Tour of Duty: NPRG’s Barnich Brings Telecom Expertise to Iraq

Currently on leave as president of research and consulting firm New Paradigm Resources Group (NPRG), and with only one year of college ROTC on his resume, Terry Barnich has responded to the call of duty. Not too long ago, Barnich’s days as president of NPRG were filled with an odd assortment of projects, such as testifying as a regulatory or telecom market expert in litigated or arbitrated matters. Now, however, he is serving as senior advisor for law and policy to the Iraq Transition Assistance Office of the U.S. Department of State for the Electricity Sector.

Barnich spent a year applying for a number of open positions in Iraq, and this was the one that came his way. “I was desperate to join in and try to help in any way, and I figured that once [t]here, I’d be able to help out in telecom too,” says Barnich, who went to Baghdad in January 2007 and expects to return home no later than April 1, 2008.

Barnich holds Saddam’s swords at the Hands of Victory monument in Baghdad. 

Indeed. He wears many hats, including acting as general counsel to the electricity section of the State Department’s reconstruction office, which means he reviews contracts, certain protocols and directives. He also serves as a legal advisor to the Iraqi Minister of Electricity, helping develop a new modern electricity law and some regulatory protocols that will be necessary for attracting private investment. “The Ministry is projecting that it will need in excess of $25 billion over the next 10 years to get its network up to snuff,” he explains.

Barnich also has played a role in articulating policy and broadcasting successes to ranking policymakers in the Embassy and in Washington, D.C. “The office I work in is populated by professional engineers who have little time and less interest to distill what they do into laymen’s terms. … So, I often assume the role as ‘mouthpiece,’ and try to make understandable what we do and how well we’re doing it,” says Barnich, who had the opportunity to brief the President, the Vice President, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the Chair of the National Security Council and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces on his team’s efforts at knowledge transfer in institution building.

Barnich stands next to the Army's new convoy vehicle, the Buffalo.

Barnich travels frequently through the Red Zone to visit the Ministry building and other areas and says the risk of a roadside bomb is always present, as is the possibility of a kidnapping while at the Ministry. However, he says traveling with the State Department security teams makes him feel very safe.

But he did have one close call, missing being hit by two rockets by 44 paces and about eight seconds. “When the first rocket hit, I instinctively spun around to see and saw the second rocket hit a protective ‘blast wall’ that lines the walkway,” he says. “A piece of cement from the wall hit me square on the nose, an easy target actually. I got a big bruise, but nothing serious.”

New Paradigm Resources Group www.nprg.com

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