blackwater

Statement out from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence:
“The first thing to remember is that the program has been canceled. It was fully briefed to the Senate Intelligence Committee, first by Director Panetta in June, and afterward through additional oversight.
The program was never briefed to the Congress before June [...]

Fresh off the latest revelation that the CIA contracted Blackwater for an assassination effort, here’s Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater’s most dogged pursuer, writing in The Nation to remind people about the breadth of the private military firm’s relationship with the agency. This quote in particular helps explain some of the legal backstory I wrote about [...]

There’s not much I can add at this point to Mark Mazzetti’s great scoop about the CIA hiring the-private-military-firm-formerly-known-as-Blackwater for its never-quite-specified “significant actions” efforts at assassinating members of al-Qaeda. Jeremy Scahill has tweeted that The Nation is set to publish a follow-on piece, so I’d keep an eye out for that. But here’s my [...]

The firm faces a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a 2007 shooting incident in Baghdad.

For all the criticism faced by Erik Prince, the founder of private security company Blackwater — since renamed Xe — no one’s ever called him a killer. But according to Jeremy Scahill, the reporter most doggedly investigating the company, new sworn statements filed in a civil case against Xe on behalf of Iraqi civilians killed [...]

The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus reports that the U.S. military command in Afghanistan is considering hiring private security contractors to post as guards at military bases. Danger Room’s Nathan Hodge contextualizes the move, and writes, “Private security firms should be mindful of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s directive, which instructs the troops to “respect and protect” the [...]

There’s a haunting paragraph in Nancy Youssef’s dispatch from Kabul today. She writes about the influx of U.S. diplomats and other civilians to Kabul — generally considered a Good Thing, even if their activities may be less necessary in the capitol than in the provinces but whatever — and how their presence is, ironically, making [...]

Good for Gen. Ray Odierno:
Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander in Iraq, recently issued a directive asking his subordinate commanders to reduce the use of civilian contractors on at least 50 bases and small installations across Iraq and, where possible, provide employment to Iraqis instead. …
“This initiative supports our desired end state of a stable, [...]

Via Danger Room, it appears the Blackwater private security company has gone in for a bit of cynical rebranding:
Blackwater Worldwide is abandoning its tarnished brand name as it tries to shake a reputation battered by oft-criticized work in Iraq, renaming its family of two dozen businesses under the name Xe.

Here’s an idea so diabolically perfect in its simplicity only Noah Shachtman at Danger Room was able to report it. Sure, Blackwater might be kicked out of Iraq. But does that really mean its mercenaries will leave?
The State Department has a contract for “Worldwide Personal Protective Services” with three firms: Blackwater, DynCorp, and Triple Canopy. [...]