Chris Hunter
Journal of International Peace Operations
Volume 7, Number 2 – September-October, 2011
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) first introduced CEJA in the Senate last year.
LIKE many areas of post-9/11 law relating to national security issues, the regulation of private security and stability contractors has developed by fits and starts. Since the 2007 Nissour Square incident, however, ensuring accountability for criminal conduct engaged in by contractor employees overseas is one area that has received sustained attention from Congress and commentators. The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 and the amendments to it in 2004 (commonly referred to as MEJA) achieved the accountability objective only in part. MEJA applies on its face only to contractor employees working overseas for the Department of Defense (DOD). An accountability gap remains for contractor employees working overseas for other government agencies, a gap that frustrates many, including contractors themselves.
The Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2011 (CEJA) is designed to fill that gap. In June 2011, Senator Patrick Leahy introduced CEJA in the Senate and Congressman David Price introduced a companion bill in the House. Senator Leahy had introduced a version of CEJA in the last Congress, but the legislation did not pass. This version may not pass either, assessing what it could accomplish is worthwhile. After all, the bill already has been reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and if it does become law, federal enforcement activity will increase.
