I think the US Department of State misused to some extend, via their Annex’s, the contractors for intelligence missions, rather their primary support roles. Of course I understand our Intel agencies have rent-a-players but my time in the middle east made me wonder. To a greater extent the DoS relies heavily on SF teams to keep airports and other avenues of regress, and to keep to some extend their eyes open for the evil Iran-Syrian-NK-Russian nexus (Venezuela) for fomenting the Revolution. We don’t see or hear about contractor body bags....
The military is made up of volunteers who didn’t necessarily sign up for the Middle East. This is cheaper. Like the French Foreign Legion who were mostly misfits.