. Some 2,000 vets could benefit from fertility treatments, but costs could total $568 million over five years and Republicans have opposed it, saying the money is needed for other military spending.

tritten.travis@stripes.com

Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

USFK ‘juicy bar’ ban has owners up in arms

SEOUL, South Korea — A month-old U.S. Forces Korea policy banning servicemembers from buying drinks for “juicy bar” workers in exchange for companionship has angered some bar owners, who say it unfairly labels them as “pimps” and is hurting other establishments that cater to troops.

“It’s nonsensical to treat us as if we are whorehouses,” said Yi Hun-hui, owner of the Cadillac Club near Camp Humphreys. Now, he said, some local bar owners are talking about going into a different line of work because they’re angry at the military. “These were people who liked USFK. They were people who supported USFK, and now they’re embarrassed.”

Typically staffed by scantily clad women who sell pricey, nonalcoholic drinks to servicemembers in exchange for their company, juicy bars have long been a fixture outside a number of USFK installations. Many of those establishments have been linked to prostitution and human trafficking.

“[Bar girls] are subjected to debt bondage and made to sell themselves as companions, or forced into prostitution,” USFK commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti wrote in October in a letter updating the command’s policy on juicy bars.

In recent years, many of the women have been brought in from the Philippines on entertainer visas to work at the bars — usually under false pretenses — and forced to work in violation of their visas, according to Scaparrotti’s letter.

For more than a decade, the military has maintained a zero-tolerance policy toward prostitution and human trafficking, but for the first time, the Oct. 15 letter banned servicemembers from buying drinks for workers in juicy bars. Troops are also banned from providing money or anything of value in exchange for a bar worker’s company inside or outside the worker’s place of employment, including fees to play darts or pool, or purchases of souvenirs. Violators are subject to Uniform Code of Military Justice punishment and administrative action and punishment.

USFK declined a request for an interview about the updated policy.

In an emailed statement, the command said leadership is publicizing the new policy through its chain of command and is relying on leaders “at all levels to enforce the policy using means appropriate to their organization.”

USFK’s enforcement of the policy includes routine joint patrols by military and security police. Commanders can place an establishment off-limits if it is deemed unsafe, condones prostitution and human trafficking or “otherwise operates in a manner prejudicial to good order and discipline,” the statement said.

Efforts to curtail military patronage of juicy bars have varied across the peninsula in the past.

Last year, juicy bar owners in Songtan, the area outside Osan Air Base, acted against the Air Force’s stepped-up efforts to put the bars off-limits by protesting for three weeks outside the base.

It appeared that there was no immediate plan for bar owners near USFK installations to protest the latest policy change. However, Yi said regional branches of the Korea Foreigners Tourist Facility Association plan to hold discussions about the policy and at some point deliver their opinions to USFK.

The organization’s Pyeongtaek branch already has asked for support from the city mayor and National Assembly members. It is collecting signatures on a petition from businesses, local citizens and civic groups throughout the city, he said. That petition will be sent to U.S. military officials on the peninsula later this month.

Yi, who employs seven Filipina women, said he ordered his female workers to wear jeans and T-shirts instead of skirts and low-cut tops after the Oct. 15 policy letter was issued.

“I did this so USFK would stop its narrow-minded view that our female employees are hookers,” he said.

It was unclear how or whether the new policy was affecting business for other bar owners. Five claimed the policy change was driving down sales for others, though all of those interviewed denied that their own bars had been hurt by the ban.

Lee Deok Bum, said business hasn’t dropped in recent weeks at Sportsman, his 15-year-old bar in Dongducheon, which employees five Filipina women, but he said he and other bar owners in the city are angry about the new USFK rule. He accused the U.S. military of judging South Korean bars by American cultural standards, not by what is acceptable in Korea.

Some bar owners have complained the new policy is unclear and appears to ban servicemembers from buying drinks for anyone, even friends. The policy letter, however, bans only buying drinks and other items for an “employee’s company or companionship, inside or outside a bar or establishment.”

An official at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said the ministry has received no complaints about the new policy from bar owners. The ministry began inspecting businesses that hire foreign entertainers, including some outside U.S. military bases, earlier this year in an effort to reduce human trafficking.

Seo In Ho, owner of Xanadu bar outside Osan Air Base, said most bar owners have interpreted the new policy to mean their USFK clientele can’t buy drinks — even water — for anyone else. One of his friends, a male servicemember, now tells Seo that he can’t even buy the bar owner a drink, and Seo said the ban on buying drinks for companionship is discouraging troops from going to bars at all.

He said all bar owners are being treated as if they are running brothels, and some women who work at bars are quitting because they feel like they’re being treated as prostitutes.

“Our self-respect has been hurt,” he said.

rowland.ashley@stripes.com

chang.yookyong@stripes.com

Ex-lieutenant convicted of killing two Afghans seeking clemency

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (Tribune News Service -- A former Army lieutenant convicted last year of murdering two Afghans in the war zone is seeking clemency from Brig. Gen. Richard D. Clarke, the 82nd Airborne Division commander.

The case of former Lt. Clint Lorance has been controversial.

His supporters say the Army wrongly prosecuted a soldier who was doing his best to protect his platoon in dangerous territory. Army prosecutors presented a case alleging that Lorance over the course of three days: illegally threatened to kill a civilian and his family, illegally ordered soldiers to shoot toward noncombatant civilians to scare them, and ordered soldiers to fire at three men who were riding a motorcycle.

Two of the men were killed, while the third ran away.

Lorance had been in command of a platoon in 4th Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division just five days before the shooting, after its previous leader and three other soldiers were severely injured in combat.

A website has been set up for Lorance, and a petition on the Change.org website has been signed by nearly 30,000 people. His lawyer says at least 92 letters have sent to Clarke to support the clemency request.

Lorance was court-martialed at Fort Bragg in summer 2013 and now is serving a 20-year prison sentence on two counts of murder, a count of attempted murder, and other charges.

Under military law, it's up to Clarke as the 82nd Airborne commander to decide whether to uphold the conviction and sentence. If he doesn't uphold the case, he could dismiss some or all of the charges, change the punishment or order a new trial.

An Army spokeswoman said there is no estimate on how soon Clarke will decide. The Army is not commenting on the clemency request.

Lorance's lawyer submitted papers contending that the conviction should be thrown out.

"In plain language, this is not a case where a depraved soldier intended to kill indiscriminately. This is the case of a patriotic and loyal infantry officer who zealously sought to protect his paratroopers," wrote the lawyer, John N. Maher of Chicago, in a clemency petition dated Aug. 15. Maher is a civilian lawyer in this case, but also is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.

Maher's arguments include contentions that the evidence presented at the trial doesn't support the convictions. He says the judge gave incorrect instructions to the jury and that the lead defense lawyer at the court-martial did an inadequate job of presenting Lorance's case.

The fatal shooting happened while Lorance was leading a foot patrol in a grape field. Berms in the field limited the Americans' ability to see around them, Maher said.

One of the soldiers reported seeing three Afghan men heading toward them on a motorcycle. Lorance, who could not see the approaching men, ordered two soldiers to shoot.

The prosecutors said Lorance and his soldiers were required by their rules of engagement to hold their fire until they had evidence of a hostile act or hostile intent.

Maher wrote to Clarke that Lorance felt he had to decide quickly, within three to five seconds. Lorance ordered his soldiers to shoot "after one of his combat-experienced riflemen assessed the threat" and believed that the men were a danger, Maher said.

During the trial, there was evidence that enemy Taliban forces frequently used motorcycles. But there also was testimony that motorcycles were the most-common form of motorized transportation among the civilians.

After the shooting, soldiers searched the bodies but found no weapons, radios or cell phones, such as would often have been used by the Taliban to attack and coordinate their movements.

In an interview, Maher said that Army investigators were blocked by soldiers when they sought to visit the dead men's village to try to learn who the dead men were and to examine the bodies.

In a follow-up letter to Clarke, dated Nov. 15, Maher said his review of the record and evidence indicates that the prosecutors failed in their legal responsibility to share all the collected evidence with the defense lawyers. The unshared evidence could have been used to undermine the credibility of witnesses who testified against Lorance, Maher said.

In the clemency petition, Maher asks Clarke to dismiss the charges, set Lorance free and allow him to resign from the Army. "Alternatively, we request that you grant meaningful clemency which would allow Clint to continue education and veterans' benefits upon beginning his life anew," Maher wrote.

woolvertonp@fayobserver.comor

(c) 2014 The Fayetteville Observer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Army pilot's widow carries on his giving spirit

Two weeks ago Kryste Buoniconti cleared out some of the clothes she had been keeping since the death of her Amy pilot husband three years ago.

“Time to let more of his things go to better use,” she wrote on Facebook.

She wanted to give the clothes away to people in need, figuring that’s what Chief Warrant Officer 3 Frank Buoniconti would have wanted her to do.

She took his things to an Olympia shelter, and snuck a note into one of the coat pockets:

“This coat belonged to Frank. He was 36 when he died in service of his country. He would have wanted you to be warm. Be warm. Be well,” it read.

The note was a small gesture among the many projects Buoniconti has launched in memory of Buoniconti, who was killed with three other pilots on Dec. 12, 2011 when their helicopters collided in a Joint Base Lewis-McChord training accident.

“I had to, just had to put this note in one of the pockets,” she wrote when she shared a photo of the note.

Kryste is the founder of Live Your Love Loud, a nonprofit group that has raised money to help military families adopt children and taken on other projects in Frank’s memory. She’s also a mom who has raised three kids on her own since her high school sweetheart’s death.

Her nonprofit aims to carry on Frank’s spirit. She describes Frank as a serious pilot who’d be relentlessly generous and fun with loved ones and strangers alike. The couple had a “heart for orphans” all their lives.

Live Your Love Loud in the midst of a fundraising drive to do something big for three-year anniversary of Buoniconti’s death.

“I was lucky enough to be married to man who had a huge heart, a generous spirit and a fire in his gut for helping others. We made a good team. I cannot sit and do nothing. I cannot only think about myself and my pain, my loss, my brokenheartedness. I have to DO something,” she writes at the Live Your Love Loud web site.

Amy Bushatz, a military journalist who spent a few intense wartime years of her own at Lewis-McChord with her Army officer husband, picked up on Buoniconti’s note for a column she wrote at Military.com.

Bushatz, now in Kentucky, is still close to the military community in the South Sound. You can tell her heart’s here, too, when she writes about the families she met here.

“Watching Kryste work is inspiring and heart breaking all at the same time,” Bushatz wrote. “When she gives to the homeless, she doesn’t ask why they are there or question their stories. She gives because she has to, because Frank would’ve wanted her to, because she has been called to live her love loud and make sense of her grief through giving.”

I met Kryste in May 2013 for a story about her family and Live Your Love Loud. If I could go back, I’d try to reveal more about the wry humor Kryste shows as a parent to her kids and a friend to many.

She jokingly told me to remind people that she’s only human when I told her I wanted to follow up on Amy’s column. Kryste said she spent 20 minutes today cursing at her Christmas tree. “Let’s keep it real,” she said.

For real, Kryste Buoniconti was a dynamo determined to turn her loss into something good for the world when I met her a year and a half ago. She still is.

©2014 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)

Pentagon imposes strict standards on private security firms

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is for the first time requiring private security contractors to meet a series of certifiable standards that govern how their businesses are run and how they operate overseas, a move that some say is long overdue.

Sparked in part by the fatal shooting of 14 unarmed Iraqis in 2007 by Blackwater Worldwide guards, the effort gives the Pentagon the ability to more easily hold accountable companies that go rogue and is designed to improve the performance and image of an industry often seen as run by mercenaries.

In future contracts, the Pentagon will require companies to meet dozens of standards, including thoroughly vetting and training employees, safeguarding weapons and ammunition, abiding by local laws, protecting human rights and outlining rules for use of force.

Because the standards will become part of the contracts, the Defense Department then has recourse if things go bad, officials said.

If there is an incident "you can take action immediately and notify the company you’re canceling the contract," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Gary Motsek said in an interview. Contracting officers "have the tools and standards to measure against, so there’s a better level of positive control than we’ve ever had before."

But Christopher Shays, the former Connecticut Republican congressman who was the co-chair of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, said being able to hold private contractors to account should have been done far earlier.

"It’s just sad that it takes so long to do the obvious," he said. "It’s taken far too long, embarrassingly long. . . . Candidly, it’s just one more kind of example where people begin to lack faith in their government."

Another problem, officials said, is that while the Pentagon has adopted the standards, the State Department has not. That is troubling, they said, given that the State Department relies on private security contractors in large numbers and was the agency Blackwater was working for at the time of the shooting.

In a statement, the department said that, as of now, Congress required the standards to apply only to the Pentagon but that it "is looking at incorporating them into its future security contract opportunities," including when it awards a major contract to protect diplomatic personnel around the world next year.

Motsek and others said that developing the standards was a massive and time-consuming undertaking that involved more than 200 people from 24 countries, with representatives of governments around the globe, the industry and human rights organizations.

Given the complexity of the effort, it was actually done quite quickly, they said.

Concerns over how private contractors were operating overseas spiked during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2004, four Americans working for a security contractor were killed and two of their burned bodies were hung over a bridge in Fallujah. In 2007, the Blackwater shooting in Nisour Square again drew attention to the roles they were playing in the wars. And last month, a federal jury in Washington convicted four guards in the shooting - one of the darkest chapters of the Iraq war.

At one point, there were as many as 50 private security companies with more than 30,000 employees working in Iraq, providing security and intelligence services.

Congress ordered the Pentagon in 2011 to come up with a set of standards that could be audited and made part of the contracting process. The initiative grew out of earlier efforts designed to raise the professionalism of the industry - such as the Montreux document and the International Code of Conduct, which has hundreds of companies across the world as signatories.

While those efforts have been criticized as toothless, the association overseeing the international code is working to increase oversight and accountability.

But the Pentagon said contractors can now be audited to ensure they are in compliance with its standards. And some contractors are starting to get certifications from independent, third parties to show they meet the standards.

"There was recognition that okay great we’ve identified best practices for states. What about the companies themselves?" said Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt, co-director of the Human Rights in Business Program at American University’s College of Law, who helped craft the standards. "While there were industry codes in existence, there was nothing with real teeth to it out there."

Companies, particularly the more reputable ones, were eager for the standards because it will raise the quality of the entire industry, said Marc Siegel, commissioner of the Global Standards Initiative at ASIS International, the group that developed the standards.

"The good companies want the bottom feeders out of the market," he said. "Bottom feeders can always underbid, and if one of them screws up, it casts a bad light on everybody else. . . . The companies that really want to do this as a serious business want to be seen as doing it seriously."

One of the first companies to be certified by an accredited body is Canadian-based GardaWorld, the largest privately owned security company in the world.

The company said it is "wholly committed to the application of effective standards to this industry" because it "will significantly reduce the likelihood and the impact of negative or disruptive incidents, and will support a safer workplace, even in high risk environments."

There is a benefit for the government agencies and companies that hire security contracts as well, officials said.

"It will minimize the likelihood of something going wrong," Siegel said. "And it will also give them some protection because they can say, ’We really did try to do this the right way.’ "

Putin woos Pakistan as Cold War friend India buys U.S. arms

NEW DELHI — Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking to build military ties with Pakistan as India buys more weapons from the United States, changing an approach toward the nuclear- powered neighbors that has endured since the Cold War.

Sergei Shoigu, making the first visit by a Russian defense minister to Pakistan since the Soviet Union's collapse, last week signed a "milestone" military cooperation agreement. The world community "wants to do business with Pakistan now," Shoigu said, according to a Pakistan government statement.

The move comes as Putin seeks to expand relations with Asia in the face of growing isolation from the U.S. and its allies over his support for separatist rebels in Ukraine. The U.S. overtook Russia as India's biggest weapons supplier in recent years, prompting leaders in Moscow to reassess their strategy toward South Asia.

"We're seeing a new Russia," C. Uday Bhaskar, director of the Delhi-based Society for Policy Studies. "With India now widening its search for defense supplies to the U.S. and Israel, Russia too wants to expand the market for its equipment. Both Russia and India are reviewing their policies."

Putin plans to visit India next month to meet with Modi as Russia seeks to counter sanctions from the U.S. and others. Russia this month announced plans to build a second gas pipeline to China, an ally of Pakistan, in a move that would cement Putin's policy of tilting energy exports toward Asia.

"China and Russia are also allying themselves, so it's also one factor why Russia is looking toward Pakistan more cooperatively," retired Lt. Gen. Talat Masood, a former chairman of Pakistan Ordnance Factories, said by phone from Islamabad. "It's important to be an ally of an ally."

Russia's gross domestic product will contract by 1.7 percent next year after stalling in 2014, with inflation rising to 8.4 percent from 7.6 percent, IHS Inc. forecasts. The ruble has fallen about 28 percent against the U.S. dollar this year, the worst performance among 24 emerging market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

Russia and the Soviet Union have been India's biggest weapons suppliers, accounting for about 70 percent of its arms imports since 1950, according to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Pakistan, by contrast, has received only 2 percent of its weapons from Russia and the Soviet Union in that time, with the majority provided by the U.S. and China, the data show.

Russia and Pakistan plan to increase port calls of warships, cooperate in fighting terrorism and help stabilize Afghanistan, Russian state news service Tass reported. Shoigu also met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who said steps were needed to boost the $542 million of bilateral trade between the two nations, according to the state-run Pakistan Broadcasting Corp.

"Shoigu's visit has come at a very critical juncture when U.S.-led NATO forces are drawing down from Afghanistan by the end of 2014," Pakistan's government said in a statement. "Apart from promoting bilateral defense relations, the visit will enable both countries to join hands in bringing peace and stability in the region."

It's important for countries to balance ties between India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars since they were split after British rule ended in 1947. President Barack Obama called Pakistani leader Sharif last week, shortly after accepting an invitation from Modi to attend India's Republic Day parade on Jan. 26.

The U.S. surpassed Russia as India's top supplier of defense equipment in the three years to March, according to figures submitted to parliament in August. They were followed by France and Israel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to modernize India's armed forces and shift toward more domestic production to reduce reliance on imports.

Over the weekend, India approved a 158 billion-rupee ($2.5 billion) purchase of artillery, the first acquisition of large- caliber guns since the 1980s. If a foreign manufacturer wins the tender, the first 100 pieces will be imported and the remaining 714 will be made in India through technology transfer.

Alexander Kadakin, Russia's ambassador in New Delhi, told the Press Trust of India last month that "there is zero technology coming from the U.S. to India," whereas Russia is building a nuclear power plant and fighter jets with India.

He has also questioned India's fairness in awarding defense contracts, telling the Hindustan Times last year "we know what gimmicks are used to manipulate deals." He said that Russia has always stood by India and losing its position as the country's top weapons supplier "causes damage to our reputation."

Kadakin earlier this year dismissed concerns that Russia was changing its policy toward India in discussing the sale of Mi-35 defense helicopters to Pakistan. "Nothing will be done that will be detrimental to the deep relationship with India," Press Trust of India quoted Kadakin as saying.

With assistance from Kamran Haider in Islamabad.