Blackwater guards still at work in Iraq despite lacking license to operate

Armed guards from the security firm once known as Blackwater Worldwide are still protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, even though the company has no license to operate there and has been told by the State Department its contracts will not be renewed two years after a lethal firefight that stirred outrage in Baghdad.

Associated Press | Apr 26, 2009

By MATTHEW LEE and MIKE BAKER

WASHINGTON — Armed guards from the security firm once known as Blackwater Worldwide are still protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq, even though the company has no license to operate there and has been told by the State Department its contracts will not be renewed two years after a lethal firefight that stirred outrage in Baghdad.

Private security guards employed by the company, now known as Xe, are to continue ground operations in parts of Iraq long into the summer, far longer than had previously been acknowledged, government officials told The Associated Press.

In addition, helicopters working for Xe’s aviation wing, Presidential Airways, will provide air security for U.S. diplomatic convoys into September, almost two years after the Iraqi government first said it wanted the firm out.

The company’s continued presence raises fresh questions about the strength of Iraq’s sovereignty even as the Obama administration urges the budding government to take more responsibility for the nation’s future.

Iraqis had long complained about Blackwater’s operations. Then a shooting by guards in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square in September 2007 left 17 civilians dead, further strained relations between Baghdad and Washington and led U.S. prosecutors to bring charges against the Blackwater contractors involved.

That deadly incident was the end, Iraqi leaders said. Blackwater had to get out.

But State Department officials acknowledge the company is still there.

The company declined to comment about a timetable for leaving.

“We follow the direction of our U.S. government client,” Xe spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said.

Last February, Blackwater changed its name to Xe — pronounced ZEE — in a bid to leave its reputation behind.

In Baghdad, an Iraqi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said that while Xe will not be allowed to work in Iraq, the company needs “some time” to fully shut down its operations there. The official did not give further details on the timetable.

State Department officials said this month Blackwater guards would stop protecting U.S. diplomats on the ground in Baghdad May 7, when the contract for that specific job expires and a new security provider, Triple Canopy, takes over.

But in its statement after the Iraqi government’s decision to prohibit Blackwater from operating there, the department did not reveal the firm has two other contracts — known as “task orders” — that do not expire until August and September, respectively.

Blackwater guards will remain on the ground protecting American diplomats in al Hillah, Najaf and Karbala, all south of Baghdad, until Aug. 4, according to the department.

And Presidential Airways, which operates some two dozen helicopters, will continue to fly until Sept. 3, it said.

After the Nisoor Square deaths, Iraqi officials ruled that North Carolina-based Blackwater would be barred from operating in the country.

Despite the ban, the State Department renewed Blackwater’s contract seven months later, in April 2008.

Obama’s Blackwater? Chicago Mercenary Firm Gets Millions for Private “Security” in Israel and Iraq

AlterNet | Apr 2, 2009

By Jeremy Scahill

Federal records obtained by AlterNet reveal a multi-million dollar contract for a private U.S. paramilitary force operating out of Jerusalem.

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama’s advisers said he “can’t rule out [and] won’t rule out” using mercenary forces, like Blackwater. Now, it appears that the Obama administration has decided on its hired guns of choice: Triple Canopy, a Chicago company now based in Virginia. It may not have Blackwater’s thuggish reputation, but Triple Canopy has its own bloody history in Iraq and a record of hiring mercenaries from countries with atrocious human rights records. What’s more, Obama is not just using the company in Iraq, but also as a U.S.-government funded private security force in Israel/Palestine, operating out of Jerusalem.

Beginning May 7th, Triple Canopy will officially take over Xe/Blackwater’s mega-contract with the U.S. State Department for guarding occupation officials in Iraq. It’s sure to be a lucrative deal: Obama’s Iraq plan will inevitably rely on an increased use of private contractors, including an army of mercenaries to protect his surge of diplomats operating out of the monstrous U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

The Iraq contract may come as no surprise. But according to federal contract records obtained by AlterNet, the Obama administration has also paid Triple Canopy millions of dollars to provide “security services” in Israel. In February and March, the Obama administration awarded a “delivery order” to Triple Canopy worth $5.5 million under State Department contract SAQMPD05F5528, which is labeled “PROTECTIVE SERVICES–ISRAEL.” According to one government document, the contract is scheduled to run until September 2012. (Another document says September 2009.) The contract is classified as “SECURITY GUARDS AND PATROL SERVICES” in Israel. The total value of the contract was listed at $41,556,969.72. According to a January 2009 State Department document obtained by AlterNet labeled “Sensitive But Unclassified,” the Triple Canopy contract is based out of Jerusalem.

According to federal records, the original arrangement with Triple Canopy in Israel appears to date back to at least September 2005 and has been renewed every year since. The company is operating under the State Department’s Worldwide Personal Protection Program (WPPS), which provides for private security/military companies to operate on the U.S. government payroll in countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iraq, and Israel. Triple Canopy, according to an internal State Department report, also worked under the program in Haiti, though that task order is now listed as “closed.” In State Department documents the WPPS program is described as a government initiative to protect U.S. officials as well as “certain foreign government high level officials whenever the need arises.” The State Department spent some $2 billion on the WPPS program from 2005-2008.

Triple Canopy’s Growing Footprint in Iraq

Triple Canopy is hardly new to the Iraq occupation. Founded in Chicago in 2003 by “U.S. Army Special Forces veterans,” the company won its first Iraq contract in 2004. In 2005, with its business expanding, Triple Canopy relocated its corporate headquarters from Obama’s home state to Herndon, Virginia, placing it much closer to the center of U.S. war contracting. (On several U.S. government contracts, however, including the Israel security contracts, its Lincolnshire, Illinois address is still used.)

Along with Blackwater and DynCorp, Triple Canopy has had armed operatives deployed in Iraq on a major U.S. government contract since the early stages of the occupation. At one point during this arrangement, Blackwater was responsible for Baghdad (the largest share of the work), DynCorp covered northern Iraq and Triple Canopy southern Iraq. Triple Canopy also worked for KBR and other corporations. As of 2007, Triple Canopy had about 2,000 operatives in Iraq, but only 257 on the State Department contract. However, its new contract, which takes effect May 7, will greatly expand Triple Canopy’s government presence in Iraq. (Meanwhile, Blackwater is scheduled to continue to work in Iraq under Obama through its aviation division and in Afghanistan, where it has security and counter-narcotics contracts. It also holds millions of dollars in other U.S. government contracts around the world and in the U.S. In February alone, the Obama administration paid Blackwater nearly $70 million in security contracts.) The Obama administration may have traded Blackwater for Triple Canopy in Iraq, but it is likely that some of Blackwater’s operatives, too, will simply jump over to Triple Canopy to keep working as armed security guards for occupation officials.

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Xe – Blackwater Sued for Drunken Killing of Iraqi VP’s Guard and Cover Up

Xe – Blackwater Sued for Drunken Killing of Iraqi VP’s Guard and Alleged Cover Up, According to Burke O’Neil LLC

PRNewswire | Mar 20, 2009

WASHINGTON – A heavily intoxicated Blackwater “shooter” randomly murdered an Iraqi vice presidential guard after a Christmas Eve party in Baghdad in 2006 and the company then attempted to cover up the incident before reneging on promises to fully compensate the dead guard’s family, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in California federal court.

The lawsuit alleges that several Blackwater-related defendants – now operating as Xe and other names under the control of chairman Erik Prince – attempted to evade responsibility after former Blackwater employee Andrew Moonen fatally shot Raheem Khalaf Sa’adoon, a 32-year-old married father of two who worked as a security guard for Iraqi Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi.

The plaintiffs are Mr. Sa’adoon’s widow, Wijdan Mohsin Saed, and their two sons – 11-year-old Sajjad Raheem Khalaf and eight-year-old Ali Raheem Khalaf.

The family is represented by attorneys Susan L. Burke, William T. O’Neil, and William F. Gould, of Burke O’Neil LLC, of Washington, D.C. and Charlottesville, Va., and Joseph L. Oliva and Michael S. Faircloth, of Oliva & Associates ALC, of San Diego.

According to the complaint, Mr. Moonen left the holiday party and lost his way in a section of Baghdad known as Little Venice. Visibly intoxicated, he encountered Mr. Sa’adoon on guard duty and pulled out and fired his company-issued Glock at Mr. Sa’adoon, killing him for no reason.

Xe – Blackwater also is accused of spiriting Mr. Moonen out of Iraq, bribing an Iraqi government official, and destroying documents and other evidence relating to the Moonen shooting and other Xe – Blackwater shootings.

The complaint also alleges that:

* After high-level Xe – Blackwater executives Gary Jackson and Dave Jackson met with company personnel to discuss ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigations, company employees began to destroy documents and other evidence relating to the Moonen shooting and other legal proceedings.

* Illegal Xe – Blackwater conduct is captured on videotape and audiotape, but rarely reported or punished. Records of illegal conduct are routinely destroyed by the defendants.

* Company mercenaries who murdered innocent Iraqis (”bad shoots”) were not disciplined or fired or placed on a “do not use” list. Instead, Xe – Blackwater continued to rehire and deploy mercenaries known to have killed innocents.

* Heavily armed “shooters” were routinely sent by Xe – Blackwater into the streets of Baghdad under the influence of steroids and other judgment-altering substances.

* Xe – Blackwater – which suggests that it primarily uses retired American military personnel – has hired former military personnel from at least a dozen nations. Some recruits and hires are known to have been involved in human rights abuses in Latin America and elsewhere. The defendants also hire and deploy to Iraq foreign nationals even though they were forbidden by the laws of their country from serving as mercenaries.

* The widow of Mr. Sa’adoon was promised a series of payments to compensate for the death of her husband. Xe – Blackwater paid a small sum initially, but then made no further payments.

Susan L. Burke, of Burke O’Neil LLC, stated, “By all accounts, the death of Raheem Khalaf Sa’adoon was senseless. His death is part of a pattern of illegal Xe – Blackwater shootings around the globe known to company management. From Mr. Sa’adoon’s death to the litany of other civilian shootings by Xe – Blackwater personnel, the company has created, fostered and refused to curb a culture of lawlessness and unaccountability.”

William F. Gould, of Burke O’Neil LLC, stated, “Blackwater’s clever new name cannot obscure the legal consequences of the company’s use of excessive and deadly force on innocents. A new logo for Erik Prince’s mercenary operation cannot change the fact that a guard for an Iraqi vice president was randomly murdered by a Blackwater employee in an act that has absolutely no connection to the protection of U.S. or Iraqi interests.”

The defendants include Mr. Prince, Mr. Moonen, Xe, various Prince-controlled entities such as Blackwater, The Prince Group, Falcon, Greystone Limited, Total Intelligence Solutions, EP Investments, and Raven Development Group.

Xe – Blackwater is accused in the complaint of committing war crimes, assault and battery, wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring, training and supervision, and tortious spoliation of evidence.

Mr. Moonen, of Seattle, Washington, eventually was fired for “violating alcohol and firearm policy,” according to Mr. Prince’s testimony before Congress in 2007.

The case is “Estate of Raheem Khalaf Sa’adoon v. Xe, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, et al.,” in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (Case No. 09CV0561 W LSP).

Attorney Contacts: Susan L. Burke, of Burke O’Neil LLC, Washington, D.C., 202.445.1409; William F. Gould, of Burke O’Neil LLC, Charlottesville, Va., 434.466.3505.

Media Contact: Erin Powers, Powers MediaWorks LLC, for Burke O’Neil LLC, 281.703.6000, info[at]powersmediaworks.com.

President Obama, Why Did You Pay Blackwater $70 Million in February?

AlterNet | Mar 17, 2009

By Jeremy Scahill

Obama may keep the company on the government payroll months after its Iraq contract expires. Not bad for a firm supposedly going down in flames.

For those already outraged at the AIG bonus scandal, here is a fact that should add more fuel to the fire: The Obama administration has paid the mercenary firm formerly known as Blackwater nearly $70 million to operate in Iraq and, according to The Washington Times, may keep the company on the payroll months past the official expiration of its Iraq contract in May. I reviewed Blackwater’s recent transactions with the Obama State Department and discovered a $45 million payment to Blackwater on February 4, 2009 for “protective services-Iraq.” It is described as a “funding action only.” Here is the interesting part: The estimated “Ultimate Completion Date” is 5/07/2011.

The Washington Times (as described below) reported on a $22 million payment to Blackwater on February 2. Combined with the $45 million payment I discovered, that’s nearly $67 million in 72 hours. Not bad for a company supposedly going down in flames.

With the U.S. economy in shambles and millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet and keep their homes, Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton need to explain to U.S. taxpayers how they justify these mega-payments to a scandal-plagued mercenary company. (At the very least, someone should ask Robert Gibbs about it).

It has been widely reported that the Bush administration’s preferred mercenary company, which recently renamed itself Xe, will soon be leaving Iraq. That news came early this year after the State Department, under immense public pressure, announced it would not renew the company’s lucrative deal to act as the private paramilitary force for senior U.S. occupation officials. The Iraqi government has said it wants the company to leave Iraq and says it has revoked the company’s operating license. The Obama administration continues to use Blackwater in Afghanistan and the company has extensive domestic training contracts with the military and law enforcement agencies inside the borders of the U.S.

Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that some of Blackwater’s armed operatives may simply be rehired by two other US mercenary firms that are expected to take over Blackwater’s work in Iraq under the Obama administration: Triple Canopy and DynCorp. Now, The Washington Times reports that the State Department has signed contracts with Blackwater that appear to extend the company’s presence in Iraq at least until September 2009.

According to the paper:

“On Feb. 2, a department spokesman was asked whether officials planned to renew one of Blackwater’s contracts past May. The spokesman, Robert Wood, said the department had told Blackwater ‘we did not plan to renew the company’s existing task force orders for protective security details in Iraq.’

“But records available through a federal procurement database show that on that same day, the State Department approved a $22.2 million contract modification for Blackwater ’security personnel’ in Iraq, with a job completion date of Sept. 3, 2009.”

“Why would you continue to use Blackwater when the Iraqi government has banned the highly controversial company and there are other choices?” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

State Department spokesman Noel Clay told The Washington Times the contract modification involves aviation services. “The place of performance is Iraq, but it is totally different than the Baghdad one that expires in May,” he said. Sloan called the State Department’s explanation of the Feb. 2 deal a “parsing of words” and said “they should just be straight with us.” Xe spokeswoman Anne Tyrell declined to comment on the status of the company’s work in Iraq or the Feb. 2 contract modification. She said the company was aware that the State Department had indicated that it did not plan to renew its contracts in Iraq but that Xe officials had not received specific information about leaving the country. “We’re following their direction,” she said.

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The Obama Administration’s New Deal for Blackwater

Blackwater Chief Executive Officer Erik Prince defends his company’s performance in Iraq before the House oversight committee in 2007. (Associated Press)

Washington Times | Mar 17, 2009

By Jim McElhatton

Days after the Baghdad government decided it no longer wanted the company then known as Blackwater in Iraq, the State Department signed a $22.2 million deal in February to keep the embattled contractor working there through most of the summer, contract records show.

The decision keeps Blackwater – since renamed Xe – in Iraq months longer than anyone has suggested publicly, while raising questions about why the U.S. would pay a contractor for work in Iraq if it may not be able to operate there legally.

Related

President Obama, Why Did You Pay Blackwater $70 Million in February?

The State Department has been under pressure from Blackwater critics, including several in Congress, not to renew the company’s contracts in Iraq. Much of the concern stems from a 2007 incident that left 14 Iraqi civilians dead and six former Blackwater guards facing manslaughter charges. One of the guards pleaded guilty, but the company was accused of no wrongdoing in the incident.

In late January, the Iraqi government said it would not renew Blackwater’s operating license and that the company would have to leave as soon as a joint Iraqi-U.S. committee completes its work on guidelines for the operation of private security companies. State Department officials said they would honor the decision.

On Feb. 2, a department spokesman was asked whether officials planned to renew one of Blackwater’s contracts past May. The spokesman, Robert Wood, said the department had told Blackwater “we did not plan to renew the company’s existing task force orders for protective security details in Iraq.”

But records available through a federal procurement database show that on that same day, the State Department approved a $22.2 million contract modification for Blackwater “security personnel” in Iraq, with a job completion date of Sept. 3, 2009.

“Why would you continue to use Blackwater when the Iraqi government has banned the highly controversial company and there are other choices?” asked Melanie Sloan, executive director of the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

State Department spokesman Noel Clay said the contract modification involves aviation services. “The place of performance is Iraq, but it is totally different than the Baghdad one that expires in May,” he said.

Ms. Sloan called the State Department’s explanation of the Feb. 2 deal a “parsing of words” and said “they should just be straight with us.”

Xe spokeswoman Anne Tyrell declined to comment on the status of the company’s work in Iraq or the Feb. 2 contract modification. She said the company was aware that the State Department had indicated that it did not plan to renew its contracts in Iraq but that Xe officials had not received specific information about leaving the country.

Xe tries to leave history of Blackwater behind as transformation cuts top 2 executives

Associated Press | Mar 2, 2009

By MIKE BAKER

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Blackwater name is gone. So is the focus on the security business that made it famous. Now the founder who built the private company into one of the world’s most respected — and reviled — defense contractors is stepping aside as its chief executive.

Erik Prince’s decision Monday to relinquish his role as chief executive officer underscored how hard the company now called Xe — pronounced like the letter “z” — is working to bury the Blackwater brand and move its focus further away from the security contracting that severely tarnished its reputation.

Prince appointed a new president and chief operating officer in a management shake-up that he said was part of the company’s “continued reorganization and self-improvement.” It comes less than a month after changing the company’s name to Xe in an effort at re-branding.

“As many of you know, because we focus on continually improving our business that Xe is in the process of a comprehensive restructuring,” Prince wrote in a note to employees and clients. “It is with pride in our many accomplishments and confidence in Xe’s future that I announce my resignation as the company’s Chief Executive Officer.”

Although Prince will retain his position as chairman of the company, the company said he is removing himself from the day-to-day operations. Spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said he plans to spend more time with his family and seven children, adding he plans to open a private-equity venture.

Joseph Yorio, recently a vice president at DHL and a former Army special forces officer, will serve as president, replacing retiring executive Gary Jackson. Danielle Esposito, who has worked within Xe for nearly 10 years, will be the new chief operating officer and executive vice president, the company said.

The CEO position remains open.

With an auto parts inheritance, Prince founded Blackwater in 1997 with some of his former Navy SEAL colleagues. They initially envisioned a world-class training facility to support law enforcement and military. But after Sept. 11, the bombing of the USS Cole and the start of the Iraq War, the company developed a large presence in providing private security.

The company’s lucrative contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq comprises about one-third of Xe’s revenues, but the State Department announced it would not rehire the firm after its current contract with the company expires in May. The company has one other major security contract, details of which are classified, and executives have said it will continue doing such work at the U.S. government’s request.

Prince said in an interview in January that losing the contract would be damaging.

“It would hurt us,” Prince said at the time. “It would not be a mortal blow, but it would hurt us.”

That said, executives have long bemoaned what the work in Iraq has cost the company. A 2007 shooting in Nisoor Square involving Blackwater guards drew outrage from politicians in Baghdad and Washington and demands that the company be banned from operating in Iraq.

Late last year, prosecutors charged five of the company’s contractors — but not Blackwater itself — with manslaughter and weapons violations. In January, Iraqi officials said they would not give the company a license to operate.

Xe has already been expanding into other lines of business. It has built a fleet of 76 aircraft that it has deployed to such hotspots as West Africa and Afghanistan.

The firm continues to expand training for law enforcement, with a renewed focus on international clients. Last year, some 25,000 civilians, law enforcement and military personnel were trained by the company.

The company is headquartered in Moyock, about 150 miles northeast of Raleigh.

Judge deals blow to families suing Blackwater

Associated Press | Feb 10, 2009

The survivors of four Blackwater Worldwide contractors killed in a grisly ambush in Iraq five years ago have suffered yet another setback in their legal battle with the company.

A federal administrative law judge ruled last week the children of one of the slain contractors should receive compensation through a government insurance program known as the Defense Base Act. It prohibits those eligible for benefits from filing lawsuits against companies covered by the insurance.

The families of the four dead contractors have received payments through the program for several years. Seeking to keep their right to sue, the mother of contractor Scott Helvenston’s two children asked the judge to rule they never were entitled to the benefits they’ve been receiving.

They argued the Defense Base Act does not apply to Blackwater’s work as a subcontractor, the insurance doesn’t apply to independent contractors, and the family should be able to sue because Blackwater committed willful misconduct in how the company handled Scott Helvenston and his fateful mission. Helvenston was one of four contractors killed in the attack in Fallujah in 2004.

William Dorsey, a U.S. Labor Department administrative law judge in San Francisco, disagreed on each point in a ruling issued last week. Thought the decision was based on the Helvenstons claims, it appears to further complicate the chances the four families have of winning a wrongful death lawsuit against North Carolina-based Blackwater. The company has already successfully gotten the case moved from federal court and into arbitration.

“The ruling speaks for itself,” said Blackwater general counsel Andy Howell in a statement. “It is reassuring to see the purpose and intent of the Defense Base Act upheld.”

Marc Miles, an attorney for the families, said in an interview that they plan to appeal Dorsey’s ruling. And he didn’t think it would have any impact on the wrongful death case, which is set to go to arbitration in June and could be resolved before the appeal is heard on the Labor Department case.

“It’s an erroneous ruling,” Miles said. “As soon as we file an appeal, the ruling will have no force and effect, and probably never will if it gets overturned.”

Family members for Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague first filed suit in January 2005. They have argued that Blackwater failed to prepare the men for the mission and didn’t provide them with appropriate equipment, such as a map, before sending them through volatile Fallujah.

Grisly images of two of the contractors’ charred bodies strung from a bridge over the Euphrates River were broadcast worldwide and triggered a U.S. siege of the restive city west of Baghdad.

Scandal-Ridden Blackwater Changes Name to ‘Xe’

The scandal-ridden security firm Blackwater USA is officially changing its name effective immediately as the company moves to rebrand itself after being fired last month by the State Department from its job protecting diplomats in Iraq.

Controversial Security Firm Attempts to Rebrand Itself

ABC | Feb 13, 2009

By MADDY SAUER and MEGAN CHUCHMACH

The company will now be known as Xe and hopes to be a “one-stop shopping source for world class services in the fields of security, stability, aviation, training and logistics”, according to a memo sent by company president Gary Jackson to employees today.

The division that handles the diplomatic protection services will now be known as U.S. Training Center, Inc., but now its primary focus will be operating training facilities, including the flagship campus in North Carolina, according to Jackson. It was that very division that handled Blackwater’s overseas operations, which also faced the most criticism.

“Blackwater’s latest attempt at re-branding itself would be hilarious if the company’s record wasn’t so deadly,” said Jeremy Scahill, author of “Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army”

“Blackwater’s deadly record has clearly made the company an international symbol of the out of control violence of the Bush era in Iraq and the rise of modern-day mercenaries, so it is understandable why the company would try to change its name at this moment in history,” said Scahill.

Blackwater has been the target of at least four grand jury investigations and accusations of tax fraud, improper use of force, arms trafficking and overbilling. The firm has denied any wrongdoing.

The firm is best known for its automatic weapon-brandishing diplomatic protection force in Iraq. Officials there recently refused to license Blackwater to operate in Iraq citing lingering outrage over the September 2007 shooting deaths of 17 civilians by Blackwater guards.

Five former Blackwater guards have pleaded not guilty to federal charges that include 14 counts of manslaughter and 20 counts of attempted manslaughter. No charges were brought against the corporation.

While Jackson made no mention of the scandals in his memo, he did say that an independent panel of outside experts had been advising the company since last fall “to help build our company compliance structures.”

U.S. Now Hiring for Blackwater Replacements

The State Department is now advertising for the latest round of security posts overseas. The description warns that the job involves “harsh climates” and “health hazards”. There’s also the caveat that despite “unique rewards and opportunities,” the job “may result in bodily injury and death.”

The department is hiring as many as 700 Security Protective Specialists to end its reliance on contracting firms, like Blackwater. The position pays about $52,000 a year, with additional danger pay and post differential that add up to about 70 percent of the base salary, according to a job posting on a government website.

Meals and housing are provided overseas – the new hires will be deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel – but they’ll also encounter some fairly rigorous working conditions. The job “may require jumping, dodging, lying prone, as well as wrestling, restraining and subduing attackers, or detainees,” the posting says. And after the initial tour is completed, the specialists could very well be transferred to “other high threat posts overseas.”

Specialists will be trained in the use of firearms, personal defensive tactics, driving skills, emergency medical procedures, and protective security techniques at a 13-week training session before being deployed. Applicants can apply on the State Department’s website through Feb. 17.

Blackwater’s Loss is DynCorp’s Gain

Guru Focus | Feb 3, 2009

by INVESTMENTU

Last week, Blackwater Worldwide received the bad news that the U.S. Government could not renew its contract after the Iraqi government refused to renew its license to operate in their country. The decision stems from the 2007 incident where Blackwater security guards fired on, and killed 17 Iraqis in a disputed who-shot-first incident.

But their bad news could be investor’s gain.

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Including Blackwater, the State Department uses three separate security contractors in Iraq. The only competition for the coveted security contracts now rests with Triple Canopy and DynCorp International (DCP). For investors, DynCorp is the only publicly listed company of the three.

Before you think a few extra security guards in Iraq can’t be that expensive, consider that there are thousands of private security contractors in Iraq. They protect everything from government personnel to corporate executives and buildings, earning thousands a day. Blackwater’s contract in Iraq was worth nearly $2 billion – despite its poor performance reviews.

And Iraq isn’t the only hotspot these companies operate in. There are dozens of other hotspots around the world for private security contractors to “clean up” in – like Afghanistan’s reconstruction.

Blackwater Guards Immune Under Law, Pentagon Says

Bloomberg | Feb 2, 2009

By Ken Fireman

The U.S. Defense Department concluded in 2007 that Blackwater Worldwide contractors can’t be prosecuted under federal law for a shooting incident in Iraq that left 17 civilians dead.

In a letter to North Carolina Representative David Price, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said contractors are subject to prosecution under federal law for alleged misconduct committed overseas only when they are working for the Pentagon or supporting its mission.

Blackwater was working for the State Department when the September 2007 incident took place in Baghdad. The company was “not engaged in employment that was in support of the DoD mission,” England said in a letter to Price on Dec. 14, 2007.

The Democratic congressman’s office released a copy of the letter today. It was reported earlier by the Associated Press.

A spokesman for Price, Paul Cox, said in an e-mailed statement: “Regardless of the views expressed in this letter, it’s up to the courts alone to determine whether these security contractors fall under federal criminal jurisdiction.”

Five Blackwater employees were charged in December with manslaughter and weapons violations in connection with the shooting incident. A sixth employee pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. The Moyock, North Carolina-based company wasn’t charged in the case.

The Justice Department on Jan. 27 filed a legal brief arguing that the law governing the criminal actions of Pentagon contractors should apply to the Blackwater employees. Government lawyers argued that both the State and Defense Departments had a common mission to stabilize Iraq.

“Both departments fulfill mutually supporting responsibilities and work hand-in-hand to achieve that single, common objective,” the brief said.

Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said today that the government’s prosecution of the Blackwater employees will continue. “We’re going forward,” he said.

Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell declined to comment on the letter.