An Alabaster, Ala.-based contractor, Document and Packaging Brokers, also known as Docupak, ran the program for the Pentagon.
The detentions have occurred largely at the airport in Baghdad and at checkpoints around the capital after the Iraqi authorities raised questions about the contractors' documents, including visas, weapons permits and authorizations to drive certain routes.
Mr Snowden, an ex-US intelligence contractor, leaked documents to the media highlighting the various methods used by agencies to gather information.
They also said their efforts had been held back when contractors preparing documents for the defense quit at the end of last year because they had not been paid for several months.
We have now removed the article from our website ("Mexican first lady's Florida home owned by potential government contractor": https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/09/mexico-first-lady-florida-property-government-contractor-documents-reveal).
The reporter told the contractor that the documents came through the mail and were postmarked "Augusta, Georgia," according to the affidavit.
In one case, there is a copy of a $5.6 million check from the U.S. Treasury paid to an Iraqi contractor but no documents saying what was purchased.
He compared his own situation, and that of Edward J. Snowden — the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked documents about American surveillance programs — with the plight of those trying to reach Australia by boat.
Bryan Siebert, the director of classification and technology policy at the Energy Department, defended the use of a private contractor to declassify documents, saying it is entirely proper and a more efficient use of his budget.
In his first public comments on the case, Mr. Putin said that Mr. Snowden — the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked documents about American surveillance programs — had committed no crime on Russian soil and was "a free man" who could choose his own destination.
