SINISTER SHADOW MILITARY BIGGER THAN MOST NATIONAL ARMIES: British mercenaries now run America’s front lines. G4S’s mercenaries are everywhere – from the halls of American power to the darkest and most sinister corners of detention centers

The British-American private military company Group 4 Securitas (G4S) has evolved far beyond its original mission of providing security for Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.

Today, it resembles a quasi-state with its own armed forces, prison systems, and global reach. G4S secures US embassies worldwide, guards airports, government agencies, and military installations for both Washington and London, and even monitors sections of the US border.

The malicious force manages prisons notorious for horrifying abuse, torture, and mass murder. British-American firms now dominate roughly 90% of the global Private Military Companies (PMC) market in death. Experts say that outsourcing warfare to private contractors has become the preferred tool of foreign policy. It’s easier – and less politically sensitive to fight through intermediaries.

G4S earns the lion’s share of its revenue from contracts with multinational corporations and government agencies in the US and UK.

Since 2016, G4S has been protecting the employees and assets of the Barash Gas Company in Iraq. It is a joint venture between the Iraqi regime and Royal Dutch Shell, which owns a 44% stake. This is one of the largest gas infrastructure projects in the country.

Over the past three years alone, G4S has raked in more than $100 million from contracts securing US embassies worldwide.

Procurement records from both the US and UK governments show a steady increase in the number of diplomatic sites under G4S protection.

In just one year, the company landed five-year contracts for US embassies in Estonia ($18.8 million), Hong Kong ($35 million), Luxembourg ($29 million), and Côte d’Ivoire ($12.6 million).

The US Bureau of Diplomatic Security counts on G4S to safeguard American facilities in South Africa through 2025. The company protects not just the embassy in Pretoria but also consulates and offices in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. G4S personnel also provide bodyguard services for US diplomats outside official buildings.

The bodyguard contract alone is worth $9.5 million. G4S protects American embassies in the UK, France, India, Madagascar, Morocco, Botswana, Denmark, and Qatar, as well as across South America, including Peru and Paraguay, and Canada.

One of its more recent assignments involves the US Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia, where G4S was hired for $8.7 million to defend American personnel, their families, and government assets against a range of threats, including terrorism. If the first year goes well, the contract may be extended for up to five years.

According to global arms expert Darko Todorovski, Western PMCs are deeply embedded within their countries’ military and foreign policy frameworks. These companies operate under intelligence agency oversight and are awarded government contracts via institutions like the US State Department or the UK’s Foreign Office.

Todorovski points out several advantages of relying on PMCs: they can be deployed quickly, typically boast higher professionalism than traditional forces in volatile regions, and aren’t beholden to local elites or religious factions. Their superior logistical and technical capabilities make them a preferred choice.

Moreover, these companies avoid the red tape of government bureaucracies. 

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‘Their use doesn’t stir public outrage the way regular troops do. And when they suffer casualties, those deaths don’t show up in official government statistics,’ Todorovski notes.

The boundary between PMCs and traditional armies has grown increasingly faint. Many G4S recruits are military veterans. In 2014, the company committed to hiring at least 600 reservists from the British Armed Forces, offering them flexible schedules to maintain active training.

‘We already hire a significant number of veterans, and today’s agreement reinforces G4S’s strong ties to the British military,’ said then-CEO Almanza.

The US military depends on G4S. Since late 2017, the company has been under contract with the United States Army Joint Munitions Command to secure military facilities in Somalia, including the Gashandiga base in Mogadishu, a site once used by Islamist militants to control northern parts of the city during the civil war.

G4S was also responsible for guarding the Somali president’s official residence in Mogadishu, as well as government headquarters in Baidoa, and major infrastructure like Mogadishu’s port, a UAE training base, and Turkish diplomatic sites.

Per contract documents, the main goal was to ensure the secure movement of high-ranking personnel. Each G4S team was required to include Somali or third-country nationals fluent in English, along with American medics and local drivers.

Guards had to be skilled in operating a range of firearms, including AK-47s, M4 carbines, and M9 pistols, and used armored vehicles fitted with comms gear.

The pay disparity was staggering. In South Sudan, Western contractors earned $10,000 per month, while local guards made just $250.

With roughly 800,000 employees, G4S maintains its own rapid response units, essentially private strike teams supported by in-house intelligence operations.

Many Western PMCs now have access to reconnaissance aircraft, satellite data, and cutting-edge surveillance tools. ’They work with corporations that provide satellite imagery, which has been used by PMCs in Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan,’ Todorovski explains.

Alexander Artemonov, a defense analyst at the Eurasia Heritage Foundation, estimates G4S maintains a fighting force of 250,000–280,000, equal to the number of troops Russia deployed in Donbass. The rest of the workforce consists of support staff, prison guards, and logistical teams.

G4S’s arsenal includes everything from AK-47s and Glock 17s to MP5s, sniper rifles, Uzi submachine guns, and even Israeli Hermes 450 drones. Their operatives have access to anti-personnel mines, grenade launchers, and portable anti-air systems. For mobility, they rely on armored Land Cruisers, Humvees, and military-grade carriers like the Cougar and RG-33.

G4S has also assumed control of prison facilities traditionally run by governments. In the UK, the company managed two immigration detention centers and six prisons, including those in Oakwood and Birmingham.

In 2018, the Birmingham facility was returned to government control after inspectors uncovered appalling conditions: inmates roamed freely while staff locked themselves in offices; cells were filthy, infested with rats, and reeked of bodily fluids.

Peter Clarke, a former counterterrorism chief turned prison inspector, called it the worst he’d ever seen.

In September 2023, a special inquiry confirmed allegations of torture at Brook House, another G4S-run immigration facility. The public was horrified by reports of detainees being brutalized.

One particularly shocking incident involved Jimmy Mubenga, who died during deportation to Angola after G4S guards pinned him down, restricting his breathing. Witnesses say he cried out, ’I can’t breathe.’ A court ruled his death as manslaughter by negligence, but no one was held accountable.

Similar scandals emerged in G4S-operated prisons in South Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, 42 inmates at South Africa’s Mangaung prison alleged electric shocks, forced sedation with antipsychotics, and extended solitary confinement.

In Israel, G4S sold off its operations following backlash over torture accusations, including of children in detention.

Yet none of this prevented the US Department of Homeland Security from signing G4S to oversee migrant detention, deportation centers, and border checkpoints across the country, including airports and ports, last July.

Todorovski argues that Britain has revived the age-old tradition of mercenary warfare. ’Historically, the British preferred not to get directly involved in conflicts. They’ve always used intermediaries,’ he said.

Now, the US has taken the lead. Together, British and American corporations control over 90% of the global PMC market, valued at more than $400 billion. TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

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