Contractor faces investigations

2004-05-28 20:36

Arlington - A defence contractor supplying civilian interrogators to the US military at the scandal-ridden Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is a subject of five different government investigations, the company president said on Thursday.

Most of the investigations centre on whether it was proper for Arlington-based CACI to provide interrogators to the Army under a contract with the department of the interior that was originally designed for information technology services.

CACI President and CEO J P "Jack" London told Wall Street analysts that the company is co-operating fully with the investigations. The company has also been doing its own investigation.

"We continue to actively support every inquiry," London said. "CACI ... is working diligently to determine the facts. We do not tolerate breaking of the law. We will make things right."

Earlier this week, the interior department blocked the Army from ordering new services from CACI under the contract while it is being reviewed. CACI interrogators now working in Iraq are permitted to continue their work.

London said he believes the interrogators are a proper fit under the contract.

"We're not in the soldiers-for-hire business. We're not in the mercenary business," he said. "The interrogator aspect is, we believe, part of the information gathering, information analysis, and intelligence input."

One of the investigations focuses on the quality of the interrogators' work, London said.

One of CACI's interrogators, Steven Stefanowicz, was singled out in the investigation by Maj Gen Antonio Taguba as contributing to abuse of Iraqi detainees by US guards at the Abu Ghraib prison by allowing or instructing military police "to facilitate interrogations by 'setting conditions' which were not authorised."

CACI is investigating the conduct of its interrogators, but London said "we believe people are innocent until proven guilty." Stefanowicz's lawyer has also proclaimed his client's innocence.

The allegations of wrongdoing by civilian contractors at Abu Ghraib, and the revelation that contractors are performing functions like interrogations, has prompted some criticism that the Army is relying too heavily on contractors, who are not subject to the same type of regulation and oversight and who are outside the military chain of command.

London said he did not believe any of the investigations would result in a serious punishment for CACI, whose shares dropped $4.25, or 10%, to $38.17 in trading on Thursday afternoon.

- AP