The article explores the regulations of Private Security Companies (PSCs) in the United States of America. In reaction to a series of economic abuses and escalations of violence the U.S.-Congress enforced the criminal responsibility of PSCs and implemented new rules to control contractors performing private security functions. In addition Afghanistan and Iraq adopted new procedures to regulate and monitor the activities of PSCs in their respective countries.

Although an independent, bipartisan Commission found out, that possibly as much as $60 billion has been lost to contract waste and fraud in America’s contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the legislative body does not claim a ban of PSCs. The Commission calls for reforms, mainly to strengthen the economic efficiency of contractors. As a response to the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, only the interrogation of detainees by contractor personnel was clearly prohibited by Congress. A new provision requires that protection services should be performed only by members of the Armed Forces in uncontrolled or unpredictable high-threat environments. In 2010 the Minister of Defense implemented new rules for Public-Private-Competitions which should facilitate «Insourcing» of security functions. But the criteria to determine the costs of military personnel in comparison to PSC-contractors are still controversially discussed. The parliamentarian Commission stated that contractors are more cost effective only for larger, prolonged contingencies, when employing lower wage local- or third-country nationals for additional support needs.