Dan Mosqueda has a suggestion for the Obama transition team that makes so much sense it’s almost guaranteed to never happen:

When I accepted a position in Iraq as a civilian contractor many of my family and friends were pretty concerned about my safety, maybe even questioning my sanity. This is not my first trip to Iraq and I knew that on the FOBs (Forward Operating Bases), you are probably safer than many towns and cities across America. While some FOBs do experience mortar and rocket attacks, they are becoming fewer and farther between. In the case of Al Asad, where I work and live, the housing areas are quite literally miles from the base fenceline and have not seen any appreciable attacks in over 18 months.

As I’ve been roaming around western Iraq, I’ve noticed an incredible number of civlians working to support the US military’s efforst in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m not talking a few either. In an earlier post “Ugandans Provide Security” I noted there were approximately 6,000 Ugandans working at securing various facilities on each base throughout Iraq. That number pales in comparison to the number of food service workers, sanitation workers, bus drivers, sales clerks, MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) workers, facilities workers (heating, cooling, plumbing, energy production, etc…), custodians, and many, many more. The amazing thing I’ve noticed is most of these folks are not Americans, they are “TCNs” or Third Country Nationals. There are some “LNs” or Local Nationals (i.e. Iraqis), but not too many. I truly don’t have any idea how many TCNs there are, but the number must be at least 10 times the number of Ugandans.

Why so many TCNs? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out: TCNs work for a fraction of what an American would work for and they do jobs many Americans would simply not do. I’m pretty certain, the Department of Defnese is exercising due diligance in contracting these workers. The budget for OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan), and the larger Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) is tremendous, but stretched thin to keep the fight going. By using TCNs, the savings are incredible no doubt.

But, as I watch America slide into a serious Recession and possibly a Depression, it begs the question: Could these jobs be accomplished by Americans? My simple answer is YES.

As a new President enters office, I believe it is an opportunity to revisit this situation. As “New Deal” era plans are being made, there is already a ready made infrastructure that could employ tens of thousands of Americans within 6 months if a concerted effort were put into place to replace each and every TCN with an out-of-work American.

There is undoubtedly also some minor political benefit gained in employing third country nationals so it might not make sense to replace all of them but the balance could be adjusted. The issue is really just part of the larger outsourcing trend that Obama has promised to tackle. Ultimately, I don’t expect much to change and I’m not alone:

To illustrate the major views of Malaysian tech leaders, let me just talk about the most recent conversation I had. It was with TL Wong, chief executive officer of a business process outsourcing firm, Zeltrans, which is just three years old. He responded to a question about how the economic downturn was affecting his company.

TL said that for outsourcers, the downturn may be a good thing. He told me he had been approached by two more large American companies which wanted to cut costs by outsourcing to his company. Then he mentioned Obama’s intention.

Naturally, I asked him for his take on Obama’s intention. TL said there were two camps among his peers. Some companies were scared, but the majority thought there would be no or very little real action possible by Obama on this. “And if there was, the US is going to find it a very expensive exercise. What always counts at the end of the day is: the bottom line. Always will.”