The Pentagon uses private contractors and front companies to conceal its overseas base footprint.

Evidence

The Pentagon has various techniques for disguising its presence at cooperative security locations. In Pakistan, for instance, the military leased a base technically owned by the United Arab Emirates so the Pakistani government could deny the presence of a “U.S. base” on its territory. In Thailand, a private contractor rents space on Utapao Naval Air Base, a facility of the Royal Thai Navy, and leases the space to U.S. forces. “Because of Delta Golf Global,” writes the journalist Robert D. Kaplan, “the U.S. military was here, but it was not here. After all, the Thais did no business with the U.S. Air Force. They dealt only with a private contractor.” Thanks to this arrangement, the Thai lily pad has become a major logistical hub for aircraft and naval vessels heading to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By 2008, almost nine hundred flights were passing through Utapao annually. The military misleadingly calls Utapao a “disaster relief hub,” which describes only a small portion of its activities. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 154

Categorization

• STORYSTEM: The technique of a military force hiding its presence through a front company — ‘here but not here’ — is a strong narrative device for spy fiction or a political thriller.
• SEED: A possible article angle: how contractor-fronted logistics firms obscure accountability for U.S. military presence abroad.