A belated observation on the source contracting-notice: for those who happen to click on the link contained in the story, you might notice that in the State Dept. document it alternately refers to "Santa Cruz, Bolivia," and "Santa Cruz, Peru." Although there is a Santa Cruz in both nations, the document clearly meant to identify only the Bolivian location. The bureaucrat who wrote up the contracting notice no doubt made the Peruvian reference in error, but not without cause, as I will explain.

After reviewing other counternarcotics-related contracting projects for that same week in February, I discovered that State/INL on that same day indeed began looking to deploy or replace a Field Advisor/Security Specialist in Peru. The candidate for that position, according to the other document, will "coordinate and monitor NAS and INL sponsored/directed activities in support of Peruvian counter narcotics operations." That person also may "serve as the Embassy Field Coordinator (EFC) in Pucallpa or other forward operating locations (FOLs) east of the Andes."

The advisor's duties will include the training of "U.S. government employees and Peruvian Counterparts" in subjects ranging from air mobile operations and "emergency extraction" to helicopter gunnery and survival-evasion-resistance-escape (SERE) techniques.

The advisor additionally will be responsible for setting up "base camps used for eradication campaigns, including infrastructure for security, communications, field sanitation and hygiene and food service."