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thedrifter
03-08-06, 06:32 AM
A Few Good Men and Women
Washington Post
Wednesday, March 8, 2006; A17

It was not your typical classified ad.

The notice, posted on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site ( www.fbodaily.com ), required that successful applicants be "Able to function during a level of heightened state of threat, during extended periods of high pressure and stress that may also include hostile fire."

Further, it said, the applicant must be "Willing to deploy to live and work in a potentially hostile environment designated by the U.S. Government as an Imminent Danger Zone or Hostile Fire Zone."

The Marine Corps, it turns out, is looking to see if it can find a contractor that will provide a few good men or women, five to be exact, to work for a year as intelligence analysts for the I Marine Expeditionary Force's Tactical Fusion Center at Camp Fallujah in Iraq.

These are stressful times for the U.S. military, soon to enter its fourth year in Iraq. Even so, the notion of placing the equivalent of help-wanted ads is somewhat novel.

The job, according to the posting, would call for people who would work 12-hour shifts, processing and analyzing intelligence reporting in the Marines' area of operations and helping to produce and disseminate daily and weekly intelligence summaries. The notice warns that "in surge periods" the 12-hour shifts could be extended and that individuals "could be subject to recall 24 hours per day as dictated by mission requirements."

Among the considerations potential bidders must consider: employees must be "willing to undergo medical and dental screening, receive Anthrax, Smallpox and other vaccines as required" and be "willing and able to live and work under field conditions, to include living and working in temporary facilities (i.e. tents)."

In addition, they need the highest security clearances, "top secret/SCI." As a result, they can be subjected to "a polygraph examination and subject interview at any point during employment under this contract, as a condition of employment, and are subject to periodic counterintelligence polygraph examinations while assigned to this contract." Finally, they can be subjected to a nondisclosure agreement prohibiting them from talking about their job or duties, even after the tour is completed.

The notice, published first in January, was just testing the waters for what could be a $6 million contract. It stressed that the request for interest was "not to be construed as a commitment by the Marine Corps team, implied or otherwise, to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract." The closing date for small businesses to respond was last Saturday. Results are eagerly awaited.

-- Walter Pincus

Ellie