Feudalism

Is I believe the term which applies to a power structure in which a military force is directly responsible to a private interest rather than to a national government. This kind of power unchecked by clear rule of law just begs to be abused.

Peter Singer of the Brookings Institution in Washington, the authority in the field, says clarification is essential.

"There's no international law that controls this industry right now - that's a gap that needs to be filled."

"The second is that the clients in this industry - mainly in the US - need to re-evaluate what roles are appropriate to outsource and what roles are simply too important to the public interest to hand over to the private market."

A lack of clarity may have helped governments in the past.

Private companies might be able to do things government forces found unacceptable and deniable.

Is this really what we want?