Changes

On July 1The company's founders are Scott Custer, a former Army Ranger and defense consultant, and former CIA officer Michael Battles, 2003 who ran for Congress in Rhode Island in 2002 and was defeated in the company announced that it would "bring its security training expertise to the State of MaineRepublican primary. Battles is a Fox News Channel commentator."[http://wwwseattletimes.custerbattlesnwsource.com/presshtml/nationworld/news_0701032002058470_contract09.htmhtml]

Custer Battles was a newly formed company with no experience in the security industry when it landed one of the first contracts issued in Iraq in the spring of 2003 to secure the airport. The no-bid contract was worth $16 million when it was awarded in the chaos after the fall of Saddam Hussein. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002058470_contract09.html] On July 1, 2003 the company announced that it would "bring its security training expertise to the State of Maine." [http://www.custerbattles.com/press/news_070103.htm] On April 9, 2004, BBC News reported that a Custer Battles employee and former British soldier, Michael Bloss, "was killed while guarding electrical workers near the town of Hit, west of Baghdad."[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3614697.stm] A litany of complaints against Custer Battles can be found in the Forum section of [[ALI Capital Partners]].[http://www.alicp.com/]

*[http://www.alexanderlaw.com/ Alexanter, Hawes & Audet, LLP]*[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002058470_contract09.html "Contractor accused of fraud in Iraq"], T. Christian Miller, 9 October 2004, ''Seattle Times'', ''Los Angeles Times''.