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Kevin L. Perkins
Assistant Director, Criminal Investigative Division
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Statement Before the Commission on Wartime Contracting
in Iraq and Afghanistan

May 2010

I am pleased to be here with you today to discuss the FBI’s
efforts to combat international contract corruption.

Since the inception of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan
in 2002, the United States government has privatized hundreds of
functions that were conducted by military personnel. While the
vast majority of these contractors are legitimate, the FBI and
its partners have also seen the emergence of complex and wide-
ranging contractor fraud schemes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.

Specifically, the majority of International Contract Corruption
Task Force investigations involve two principal characters: U.S.
contracting officers (both uniform and civilian) and government
contractors. As is the case in most white-collar crimes, the
primary motivating force is greed. The illegal conduct involves
the illegal payment of bribes/kickbacks in exchange for govern-
ment contracts and theft of government property such as diesel
fuel.

To combat these fraud schemes, the Criminal Investigative Divi-
sion of the FBI established the International Contract Corruption
Initiative (ICCI) in November 2005. The mission of ICCI was to
evaluate the extent of the crime problem, engage with other law
enforcement agencies designated with oversight, develop strategy
to address the problem, and provide support to field offices
conducting related corruption and fraud investigations.