The United Nations intends to hire “a top tier security firm” to provide services for its global operations following a highly critical report that blamed “dysfunctional” U.N. security for unnecessary casualties in a last year’s bombing at the world body’s headquarters in Iraq. A request for security firms to express their interest in competing for the contract, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, lists a wide-range of specialized services that the United Nations wants. They range from security assessments and crisis management planning to personal protection services for VIPs and consultations on kidnapping. After the critical report on U.N. security was released in late October, Secretary-General Kofi Annan pledged to implement its recommendations and said a review of U.N. security would encompass the organization’s global activities. Full Story