Dickinson interviewed on 'CNN Newsroom'
Laura Dickinson, faculty director of the Center for Transnational Law and Regulatory Governance at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, was interviewed recently on CNN Newsroom.
On the Sept. 3 broadcast, Host Rick Sanchez asked Dickinson about the increasing use of contractors by the military, saying "it seems like there are more contractors than soldiers."
Dickinson said the issue represents "a huge shift in how we project our power overseas," and that oversight and accountability of contractors need to be strengthened dramatically.
Dickinson is writing a book titled, Outsourcing War and Peace, which examines the increasing privatization of military, security, and foreign aid functions of government, considers the impact of this trend on core public values, and outlines mechanism for protecting these values in an era of privatization.
"Too often the debate is about whether we should have (contractors) at all, but the reality is that they're there, and they're working in our name," Dickinson said.
She added that there needs to be better transparency so we can know how many contracts there are and what they actually say, so there can be a public debate on the issue.
Dickinson's work focuses on human rights, national security, foreign affairs privatization, and qualitative empirical approaches to international law.
Click here to view the flash version of the CNN Newsroom interview.
Judy Nichols, Judith.Nichols@asu.edu
(480) 727-7895
Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law