Bancroft Global Development...plays a vital part in the conflict now raging inside Somalia, a country that has been effectively ungoverned and mired in chaos for years. The fight against the Shabab, a group that United States officials fear could someday carry out strikes against the West, has mostly been outsourced to African soldiers and private companies out of reluctance to send American...Both American and United Nations officials said that Bancroft’s team...has steadily improved the skills of the African troops and cut down on civilian casualties by persuading the troops to stop lobbing artillery shells into crowded parts of Mogadishu...Some critics view the role played by...contractors as a troubling trend: relying on private companies to fight the battles that nations have no stomach for...One Somali official, speaking only on the condition of anonymity, said that the spy service was becoming a “government within a government.” “No one, not even the president, knows what the N.S.A. is doing,” he said. “The Americans are creating a monster.” [also refers to refers to Saracen International, Blackwater]