Military Professional Resources Inc.

MPRI was started in 1987 by retired Army General Vernon Lewis anticipating downsizing reforms following the end of the Cold War. They entered the military service marketplace as post-Cold War conflicts flared up with hundreds of generals and resources a call away. In 2000, they were acquired by L-3 Communications, owned partly by the Lehman Brothers investment firm, for $40 million, and putting them into the New York Stock Exchange under L-3's ticker: LLL.

By 2002, they had grown to 40 administrators, 800 field agents, over 12,500 personnel on call and $100 million worth of contracts. They operate on a training and advisory level. (Corporate Warriors, by Peter W. Singer, c. 2003 Cornell Press, pg. 120)

The company was joined in 1993 by the current president, General Carl Vuono, who as the US Army Chief of Staff from 1987-1993, oversaw operations in the first Gulf War. The current executive vice-president, General Ronald H. Griffith, was vice chief of staff for the US Army until retiring in 1997. Retired Lt. General Ed Soyster, vice-president of operations, is a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Soyster once remarked of MPRI, "We've got more generals per square foot here than in the Pentagon." 

MPRI is a member of International Peace Operations Association.

Contracts

 * In September 2008, MPRI was one of four firms that won an up to three-year, $300 million contract for "information operations" in Iraq and possibly Afghanistan. The other firms were Leonie Industries, a woman-owned company that promises "access to seemingly impenetrable markets" around the world; Lincoln Group, which was outed in 2005 for planting U.S. military-written pieces in Iraqi newspapers; and SOS International, which in 2006 won a contract to monitor foreign media for coverage of the so-called Global War on Terrorism. The new PR push was described by the U.S. military as "a means toward 'reconciliation' of the country and a way to foster support for Iraqi Security Forces from Iraqi civilians."


 * MPRI announced on March 7, 2005, they had been awarded a six year contract by the Department of Justice to work with the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP). The agreement is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract with a ceiling of $400 million dollars. MPRI will provide trainers, advisors, logistics, facilities and command and control support for law enforcement programs in foreign countries.


 * MPRI is a joint venture partner along with Kellogg Brown and Root, Wackenhut and AGS in the civilian police training company Civilian Police International, LLC which is under a State Department contract for $1.6 billion to work with the Civilian Police and Rule of Law office in coordination with the United Nations training emerging police forces around the world.


 * In April, 2003, MPRI was awarded two contracts by the Defense Department for work in Iraq worth a total of $2.5 million. MPRI will provide plans to put ex-soldiers to work on public works programs. They will also provide interperters and linguistics for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance


 * MPRI was hired by the Defense Department in 2000 to assist the government of Colombia in developing plans to build long range plans to wage the drug war. The $4.3 million contract was paid largely from the $1.3 billion aid package Congress had approved for Plan Colombia. In Febuary 2001, the contract was not renewed.


 * In November 1994, MPRI was contracted to train the Croatian army in their civil war against the Serbs. They were hired at the time of a UN-monitored cease fire which was broken when the Croat forces launched Operation Storm in August of 1995. The once badly beaten and poorly trained Croatian forces turned the war around as they crushed the Bosnian Serbs, driving over 170,000 (some cite over 300,000) from their homes and creating the worse refugee crisis of the war. The success of the operation led to the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords one year after MPRI's enlistment in November, 1995. MPRI denies many allegations regarding their role in Operation Storm.


 * "MPRI now has a program with the Government of Croatia that focuses on assisting and supporting the Minister of Defense and the Chief of General Staff in the areas of NATO/PfP requirements, policy and planning, Peace Support Operations (PSO), and simulations training for commanders and staffs."


 * In 1995, MPRI won a contract to train the Angolan police Rapid Intervention Force. This contract was part of an overall deal offered by the Clinton Administration to the new Angolan leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos which included shedding Executive Outcomes as their training team.


 * In Nigeria, beginning in 2000, MPRI with a team made of twenty retired generals, was sponsored by USAID and the Office of Transition Initiatives to develop plans for the Nigerian military, its interaction with the civilian sector and security issues.


 * MPRI has received much of the work handed out by the African Crisis Response Initiative, a Clinton program to upgrade militaries in participating countries. Countries in the program include Senegal, Malawi, Benin, Mali, and Kenya.


 * MPRI handles ROTC operations and recruitment centers at 217 universities in the US as well as 29 military recruiting centers.

Corporate Senior Management

 * General (Ret.) Carl E. Vuono: President
 * General (Ret.) Ronald H. Griffith: Executive Vice-President
 * Colonel (Ret.) Stephen E. Inman: Senior Vice-President, Operations
 * Lt. Colonel (Ret.) R.J. Kolton: Senior Vice-President, Business Development
 * Colonel (Ret.) Christopher Shoemaker: Senior Vice President, Strategy
 * Leanne Hutton: Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
 * Colonel (Ret.) Jack Hook: Senior Vice President, Human Resources
 * William F. Kernan: Senior Vice-President/General Manager of the International Group
 * Brigadier General (Ret.) Dan Doherty: Senior Vice-President/General Manager of the Alexandria Group
 * Randy Anderson: Senior Vice-President and General Manager the National Group
 * Colonel (Ret.) Robert Garner: Senior Vice President/General Manager, Training Technology Group
 * Major General (Ret.) Terry Tucker: Senior Vice President/General Manager, Simulations Group
 * Lieutenant General (Ret.) John Sylvester: Senior Vice President/General Manager, Joint Ventures Group
 * 

Contact
MPRI 1320 Braddock Place Alexandria, Virginia 22314 Phone: 703 664 2600 email: info AT l-3com DOT com website: http://www.mpri.com/

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Lincoln Group
 * SOS International
 * Harry E. Soyster

External resources

 * The Center for Public Integrity has a very good background of MPRI
 * Operation Storm on the Wikipedia

External articles

 * Louis Wolf, MPRI: Washington's New Private Army, Covert Action, Fall/Winter 1999 Issue #68.
 * Mike Belt, "Military seeking civilian recruiters", Lawrence Journal World, February 18, 2006.
 * Janine Zacharia, "Baghdad Laborers Head to Jordan's Desert to Lock Up Jailer Jobs", Bloomberg.com, May 23, 2007.