(Adds New York Times report, ninth paragraph)

By Kristin Roberts

WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is investigating whether its commanders can properly police the thousands of security contractors in Iraq who are seen by civilians there as private armies acting with impunity.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has sent five of his staff members to the war zone to review contractor operations, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said on Wednesday.

Gates' deputy also issued a memo outlining the military's authority over contractors and ordering commanders to ensure contractors' procedures and guidance on the use of deadly force conform with U.S. rules.

"He (Gates) does have some concern about accountability and oversight," Morrell said.

Military officers privately have voiced frustration about security workers' heavy-handed tactics and confusion about their authority over those contractors operating throughout the war zone.

While the memo highlights commanders' authority, the Pentagon is still uncertain the U.S. military has the resources to enforce its rules on contractors, Morrell said.

"There will have to be a discussion and a follow-on to determine whether the resources exist in the field to manage these responsibilities," he said.

BLACKWATER PROBE

The review comes as the State Department investigates a shooting incident this month in which 11 people were killed while contractors from the U.S. firm Blackwater were escorting an embassy convoy through Baghdad.

Blackwater personnel have been involved in twice the rate of shootings while guarding U.S. diplomats in Iraq as guards working for other American security firms, the New York Times reported in Thursday's editions, citing Bush administration and industry officials.

The Blackwater contractors worked for the State Department, but the shooting incident in Baghdad raised questions about the use of private security contractors by the U.S. government more broadly.

The Pentagon has about 137,000 contractors in Iraq -- about equal to the number of U.S. troops on the ground before a temporary troop surge this year. About 7,300 of the contractors do security work, and none of those are from Blackwater.

Gates said the military had to rely on private contractors because the United States cut its armed services after the Cold War.

"If we're to have a serious combat capability, we don't have the manpower to be able to perform a lot of these tasks" that contractors perform, he told a U.S. Senate committee.

Iraq has said it would review the status of all security firms after the Blackwater incident. Iraq's Interior Ministry also finished draft legislation to strip contractors of their legal immunity from Iraqi law.

Asked about the Pentagon's position on the draft law, Morrell took a jab at the Iraqi government's inability so far to pass other legislation Washington sees as critical to long-term stability.

"It would be, sort of, ironic in the sense that it would certainly show their ability to work together and pass laws," he said.

But he would not comment on what impact the law could have on contractor and military operations.

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