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U.S. Investigations Services traces its origins back to 1883 as a part of the federal government’s Civil Service Commission (CSC). Tasked with checking backgrounds of prospective government employees, CSC evolved into the Investigations Service arm of the Office of Personnel Management. In 1996, the Clinton administration privatized this office, purportedly to save money, and sold it for $545 million to the Carlyle Group and the New York investment firm of Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe.

Blackwater USA is a private military company and security firm founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark. It is based in the U.S. state of North Carolina, where it operates a tactical training facility that it claims is the world's largest. The company trains more than 40,000 people a year, from all the military services and a variety of other agencies. The company markets itself as being "The most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company in the world".

Halliburton is a leader in the oil services industry -- i.e. provides engineering and construction services for oil extraction and development. After separating from Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) in 2007, it is no longer in the business of providing military logistics support.