I should have phrased this better. There have always been mercenaries of course, and I believe there has been an uptick in US government use after the end of th

I should have phrased this better. There have always been mercenaries of course, and I believe there has been an uptick in US government use after the end of the cold war under Clinton. I'm however under the impression that the growth since 2001 has been unprecedented, as is the fact that the number of private sector employees deployed to war zones by the US government outstripped military deployments. So a qualitative change seems to have taken place during that time, even if it was just the continuation of an earlier development. I could easily be wrong though, because I'm having trouble finding precise and dependable information online – if you have some good pointers about the growth and changed role in US politics of mercenaries, I'd be interested in reading them.