Raymond draws more than US Congressmen, Senators
By Sabir Shah
Sunday, February 20, 2011
LAHORE: The annual remuneration package of Raymond Davis stands at $0.2 million or Pakistani Rs17.2 million, which is over three times more than the 2010 median salary package of a sworn American Secret Service Agent, who earns about US$59,428 or Pakistani Rs5.11 million per annum.
According to the website of the US Secret Service, the annual take-home salaries of the US Secret Service Agents or the Special Agents range between US$43,964 (Pakistani Rs3.78 million) and $74,891 (equivalent to Rs6.44 million)-which is far less than what Raymond Davis earns every year.
The per annum salary of Raymond Davis is also more than the annual base salaries (excluding benefits and bonuses) of the American House and Senate lawmakers, who each make $174,000 or Pakistani Rs14.96 million approximately.
Meanwhile, the Majority and Minority leaders in the US Congress and Senate each make $193,400 per annum or about Rs16.63 million.
By the way, the newly elected United States House of Representatives Speaker John Andrew Boehner will receive a $30,100 pay increase this year because of his new position, making his annual base salary to rest at $223,500 (Rs19.22 million).
For sake of information and not for drawing any comparisons, while the annual base salary (minus perks and other fringe benefits) of the American President is $400,000 or Pakistani Rs34.40 million, the US Chief Justice draws a basic pay of $223,500 per year or Rs19.22 million (excluding auxiliary benefits).
The US president of course gets an extra $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 non-taxable travel account and a yearly Entrainment Allowance amounting to $19,000.
British daily “The Guardian,” in one of its articles “Pakistani court delays US embassy worker case” (published very recently on February 17, 2011) had stated, “A photocopy of an ID and a salary document that Davis apparently gave Pakistani authorities shows he was scheduled to be paid for “Overseas protective Security Services.” The ID card identifies him as a Defence Department contractor.”
As far as the American Secret Service Agents on government payroll are concerned, the website of the US Secret Service states that an additional 25 per cent Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) is added to their pay.
These special agents, who are normally assigned to work a 40-hour (normal business) workweek, usually work an average of two additional hours per day due to the receipt of extra Law Enforcement Availability Pay.
A one-time recruitment bonus, 25 percent of basic annual pay, is paid to the newly hired special agents, who are identified as having a foreign language skill.
The newly appointed special agents, who may be assigned to duty stations anywhere in the United States and abroad, protect the US president, the vice president (or other individuals next in order of succession to the Office of the president), the president-elect and vice president-elect and the immediate families of the above individuals, former presidents, safeguard the visiting heads of foreign states or governments and their spouses traveling with them, other distinguished foreign visitors to the United States, and official representatives of the United States performing special missions abroad.
These agents also check violations of laws relating to counterfeiting of obligations and securities of the United States, financial institution frauds, false identification documents, access device fraud, advance fee fraud, computer and telecommunications fraud, electronic funds transfers and money laundering etc.
A research conducted by “The News” shows that the per annum salaries of civilian contractors privately hired by the US State Department from Private Security Companies (PSCs) like Messrs Blackwater (now XE), DynCorp, Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions and Triple Canopy etc had even gone up to $445,000 or Pakistani Rs38.27 million during the Iraq war a few years ago.
However, since the private contractors are not Federal Employees, they are not entitled to any medical benefits, perks or bonuses to be awarded to private security personnel upon completion of service. They all have to buy private insurance.
Being subject to US Income tax, these private contractors only work for 275 days a year and are free for 90 days.
They thus protect convoys, diplomats, vital personnel, military bases and other facilities at a cost estimated to run into billions of dollars a year.
According to a US Congressional Report, Messrs Blackwater had charged the American government $1,222 per day or $445,000 every year per guard during the Iraq War, which was six times more than the cost of an equivalent US soldier’s annual salary of $74,000.
According to an Associated Press story, appearing on October 8, 2010, the US Senate Armed Services Committee had noted that heavy American reliance on private security in Afghanistan had helped to line the pockets of the Taliban because contractors often don’t vet local recruits and wind up hiring warlords and thugs.
This Senate Committee had earlier conducted a separate Congressional inquiry in June 2010, which had revealed that trucking contractors paid tens of millions of dollars a year to local warlords for convoy protection.
According to the US Congressional Research Service Report of July, 2010, prepared for the members and Committees of Congress and the Department of Defence’s use, there were 95,641 Department of Defence contractors working with 95,900 uniformed military personnel in Iraq.
Of the Defence Department contractors in Iraq in 2010, 24,719 were American citizens.
As far as private-hired contractors in Afghanistan were concerned, 112,092 contractors were supporting 79,100 uniformed soldiers.
The percentage of contractors present in the conflict, 69 percent of the Department of Defence’s workforce, was the highest proportion of civilian labour in an armed conflict in the United States’ history till July last year.
Of the 112,000 plus contractors working in Afghanistan by July 2010, 16,000 were American citizens, with local nationals providing 70 per cent of the Department of Defence’s civilian workforce.
