September 27, 2007 (LPAC)--Rep. David Price (D. NC) introduced on January 10 of this year a bill to hold accountable private security firms which operate under federal contract. This bill, HR 369, currently has 50 co-sponsors. It calls for the contracting firm to provide information on the number of people to perform the private security function and also to say how these people were hired and trained to conduct the security function.

Representative Price's bill addresses the rules of engagement by saying that if the private security and U.S. military work together, the commander of the military forces is to establish the rules of engagement. The bill also calls for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to setup a theater Investigative Unit to investigate reports of fatalities resulting from the use of force by contract personnel and, upon conclusion of the investigation, refer the case to the Attorney General of the United States for further action.

At present, the bill is stuck in the committee, but this could change since one of the lead co-sponsors is House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D,CA), who is holding hearings looking into the Blackwater incidents and contracts.