Public Library

Aegis, the controversialDefense services and private security firm lost a major US military contractdue to the troubled past related to Belfast murder and Papa New Guinea coup.

The U.S.Department of Defense has previously awarded a $293 million security contractin Iraq to Aegis Defense Services, the company run by Spicer in 2004. As alieutenant colonel, Spicer commanded the Scots Guards regiment in Belfast whensoldiers in the unit fatally shot a teenager, Peter McBride. The shooting, inSeptember 1992, remains one of the most controversial involving the Britishsecurity forces during the Troubles. Five members of the U.S. Senate — CharlesSchumer, Hillary Clinton, Edward Kennedy, Chris Dodd and John Kerry had writtento Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in August 2004 calling on him toinvestigate the granting of the contract to Aegis. The letter to Rumsfeldstated that the U.S. government required that all contractors be”responsible bidders” with a “satisfactory record of integrityand business ethics.” The senators asked Rumsfeld to disclose whether thegovernment adequately considered Spicer’s human-rights-abuse allegations, orhis vigorous defense of his actions, as part of Aegis’s record and pastperformance rating when awarding the contract. Spicer’s name — which has beenlinked in recent years to a coup in Papua New Guinea and illegal gun running inSierra Leone — separately appeared in a recent report in the Star newspaper inSouth Africa concerning the attempted coup in the West African nation.

» Read more: Aegis Defense Services loses security contract due to Tim Spicer’s Irish killings