ABSTRACT
Mercenaries solve the problem of limited political and economic resources to fight wars. The recorded history of mercenaries begins with the first recorded battle thousands of years ago. Today’s mercenaries, in the form of contractors working for private military companies, provide ostensibly the same benefits as they did throughout history, but the rules of war have changed bringing into question the real value of those benefits today. Whether on the land or the sea, they are a source of temporary forces that providing new and additional capabilities, while supposedly extending diplomatic cover and providing deniable accountability at both home and abroad. The advantages and disadvantages were not foreign to Thucydides, Machiavelli, or the Founding Fathers of the United States, but the accountability, deniable or otherwise, is influenced and directed by news cycles that prioritize perceptions over fact. Today, the role and the impact of private military companies, specifically private security companies, have changed as the rules of war have changed. Understanding how they impact strategic, operational, and tactical operations is essential.
