Hencely v. Fluor Corp. · ¶82

The shadow of state tort liability may also undermine the Government's use of contractors to perform tasks that are closely related to actual combat operations. See 120 F. 4th, at 427 (petitioner has acknowledged that Fluor “was integrated into combatant activities” on the base (internal quotation marks omitted)); accord, 554 F. Supp. 3d, at 774. For a variety of reasons, federal policy has increased the use of contractors to provide security in dangerous locales. And in doing so, contractors take directions from the military. But “[f]aced with the specter of tort liability, . . . a contractor would have to balance battlefeld needs as dictated by military command against what a judge or jury might say years after the fact.” Brief for Retired Senior Military Officers as Amici Curiae 22. Putting contractors in this conficted position could lead to adversarial relationships with military…

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