Results for Blackwater

On this page:

Blackwater USA

Today's Weather

M/SUNNY
Temp: 86°F / 30°C
Full forecast below

Company Perspectives:
Blackwater USA is the most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company in the world. We have established a global presence and provide training and operational solutions for the 21st century in support of security and peace, and freedom and democracy everywhere.
Key Dates:
1997: Company is founded by two former Navy SEALs.
1998: The training facility becomes operational.
2002: Blackwater is awarded a major Naval contract.

Type: Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of The Prince Group
Address: P.O. Box 1029, Moyock, North Carolina 27958, U.S.A.
Telephone: (252) 435-2488
Fax: (252) 435-6388
Web: http://www.blackwaterusa.com
NAIC: 561612 Security Guards and Patrol Services

Based in Moyock, North Carolina, close to Fort Bragg, the notoriously private company Blackwater USA bills itself as "the most comprehensive professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations company in the world." Founded by former Navy SEALs, Blackwater is comprised of five business units. The Blackwater Training Center, the company's original focus, is one of the best facilities of its kind in the world, located on some 6,000 acres of private land. More than 50,000 law enforcement, military, and civilian personnel have trained here since opening in 1998. The center includes a number of live fire shooting ranges and tactical training facilities, like mock-ups of urban settings, a high school, and naval ship. Blackwater Security Consulting provides vulnerability assessments and risk analysis and training services, and supplies clients with mobile security teams comprised of former members of U.S. military special operations units and foreign intelligence services. Blackwater Target Systems offers indoor and outdoor shooting range target systems. Blackwater K9 maintains two facilities used to train dogs for law enforcement, the military, and commercial organizations in such areas as patrolling and the detection of explosives. The final business unit is Raven Development Group, which was launched in 1997 to design and construct the Blackwater training facility and now offers its services to government and commercial clients, capable of building an office complex in the United States as well as secure facilities in Iraq. It was in Iraq that Blackwater came to the attention of the general public after a number of its operators were killed in a pair of well publicized incidents, which brought notice to the increasing reliance of the U.S. military on professional security firms in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the world.

Soldiers for hire have essentially been around since man first began forming armies. While the Geneva Convention held after World War II expressly banned the use of mercenaries, "soldiers of fortune" continued to show up at hot spots around the world. With the demise of the Soviet Union an opportunity was created for a new breed of professional security companies. "At that time," according to a 2004 New York Times' article, "many nations were sharply reducing their military forces, leaving millions of soldiers without employment." Many of them went into business doing what they knew best: providing security or training others to do the same. The proliferation of ethnic conflicts and civil wars in places like the Balkans, Haiti and Liberia provided employment for the personnel of many new companies. The United States employed a small number of these private contractors with the 1991 Gulf War. When it was over Defense Secretary Richard Cheney hired Halliburton subsidiary Brown & Root to study how private military companies might support the military in combat zones.

Blackwater was one of dozens of a new breed of private military companies that sprung up in the 1990s in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1997 by former Navy SEALs Gary Jackson and Erik Prince. It was Prince, one of the richest men to have ever served in the U.S. military, who furnished the financial backing and business acumen needed to launch Blackwater.

Prince was the son of Edgar D. Prince, a highly religious man who at the age of 33 in 1965 quit his job as chief engineer of a machine tools company to start his own die cast business. In 1972 Prince Corp. branched into the auto parts industry by inventing the lighted vanity visor for front-seat passengers, first offered on the 1973 Cadillac. This led to the introduction of a multitude of other car interior components and Prince Corp. enjoyed exceptional growth over the next 20 years. As he grew wealthy Edgar Prince became prominent in right wing politics, supporting like-minded candidates around the country. In 1988 he helped Gary Bauer in the establishment of the "pro-family" lobbying group, the Family Research Council.

Erik Prince followed in his father's footsteps to a large degree: devout in his religion, smart in business, and firm in his patriotism. In the late 1980s he attended a small liberal arts school, Hillsdale College, where he studied economics. He also got an education in politics, becoming one of the first interns at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. He then worked as a defense analyst for conservative republican Congressman Dana Rohrbacher, before becoming a White House intern for President George H.W. Bush. In a rare interview (his father scrupulously avoided the press), Prince told the Grand Rapids Press in 1992, "I saw a lot of things I didn't agree with--homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kinds of bills. I think the administration has been indifferent to a lot of conservative concerns."

Prince returned to Hillsdale and became a member of the local volunteer fire department, attending classes with his emergency radio, and sometimes startling classmates as he rushed off to fight a fire. Prince transferred to the U.S. Naval Academy but resigned, preferring instead to join the Navy and earn a commission as a lieutenant. He then became a Navy SEAL (the acronym drawn from the attack routes of sea, air, and land). According to a Special Forces officer quoted by Raleigh, North Carolina's News & Observer, "Prince was a first-class SEAL, he was the real deal." He would serve four years with Seal Team 8 in Norfolk, Virginia.

In March 1995 Edgar Prince died of a massive heart attack, found on the floor of an elevator shortly after leaving the executive dining room at Prince Corporation headquarters. By now the automotive industry was going global and the private company faced a crossroads. The Prince family decided to sell off the automotive unit, receiving $1.35 billion from Johnson Controls Inc. A year later in 1996 Eric Prince quit the NAVY and returned home to Michigan to run the remaining family companies, which included the original die cast machine business, an airplane leasing operation, and a real estate development company. However, the 27-year-old soon found a venture that was more to his liking.

In 1997 Prince and Jackson went into business together to build a first class private military training center, believing there was an opening for such a facility as the military closed the doors on a number of its training centers. They bought a large section of farmland in Camden and Currituck counties in North Carolina, some 25 miles from Fort Bragg. Because the large amount of peat in the area turned the water black in the drainage canals they called the company Blackwater USA. For a logo they chose a bear claw, an allusion to the large brown and black bear population in the area.

Blackwater experienced some difficulty in gaining permission from Currituck County to build its training center because officials worried that the firing ranges might disturb residents in nearby Moyock, a growing community. Instead, Blackwater turned to Camden Country where it found a more receptive hearing. What resulted would be a world class training complex. Writing for Handguns in 2000, Katherine Rauch took a three-day handgun course at Blackwater and offered a glimpse at the facilities: "There are steel movers and steel plates, steep Pepper Poppers and stationary steel, along with computerized pneumatic steel targets and automated paper targets. There's Simunitions complex of four buildings, with a live-fire 'Hogan's Alley' right across the 'street,' along with two all-steel shoot houses, a 1,200-yard range and a 7,000-square-foot schoolhouse dubbed 'R.U. Ready High.'... All This, plus breakfast and lunch, along with a private room (by request) in the bunkhouse complex with its own little deck overlooking one of the many ponds on the property."

The Blackwater training center was open for business in 1998, but in the early months had difficulty in drumming up much business. The company became adept, however, at keeping tabs on national and international news, then adding facilities and training programs to meet perceived needs. For example, R.U. Ready High School was built after the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. It was essentially a two-story, 24-room, six-stairwell, all-steel building that allowed for the use of live gunfire inside and even the use of explosives for "dynamic entry" through the doors. R.U. Ready was used to teach law enforcement and military personnel special tactics. A catwalk across the ceiling allowed instructors to monitor students as they made their way through the building. The facility found a ready market, clients included a number of police officers who paid for the training out of their own pockets

Another event that caught the attention of Blackwater was the 2000 bombing of the destroyer Cole in Yemen. In response, Blackwater constructed a realistic mockup of a Navy vessel. In the fall of 2002 the company won a $35.7 million, five-year contract with the Navy to conduct two-week training sessions for Navy personnel on topics that included sentry duty, weapons use aboard a ship, and how to board, seize, and search another ship.

What led to the most significant spike in business for Blackwater were the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and the ensuing events. Not only would the training facilities find more use, the company would be called on to provide trained personnel to corporations, the U.S. government, and the U.S. military. Blackwater supplied independent contractors to Afghanistan and later to Iraq when the United States invaded the country in spring 2003. Among their tasks, Blackwater personnel served as the personal guard for Paul Bremer, the head of the civilian administration. The company mostly recruited by word of mouth, hiring from within the close-knit community of former SEALs, Green Berets, Army Rangers, and Delta Force Troops. As the war in Iraq settled into a long-term conflict, the demand for personnel increased and Blackwater had to branch out. Jackson told the British newspaper The Guardian in 2004, "We scour the ends of the earth to find professionals." The company also found recruits in the Currituck County sheriff's office, where a number of deputies went to work for Blackwater overseas, making as much money in a single month as they did in a year at home. In 2004 Blackwater made news when it recruited 60 former commandos and other members of Chile's military and flew them to North Carolina for training before deploying them elsewhere.

Modern day "free lancers" were known in international security circles as "operators." In 2004 The Virginian Pilot offered a glimpse of them in Iraq: "They are easy to spot in a landscape dominated by young, uniformed soldiers and the dark slender profiles of Iraqis. Operators tend to be muscled-up men in their 30s or 40s, wearing T-shirts, ball caps and wrap-around sunglasses. An automatic weapon is ever present, cradled in their beefy biceps." Operators tended to be loners who joined the military but grew bored with the regimen and frustrated by the bureaucracy and low pay. It was not the life for a married man. According to the Virginian Pilot, "A military husband occasionally goes off to war, but an operator is always heading somewhere dangerous. Turn down a job or two, and the phone stops ringing. Retirement and leave don't exist. ... Operators rarely discuss their families. ... More than just a soft spot to shield, families can doom a man in a war zone if he can't cut off his emotions."

The use of operators and the companies like Blackwater that supplied them were little known until March 4, 2004 when four Blackwater employees were leading a convoy of trucks to pick up kitchen equipment. According to the company, they were assured by men they believed were members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps that they would have safe and quick passage through the dangerous city of Falluja. Instead, the road was blocked, their escape route cut off, and the men were shot to death, burned, and mutilated. Their charred remains were dragged before cameras, the video broadcast around the world. In another well chronicled incident, in April 2005 six Blackwater personnel were killed when the helicopter they were riding in was shot down, apparently by rocket-propelled grenades.

The Falluja incident led to a spike in employment applications for Blackwater, fueled in large part out of a sense of revenge, but it also brought the use of private security firms by the military into public view. To critics of the practice, Blackwater became the face of the entire industry, although in reality there were scores of similar companies. Altogether they added about 15,000 men to the military forces stationed in Iraq. Critics charged that rapid growth in the private military industry was leading to inexperience and poorly trained units. Moreover, the cost of using such forces could be hidden from the public, and the personnel were not subject to the same kind of accountability as U.S. soldiers. Miscreants were simply shipped home. Given that U.S. forces were stretched thin, however, the military had little choice but to continue to rely on private contractors. Following the events in Falluja, according to Nation magazine, Blackwater "hired the Alexander Strategy Group, a PR firm with close ties to GOPers like [House Majority Leader Tom] DeLay. By Mid-November the company was reporting 600 percent growth. In February 2005 the company hired Ambassador Cofer Black, former coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department and former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, as vice chairman."

Blackwater continued to see training as its core mission and made major upgrades to its North Carolina facilities. In 2004 the company received permission from Currituck County to expand operations into that county, including firearms ranges, parachute landing zones, and explosives training. Later in the year Blackwater began to build a roadway through 90 acres of its property that would be suitable for training in high-speed chases (above 100 miles per hour) as well as motorcade protection against terrorist attacks.

Blackwater was again in the news in the autumn of 2005 when about 150 Blackwater men were spotted in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city. Not only did they--along with operators from other firms--secure government facilities, they guarded private businesses and homes. The company also lobbied in 2005 for Homeland Security contracts to train 2,000 new Border Patrol agents. Jackson testified before Congress regarding the business and made a pitch for Blackwater as a one-stop shopping solution for the government. There was every reason to believe that because of military limitations and the company's strong political ties Blackwater, despite the notoriety it had received, was well positioned to prosper in the years to come.

Principal Operating Units

Blackwater Training Center; Blackwater Security Consulting; Blackwater Canine; Blackwater Target Systems; Raven Development Group.

Principal Competitors

Smith Consulting Group; Intercon Security; DynCorp International Inc.; The Wackenhut Corporation.

Blackwater USA

Type	Private military security firm
Founded	1997
Founder	Erik Prince
Headquarters	850 Puddin Ridge Road Moyock, North Carolina, U.S.^[1]
Key people	Cofer Black Joseph E. Schmitz Gary Jackson Bill Mathews
Industry	Government contracting
Divisions	See Blackwater USA businesses.
Subsidiaries	Blackwater vehicles
Website	www.BlackWaterUSA.com

Corporate history

Erik Prince, Blackwater founder and owner.

Joseph E. Schmitz.

J. Cofer Black, Vice chairman of Blackwater.

Main article: Blackwater USA businesses

Blackwater USA was formed in 1997 to provide training support to military and law enforcement organizations. In 2002 Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) was formed. It was one of several private security firms employed following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. BSC is one of over 60 private security firms employed during the Iraq War to guard officials and installations, train Iraq's new army and police, and provide other support for occupation forces.^[15] Blackwater was also hired during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the Department of Homeland Security, as well as by private clients, including communications, petrochemical and insurance companies.^[16] In each case, Blackwater received a no-bid contract. Overall, the company has received over one billion dollars in government contracts.^[17]

Blackwater is a privately-held company and does not publish much information about internal affairs. Blackwater's owner and founder is Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL. Prince attended the Naval Academy, graduated from Hillsdale College, and was an intern in George H.W. Bush's White House. Prince is a financial supporter of Republican Party causes and candidates.^[18].

Blackwater's president, Gary Jackson, is also a former Navy SEAL.^[19] Cofer Black, the company's current vice chairman, was Director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) at the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was the United States Department of State Coordinator for Counterterrorism with the rank of Ambassador at Large from December 2002 to November 2004. After leaving public service Black became chairman of the privately owned intelligence gathering company Total Intelligence Solutions, Inc., as well as vice chairman for Blackwater. Joseph E. Schmitz holds an executive position in Blackwater's holding company, Prince Group. He was previously Inspector General of the Department of Defense, an appointment of George W. Bush. Robert Richer was Vice President of Intelligence until January 2007, when he formed Total Intelligence Solutions. He was formerly the head of the CIA's Near East Division.^[20]^[21]

Blackwater's primary training facility, located on acres ( km²) in North Carolina, comprises several ranges, indoor, outdoor, urban reproductions, a man-made lake, and a driving track in Camden and Currituck counties. Company literature says that it is the largest training facility in the country. In November 2006 Blackwater USA announced it recently acquired an 80-acre (30 ha) facility 150 miles (240 km) west of Chicago, in Mount Carroll, Illinois to be called Blackwater North. That facility has been operational since April 2007 and serves law enforcement agencies throughout the midwest.

Blackwater is also trying to open an 824-acre training facility three miles north of Potrero, a small town in rural east San Diego County, California located 45 miles east of San Diego, for military and law enforcement training.^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25]^[26] The opening has faced heavy opposition from local residents, as well as San Diego residents, local Congressmember Bob Filner, and environmental and anti-war organizations. Opposition has been due a potential wildfire increases, the proposed facility's proximity to the Cleveland National Forest, noise pollution, or opposition to the actions of Blackwater in Iraq.^[27]^[28]

Blackwater USA consists of nine divisions, and a subsidiary, Blackwater Vehicles.

Iraq involvement

In 2003, Blackwater attained its first high-profile contract when it received a $21 million no-bid contract for guarding the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, L. Paul Bremer^[29] Since June 2004, Blackwater has been paid more than $320 million out of a $1 billion, five-year State Department budget for the Worldwide Personal Protective Service, which protects U.S. officials and some foreign officials in conflict zones.^[30] In 2006, Blackwater won the remunerative contract to protect the U.S. embassy in Iraq, which is the largest American embassy in the world. It is estimated by the Pentagon and company representatives that there are 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, and some estimates are as much as 100,000, though no official figures exist.^[31]^[32] Of the State Department's dependence on private contractors like Blackwater for security purposes, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, told the U.S. Senate: "There is simply no way at all that the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security could ever have enough full-time personnel to staff the security function in Iraq. There is no alternative except through contracts."^[33]^[34]

For work in Iraq, Blackwater has drawn contractors from their international pool of professionals, a database containing "21,000 former Special Forces operatives, soldiers, and retired law enforcement agents," overall.^[35] For instance, Gary Jackson, the firm's president, has confirmed that Bosnians, Filipinos, and Chileans "have been hired for tasks ranging from airport security to protecting Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority."

Between 2005 and September 2007, Blackwater security staff was involved in 195 shooting incidents; in 163 of those cases, Blackwater personnel fired first. 25 members of staff have been fired for violations of Blackwater's drug and alcohol policy and 28 more for weapons-related incidents.^[36]

Fallujah mission

Main article: 31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush

On March 31, 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah attacked a convoy containing four American private military contractors from Blackwater USA who were conducting delivery for food caterers ESS.^[37] The four armed contractors Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were attacked and killed with grenades and small arms fire. Their bodies were hung from a bridge crossing the Euphrates.^[12] In the fall of 2007, a congressional report found that Blackwater intentionally "delayed and impeded" investigations into the contractors' deaths.^[38]

Later incidents

In April 2004, a few days after the Fallujah bridge hanging, a small team of Blackwater employees, along with a fire team of U.S. Marines, held off over four hundred insurgents outside the Coalition Provisional Authority Headquarters in Al Najaf, Iraq, waiting for U.S. troops to arrive. The Headquarters was surrounded and it was the last area in the city that remained in Coalition control. During the siege, as supplies and ammunition ran low, a team of Blackwater contractors miles ( km) away flew to the compound to resupply and bring an injured U.S. Marine back to safety outside of the city.^[39]^[40]^[41]

In April 2005 six Blackwater independent contractors were killed in Iraq when their Mi-8 helicopter was shot down. Also killed were three Bulgarian crewmembers and two Fijian gunners. Initial reports indicate the helicopter was shot down by rocket propelled grenades.

In 2006 a car accident occurred in the Baghdad Green Zone when an SUV driven by Blackwater operatives crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee. Blackwater guards disarmed the Army soldiers and forced them to lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle their SUV from the wreck.^[42]

On January 23, 2007, five Blackwater contractors were killed in Iraq when their Hughes H-6 helicopter was shot down. The incident happened in Baghdad, Haifa Street. The crash site was secured by a Personal Security Detail Platoon, callsign "Jester" from 1/26 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Three Iraqi insurgent groups claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, however, this has not been confirmed by the US.^[43] A US defense official has confirmed that four of the five killed were shot execution style in the back of the head, but did not know whether the four had survived the crash.^[44]^[45]

In late May 2007, Blackwater contractors opened fire on the streets of Baghdad twice in two days, one of the incidents provoking a standoff between the security contractors and Iraqi Interior Ministry commandos, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.^[31] And on May 30 2007, Blackwater employees shot an Iraqi civilian deemed to have been "driving too close" to a State Department convoy being escorted by Blackwater contractors.^[46]^[31] Other private security contractors, such as Aegis Defence Services have also been accused of similar actions.^[47] However, Doug Brooks, the president of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group representing Blackwater and other military contractors, said that in his view military law would not apply to Blackwater employees working for the State Department.^[48] In October of 2007, Blackwater USA announced the company was taking a "hiatus" from membership in IPOA.^[49]

Killing of Vice-presidential guard

Main article: Andrew J. Moonen

On Christmas Eve, 2006, a security guard of the Iraqi vice president, Adel Abdul Mahdi, was shot and killed while on duty outside the Iraqi prime minister's compound. The Iraqi Government has accused Andrew J. Moonen, at the time an employee of Blackwater USA, of murdering him while drunk. Moonen was subsequently fired by Blackwater for "violating alcohol and firearm policy", and travelled from Iraq to the United States days after the incident. United States Attorneys are currently investigating.^[50] The United States State Department and Blackwater USA had attempted to keep his identity secret.^[51]^[52]

Baghdad shooting controversy

Main article: Blackwater Baghdad shootings

On September 17, 2007, Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq was revoked by the Iraqi Government, resulting from a highly contentious incident that occurred the previous day during which seventeen (initially reported as eleven) Iraqis were killed.^[53]^[54] The fatalities occurred while a Blackwater Private Security Detail (PSD) was escorting a convoy of U.S. State Department vehicles en route to a meeting in western Baghdad with United States Agency for International Development officials. The US State Department has said that "innocent life was lost"^[55] An anonymous U.S. military official was quoted as saying that Blackwater's guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force.^[56] The incident has sparked at least 5 investigations, with the FBI now saying it will begin a probe.^[57]

The US House has passed a bill that would make all private contractors working in Iraq and other combat zones subject to prosecution by U.S. courts and Senate Democratic leaders have said they plan to send similar legislation to President Bush as soon as possible.^[58]

Evacuation of Polish diplomat

In spite of the fallout from the September 16 shooting, Blackwater helicopters were dispatched to evacuate the Polish ambassador following an insurgent assassination attempt on October 3, 2007.^[59]

Legal status

The legal status of Blackwater and other security firms in Iraq is a subject of contention.^[60] Two days before he left Iraq, L. Paul Bremer signed "Order 17"^[61] giving all Americans associated with the CPA and the American government immunity from Iraqi law.^[62] A July 2007 report from the American Congressional Research Service indicates that the Iraqi government still has no authority over private security firms contracted by the U.S. government.^[63]

On September 23, 2007, the Iraqi government said that it expects to refer criminal charges to its courts in connection with a shooting involving Blackwater guards.^[64]

Litigation

See also: Helvenston et al. v. Blackwater Security

Blackwater is currently being sued by the families of Scott Helvenston and the three other contractors killed in Fallujah in March, 2004. The families say they are not suing for financial damages, but rather for the details of their sons' and husbands' deaths. They claim that Blackwater has refused to supply these details, and that in its "zeal to exploit this unexpected market for private security men," the company "showed a callous disregard for the safety of its employees."^[65] Four family members testified in front of the House Government Reform Committee on February 7, 2007. They asked that Blackwater be held accountable for future negligence of employees' lives, and that Federal legislation be drawn up to govern contracts between the Department of Defense and the defense contractor.^[66] Blackwater has counter-sued the lawyer representing the empty estates of the deceased for $10 million on the grounds that the lawsuit was contractually prohibited from ever being filed.^[67]

On April 19, 2006, The Nation magazine published an article titled, "Blood Is Thicker Than Blackwater," concerning the lawsuit against Blackwater brought by some of the families of the four deceased employees.^[68] The article discussed the removal of the word "armoured" from already-signed contracts, and other allegations of wrongdoing.

According to an Army report, in November 2004, a Blackwater plane, "in violation of numerous government regulations and contract requirements," crashed into a mountainside killing all six aboard.^[69] The families of the three soldiers killed — Lt. Col. Michael McMahon, Chief Warrant Officer Travis Grogan and Spec. Harley Miller — filed a wrongful death suit against Blackwater, alleging negligence. However, Presidential Airways, a division of Blackwater, questioned the hastiness of the Army's report, stating that it "contains numerous errors, misstatements, and unfounded assumptions."^[69]

On October 11 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Blackwater USA under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of an injured Iraqi and the families of three of the seventeen Iraqis who were killed by Blackwater employees during the September 16 2007 Blackwater Baghdad shootings.^[70]

Post-Katrina involvement

Blackwater USA was employed to assist the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts on the Gulf Coast. According to a company press release, it provided airlift, security, and logistics and transportation services, as well as humanitarian support. It was reported that the company also acted as law enforcement in the disaster stricken areas, such as securing neighborhoods and "confronting criminals".^[71]

Blackwater moved about 200 personnel into the area hit by Hurricane Katrina, most of whom (164 employees) were working under a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to protect government facilities,^[72] but the company held contracts with private clients as well.

Overall, Blackwater had a "visible, and financially lucrative, presence in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as the use of the company contractors cost U.S. taxpayers $240,000 a day."^[73] There has been much dispute surrounding governmental contracts in post-Katrina New Orleans, especially no-bid contracts such as the one Blackwater was awarded. Blackwater's heavily-armed presence in the city was also the subject of much confusion and criticism.^[74]

Other employments

Blackwater USA is one of five companies picked by the Department of Defense Counter-Narcotics Technology Program Office in a five-year contract for equipment, material and services in support of counter-narcotics activities. The contract is worth up to $15 billion. The other companies picked are Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Arinc Inc..^[75]

Blackwater USA has also been contracted by various foreign governments. In 2005, it worked to train the Naval Sea Commando regiment of Azerbaijan, enhancing their interdiction capabilities on the Caspian Sea.^[76]

Blackwater also has contracts in Japan guarding [AN/TPY-2]] radar systems.^[77]

Controversy and criticism

In March 2006, Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA, allegedly suggested at an international conference in Amman, Jordan, that the company is ready to move towards providing security professionals up to brigade size (3000–5000 men) for humanitarian efforts and low intensity conflicts. Critics have suggested this may be going too far in putting political decisions in the hands of privately owned corporations.^[78] The company denies this was ever said.^[79]

Contractors or Mercenaries

Critics consider that Blackwater's self-description as a private military company is a euphemism for mercenary activities.^[80] Jeremy Scahill points out that Chilean nationals, mostly former soldiers, whose country of origin does not participate in hostilities in Iraq, work for Blackwater in that country, thus those Chileans meet the definition of a "mercenary."^[81]^[82] At least 60 of the Chilean Blackwater employees were trained during dictator Augusto Pinochet's regime.^[83]^[84]^[85]

Author Chris Hedges wrote about the establishment of mercenary armies, referring to Blackwater USA as an example of such a force, asserting their existence as a threat to democracy, and a step towards the creation of a modern day Praetorian Guard in a June 3, 2007 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.^[86]

According to Erik Prince, there has been a “rush to judgment” about Blackwater, due to "inaccurate information". ^[87]

The crash of Blackwater 61 in Afghanistan

Underqualified Blackwater staff made a series of errors leading to the plane crashing into a rock wall in Afghanistan on Nov. 27, 2004. Several US military personnel were on board because there was space on the cargo plane. Errors included not filing a flight plan and not using oxygen masks, possibly resulting in the pilot succumbing to high-altitude euphoria.^[88]

Arms smuggling

Main article: Blackwater USA arms smuggling allegations

On September 22, 2007, U.S. federal prosecutors announced an investigation into allegations of Blackwater employees who may have smuggled weapons into Iraq, and that these weapons may have been later transferred to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Kurdish nationalist group designated a terrorist organization by the US, NATO and the EU.^[89]^[90]^[91] The United States government was investigating Blackwater for these alleged crimes.^[92] On October 4, 2007, the FBI took over the investigation.^[93]

Congressional investigation

On October 2, 2007 Erik Prince was subject to a congressional hearing conducted by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform following the controversy related to Blackwater's conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan.^[94]^[95]

When testifying before Congress on October 2, 2007, about Blackwater USA's activities in Iraq, Prince complained about the lack of remedies his company has to deal with employee misdeeds. When asked why an employee involved in the killing of a Vice-presidential guard incident had been "whisked out of the country" he replied, "We can't flog him, we can't incarcerate him."^[96]

When asked by a member of Congress for financial information about his company, he declined to provide it. "We're a private company, and there's a key word there — private," Prince answered.^[97] Later he stated that the company could provide it at a future date if questions were submitted in writing.^[98]^[99]

When the term "mercenaries" was used to describe Blackwater employees, Prince objected, characterizing them instead as "loyal Americans".^[100]

A Committee on Oversight and Government Reform staff report, based largely on internal Blackwater e-mail messages and State Department documents, describes Blackwater as "being staffed with reckless, shoot-first guards who were not always sober and did not always stop to see who or what was hit by their bullets."^[14]

A staff report compiled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on behalf of Representative Waxman questioned the cost-effectiveness of using Blackwater forces instead of United States troops. Blackwater charges the government $1,222 per day per guard, "equivalent to $445,000 per year, or six times more than the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier," the report alleged.^[101] During his testimony on Capitol Hill, Erik Prince disputed this figure, saying that it costs money for the government to train a soldier, to house and feed them, they don't just come prepared to fight. "That sergeant doesn't show up naked and untrained", Prince stated.^[102]^[103]

New rules from State Department

In the wake of Prince's Congressional testimony, on October 5, 2007 the State Department announced new rules for Blackwater's armed guards operating in Iraq. Under the new guidelines, State Department security agents will accompany all Blackwater units operating in and around Baghdad. The State Department will also install video surveillance equipment in all Blackwater armored vehicles, and will keep recordings of all radio communications between Blackwater convoys in Iraq and the military and civilian agencies which supervise their activities.^[104]

Public relations

In early October 2007, Blackwater hired the public relations firm BKSH & Associates Worldwide, a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, to help Erik Prince prepare for the congressional hearing. Robert Tappan, a former US State Departement official who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, was one the executives handling the account.^[105] BKSH portrays itself as a "bipartisan" firm and is lead by Charlie Black, a prominent Republican political strategist and former chief spokesman for the Republican National Committee and Scott Pastrick, former Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.^[106]^[107]

Although Burson-Marsteller has historically deep connections to both Republican and Democratic politicians, Mark Penn, the chief adviser to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, is the CEO.

Notes

^ ^a ^b House Oversight Committee record of Blackwater USA contracts for Iraq security services.
^ Gielink, Dirk; Maarten Buitenhuis, René Moelker (2007). "No Contractors on the Battlefield: The Dutch Military's Reluctance to Outsource", in Thomas Jäger, Gerhard Kümmel: Private Military and Security Companies: Chances, Problems, Pitfalls and Prospects. VS Verlag, 149. ISBN 3531149016.
^ Sunday Herald, Scotland, "BACK IN IRAQ: THE 'WHORES OF WAR'", October 2, 2007.
^ Jeremey Scahill, The Nation, "Will Blackwater Be Kicked Out of Iraq After Recent Bloodbath?", September 28, 2007.
^ David Swanson, Scoop New Zealand, "Observing Our Government Through Blackwater", September 29, 2007.
^ Ian Bruce, The Herald, London, "Blackwater uses armed force ‘twice as often as other Iraq firms’", September 28, 2007.
^ Tehran Times, "Blackwater admits employees illegally sold weapons", September 23, 2007.
^ url=[1]
^ Matthew Lee, "Feds Target Blackwater in Weapons Probe", Associated Press, September 22, 2007.
^ Jennifer Elsea, Nina Serafino, "[2]", CRS report for congress, Private security contractors in Iraq: Background, legal status and other issues
^ hamptonroads Blackwater: On the Front Lines by Bill Sizemore and Joanne Kimberline, The Virginian-Pilot, July 25, 2006
^ ^a ^b 'Residents hang slain Americans' bodies from bridge' — CNN.com
^ Pentagon Dispatches Investigators to Iraq to Probe Private Security Contractors foxnews.com (AP) September 26, 2007.
^ ^a ^b Stout, David. "Report Depicts Recklessness at Blackwater", New York Times, October 1, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
^ Role of security companies likely to become more visible
^ Private Security Company Creates Stir in New Orleans — The Virginian-Pilot
^ US-IRAQ: Blackwater Blues for Dead Contractors' Families, by Bill Berkowitz, IPS, June 29, 2007.
^ Flintoff, Corey. "Blackwater's Prince Has GOP, Christian Group Ties", National Public Radio, September 25, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
^ Four Civilians Worked for N.C. Security Firm, Associated Press, March 31, 2004.
^ Ken Silverstein, "Revolving Door to Blackwater Causes Alarm at CIA," Harper's Magazine, September 12, 2006.
^ url=http://www.totalintel.com/dsp_aboutus_personnel.php
^ "Locals Against Training Camp In East County", 10News.com, May 12, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
^ R. J. Hillhouse. "Exclusive Interview: Blackwater USA's President Gary Jackson", The Spy Who Billed Me, April 26, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
^ Bauder, Don. "Tiny Potrero Battles County and Blackwater USA", San Diego Reader, February 22, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
^ Van Deerlin, Lionel. "Blackwater in Potrero?", April 19, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
^ Bauder, Don. "Tiny Potrero Battles County and Blackwater USA". San Diego Reader. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
^ "Blackwater Plans for New Military Facility Near San Diego Draws Fire From Residents, Peace Activists and Local Congressmember". Democracy Now!. 2007-04-19. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
^ Kahn, Carrie. "Blackwater's San Diego-Area Plan Spurs Protest". NPR (2007-10-09). Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
^ "Blackwater USA: Building the 'Largest Private Army in the World'". Democracy Now!. 2004-04-01. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1599682,00.html "Victims of an Outsourced War" — time.com
^ ^a ^b ^c Fainaru, Steve, Saad al-Izzi. "U.S. Security Contractors Open Fire in Baghdad", Washington Post, May 27, 2007, pp. A01.
^ Bennett, Brian. "Victims of an Outsourced War". Time (w/ CNN). 2007-05-15. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
^ http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1662586,00.html
^ http://www.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2007-10/32930222.pdf
^ http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38379
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7024370.stm
^ The High Risk Contracting Business
^ http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/27/iraq.blackwater/index.html
^ 'Private Guards Repel Attack on U.S. Headquarters
^ 'Contractors in combat: Firefight from a rooftop in Iraq
^ http://najafproject.iespana.es/pages/testimonios.html
^ Blackwater Is Soaked Rod Nordland and Mark Hosenball Newsweek Oct. 15, 2007
^ U.S. crew of downed helicopter shot at close range — CNN.com
^ 4 Americans in Iraq Crash Shot in Head — WTOP.com
^ Pelton, Robert Young: "Licensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror," Crown, August 29, 2006
^ [3]
^ [4]
^ http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=117400&ran=74075
^ Blackwater Quits Security Association by August Cole, The Wall Street Journal, October 11, 2007.
^ John M. Broder, New York Times, "Ex-Paratrooper Is Suspect in a Blackwater Killing", October 4, 2007.
^ Robin Wright and Ann Scott Tyson, Mercury News, "Iraq reveals $100 million purchase of Chinese arms", October 4, 2007.
^ Contractor involved in Iraq shooting got job in Kuwait, October 4, 2007.
^ Blackwater 'killed 17', says Iraq
^ http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/18/blackwater.iraq/index.html
^ U.S., Iraq to probe firefight involving Blackwater
^ Blackwater faulted by U.S. military: report
^ FBI Opens Probe Into Blackwater
^ House Passes Bill That Would Hike Penalties for U.S. Security Contractors in Iraq
^ Curtis, Kim. "Ambush Injures Polish Diplomat in Iraq", Associated Press, 2007-10-04. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
^ Blackwater Case Highlights Legal Uncertainties by Alissa J. Rubin and Paul von Zielbauer, The New York Times, October 11, 2007.
^ COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY ORDER NUMBER 17 (REVISED)
^ Hirch, Michael. "Blackwater and the Bush Legacy", Newsweek, 2007-09-20, pp. 2. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
^ "Blackwater staff face charges", CNN.com, 2007-09-23. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
^ "Security Firm Faces Criminal Charges in Iraq", The New York Times,

Thursday		HI: 89°F / 31°C LO: 59°F / 15°C
Friday		HI: 86°F / 30°C LO: 61°F / 16°C
Saturday		HI: 88°F / 31°C LO: 64°F / 17°C
Sunday		HI: 85°F / 29°C LO: 65°F / 18°C
Monday		HI: 84°F / 28°C LO: 64°F / 17°C