There seems to be a big opportunity to build an online marketplace/coordination mechanism for private military forces in Iraq. They currently suffer from a significant amount of chaos that could and should be alleviated. It could be built inexpensively using best of breed techniques learned over the last decade building sites for the Web. Here is what they need:
- A marketplace for operational intelligence information. The forces on the ground have been developing their own intelligence sources. They should have an easy way to share it (since mutual protection keeps everyone safe). A weblog powered system would allow easy posting. There also may be a way to allow these deployed forces to make some money for their effort. A simple marketplace mechanism (with a reputation metric) would incentivize further activities.
- A system for requesting mutual aide from other PMCs and the US military. This system would also include ongoing sit-reps from hot zones. Instant messaging and conflict zone specific multi-author weblogs would help here. Synthetic RSS feeds that combine multiple zone weblogs would keep a PMC manager in direct touch with what is going on.
- A secure tracking mechanism for PMC employees in country. This could either be simple or complex. On the complex side there is lots that can be done with real-time transfer of GPS coordinates (Iridium could help here -- the phones cost less than a days pay for most PMCers and I am fairly sure they include GPS). This system would make search, rescue, and recovery much easier.
Many more ideas on this.... [John Robb's Weblog]
While it's a very interesting idea, it wouldn't be simple or cheap to implement. Here's why:
There's a good chance that the Feds would object to the whole idea, and try to shut it down. Even if they don't at first, the policy is likely to change with each new administration. An intelligence-selling site for mercenaries is likely to be controversial, and subject to politically motivated attacks. Remember the fuss about the terrorism futures market?
For this reason the service would need to be located outside the United States, and preferably in a country that doesn't respond to bullying by the U.S. government. What's more, the people working on it would need to be citizens of other countries, as a site located in another country is still vulnerable if the Feds can just throw the owner in jail.
The site would need to be secure against intrusion by anyone, even powerful government agencies with unlimited funds, such as the NSA. There's no way any government is going to pay for intelligence if they can steal it, as might the mercenary companies who are supposed to be buying it. The targets of the intelligence would also try to steal information, in order to see what the mercenaries they're fighting now and to track down leaks in their organizations.
This would be very expensive and difficult (I'm not sure if any private company has ever designed a system with the expectation that it would have to stand up to the NSA), but it would be absolutely necessary. Nobody is going to put valuable intelligence up for sale on a site knowing that it will be stolen by the U.S. government and given away to whatever mercenary company they most favor.
Weblogs (and Internet connections in general) are far too unreliable to trust one's life to in the middle of a battle. A better idea would be some sort of 911-like system, where mercenaries under attack could use a satellite phone to call a dispatcher, who would relay the request to any other mercenaries or regular troops in the vicinity.
Carrying something that allows realtime tracking of your location in a war zone isn't a very good idea, as various Palestinian terrorists have (briefly) learned. A better idea would be for mercenaries to carry personal locator beacons, which are activated only when needed.
9:54:47 AM 
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