Small secret U.S. outposts avoid scrutiny and use contractors the government can disown

Evidence

Beyond the terminology, lily pads generally occupy remote locations and are either secret or only tacitly acknowledged to avoid protests that might lead to restrictions on their use. They usually have limited numbers of troops, no families, and few amenities. Sometimes they rely mostly or entirely on private military contractors, whose actions the U.S. government can more easily disown if necessary. To further maintain a low profile and preempt accusations about building “new U.S. bases,” the Pentagon has often hidden its lily pads within existing host nation bases or on the margins of civilian airports. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 149

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader research on how base presence is deliberately kept hidden to evade local opposition and democratic accountability.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how often have private contractors on lily pads committed acts the U.S. then disowned?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 149