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Wikipedia

Blackwater (company)

December 18, 2023

"Academi" redirects here. For the literary agency, see the Academi.
Not to be confused with Academy or Academe.

Academi, formerly known as Blackwater, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1996,[2] by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince.[3][4] It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors.[5] In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings.[6][7][8]

Constellis
TypePrivate
IndustryPrivate security services contractor
Founded1997; 26 years ago (1997)
North Carolina, U.S.
FoundersErik Prince
Al Clark
DefunctJune 2014; 9 years ago (June 2014)
FateMerged with Triple Canopy
Headquarters12018 Sunrise Valley Drive
Suite 140
Reston, Virginia, U.S.[1]
38°56′54″N 77°21′42″W / 38.9484°N 77.3618°W / 38.9484; -77.3618
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Craig Nixon and Allen Schaffer
ProductsLaw enforcement training, logistics, close quarter training, and security services
ServicesSecurity management, full-service risk management consulting
Websitewww.constellis.com

Academi and its predecessors provide contract security services to the United States federal government. Since 2003, it has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency. In 2013, its subsidiary, International Development Solutions, received an approximately $92 million contract for U.S. State Department security guards.[9]

In 2007, Blackwater received widespread notoriety for the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad, when a group of its employees killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured 20. Four employees were convicted in the United States and later pardoned on December 22, 2020, by President Donald Trump.[10][11]

History edit

1997: Blackwater USA edit

Blackwater USA was formed on December 26, 1996,[2] by Al Clark[12] and Erik Prince in North Carolina, to provide training support to military and law enforcement organizations. In explaining its purpose, Prince stated: "We are trying to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service."[13] After working with SEAL and SWAT teams, Blackwater USA received its first government contract following the bombing of USS Cole off the coast of Yemen in October 2000.

1998: Training center opens edit

Prince purchased approximately 7,000 acres (28 km2) of the Great Dismal Swamp, a vast swamp on the North Carolina–Virginia border that is now mostly a national wildlife refuge. "We needed 3,000 acres to make it safe," Prince told reporter Robert Young Pelton.[14] There he created his private training facility and his contracting company, Blackwater, which he named for the peat-colored water of the swamp.[15]

The Blackwater Lodge and Training Center officially opened on May 15, 1998, with a 6,000-acre (2,400 ha), $6.5 million facility headed by Robert Anderson.[14] It comprises several ranges: indoor, outdoor, urban reproductions; an artificial lake; and a driving track in Camden and Currituck counties. The company says it is the largest training facility in the country. The concept was not a financial success but was kept solvent by sales from sister company Blackwater Target Systems.[16]

2002–2007: Blackwater Security Company edit

Jeremy Scahill has claimed that Blackwater Security Company (BSC) was the brainchild of Jamie Smith, a former CIA officer who became vice president of Blackwater USA and the founding director of Blackwater Security Company, holding both positions simultaneously.[17] However, this claim is denied by Prince and Blackwater executive Gary Jackson, who describe firing Smith from his position as a low-level administrator for "non-performance" after a thirty-day contract. Smith has been accused of further embellishing his military and contracting record to defraud investors at SCG International Risk.[18]

2003–2006: First contracts edit

BSC's first assignment was to provide twenty men with top-secret clearance to protect the CIA headquarters and another base that was responsible for hunting Osama bin Laden.[19] Blackwater was one of several private security firms employed following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. BSC was originally formed as a Delaware LLC and was one of over sixty 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 coalition forces.[20]

Smith left Blackwater to start his own firm, SCG International Risk, in 2003.

Blackwater was hired during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to protect government facilities, as well as by private clients, including communications, petrochemical, and insurance companies.[why?][21] Overall, the company received over US$1 billion in U.S. government contracts.[22] The company consisted of nine divisions and a subsidiary, Blackwater Vehicles.

 
Paul Bremer escorted by Blackwater Security guards

In August 2003, Blackwater received its first Iraq contract, a $21 million contract for a personal security detachment and two helicopters for Paul Bremer, head of the U.S. occupation in Iraq.[23]

In July 2004, Blackwater was hired by the U.S. Department of State under the Bureau of Diplomatic Security's Worldwide Personal Protective Services (WPPS) umbrella contract, along with DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, Inc. for the purpose of providing protective services in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Israel.[24] The contract applied for two years and expired on June 6, 2006. It authorized 482 personnel, and Blackwater received $488m for its work.[25]

On September 1, 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, Blackwater dispatched a rescue team and helicopter to support relief operations.[26] Blackwater moved about 200 personnel into the area impacted by Hurricane Katrina, most of whom (164 employees) were working under a contract with the Federal Protective Service to protect government facilities,[21] but the company held contracts with private clients as well. Blackwater's presence after Katrina cost the federal government $240,000 per day.[27]

In May 2006, the U.S. State Department awarded WPPS II, the successor to its previous diplomatic security contract.[25] Under this contract, the State Department awarded Blackwater, along with Triple Canopy and DynCorp, a contract for diplomatic security in Iraq. Under this contract, Blackwater was authorized to have 1,020 staff in Iraq.[25] Blackwater's responsibilities included the United States embassy in Iraq.[28] At the time it was a privately held company and published limited information about internal affairs.[29]

Leadership edit

Cofer Black, the company's vice-chairman from 2006 through 2008, was director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) at the time of the September 11 attacks in 2001. 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 of Blackwater.[30][31]

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.[30][31]

2006–2007: New training centers edit

In November 2006, Blackwater USA announced that it had acquired an 80-acre (32 ha) facility 120 miles (190 km) west of Chicago in Mount Carroll, Illinois, called Impact Training Center. This facility has been operational since April 2007 and serves law enforcement agencies throughout the Midwest.[citation needed]

Blackwater tried to open an 824-acre (3.33 km2) training facility three miles north of Potrero, a small town in rural east San Diego County, California, located 45 miles (72 km) east of San Diego, for military and law enforcement training.[32][33][34][35] The opening had faced heavy opposition from local residents, residents of nearby San Diego, local Congressmember Bob Filner, and environmentalist and anti-war organizations. Opposition focused on a potential for wildfire increases, the proposed facility's proximity to the Cleveland National Forest, noise pollution, and opposition to the actions of Blackwater in Iraq.[36][37] In response, Brian Bonfiglio, project manager for Blackwater West, said: "There will be no explosives training and no tracer ammunition. Lead bullets don't start fires." In October 2007, when wildfires swept through the area, Blackwater made at least three deliveries of food, water, personal hygiene products and generator fuel to 300 residents near the proposed training site, many of whom had been trapped for days without supplies. They also set up a "tent city" for evacuees.[38] On March 7, 2008, Blackwater withdrew its application to set up a facility in San Diego County.[39]

2007–2009: Blackwater Worldwide edit

 
Blackwater logo introduced 2007 (top) and original logo (below)

In October 2007, Blackwater USA began the process of changing its name to Blackwater Worldwide and unveiled a new logo.[40] The change deemphasized the "cross hair" reticle theme, simplifying it slightly.[40]

On July 21, 2008, Blackwater Worldwide stated that it would shift resources away from security contracting because of the extensive risks in that sector. Said company founder and CEO Erik Prince, "The experience we've had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk."[41]

2009–2010: Xe Services LLC edit

 
Xe logo

In February 2009, Blackwater announced that it would be once again renamed, this time to "Xe Services LLC", as part of a company-wide restructuring plan,[42][43] intended to re-focus the company on its logistics, aviation and training aspects, rather than its security operations.[44]

Prince announced his resignation as CEO on March 2, 2009. He remained as chairman of the board but was no longer involved in day-to-day operations.[45] Joseph Yorio was named as the new president and CEO, replacing Gary Jackson as president and Prince as CEO. Danielle Esposito was named the new chief operating officer and executive vice president.[46][47]

2010–2014: Academi edit

In 2010, Xe was acquired by USTC Holdings, an investor consortium, who sought to further re-brand the company. The sale formally ended Erik Prince's operational and management role in the company.[48] Xe was officially renamed "Academi" in 2011.[49][50] Academi's Board of Directors included former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former White House Counsel and Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Jack Quinn, retired Admiral and former NSA Director Bobby Ray Inman,[51] and Texas businessman Red McCombs, who served as chairman of the board.[52] Quinn and Ashcroft were independent directors, without other affiliations to Academi.[53]

In May 2011, Academi named Ted Wright as CEO.[54] Wright hired Suzanne Rich Folsom as Academi's chief regulatory and compliance officer and deputy general counsel.[55] The Academi Regulatory and Compliance team won National Law Journal's 2012 Corporate Compliance Office of the Year Award.[56]

In 2012, retired Brigadier General Craig Nixon was named the new CEO of Academi.[57]

2014–present: Constellis Holdings edit

A merger between Triple Canopy and Academi, along with other companies that were part of the Constellis Group package, are now all gathered under the Constellis Holdings, Inc. umbrella.[58] The transaction brings together an array of security companies including Triple Canopy, Constellis Ltd., Strategic Social, Tidewater Global Services, National Strategic Protective Services, ACADEMI Training Center and International Development Solutions.[8]

In 2015, six Colombian mercenaries reported by local media to be employed by Academi were killed in Yemen. The mercenaries were being led by an Australian commander believed to have been hired by the United Arab Emirates to fight the Houthi insurgency.[59]

In 2016, Ali al-Houthi, former President of the Revolutionary Committee, a body formed by Houthi militants, reported that a Tochka missile hit on a Saudi-led command center in Ma'rib resulting in the death of over 120 mercenaries, including 55 Saudi (9 officers), 11 UAE and 11 foreign commanders of Blackwater on January 17 as well as other material losses.[60] Also in 2016, two hundred Sudanese mercenaries from Blackwater and their commander U.S. Colonel Nicolas Petras were killed in Yemen in an attack by Yemeni forces on January 31 with another Tochka missile that impacted a gathering of the Saudi forces at Al Anad Air Base in Lahij province according to Houthi and Iranian sources.[60]

In September 2016, Constellis was bought by Apollo.[61]

Constellis moved their global headquarters to Herndon, Virginia in February 2020.[62]

Board of directors edit

Services and products edit

Academi has a variety of services and product offerings.

United States Training Center edit

 
Shooters take part in firearms training held at the U.S. Training Center in Moyock, North Carolina

United States Training Center (USTC, formerly Blackwater Training Center) offers tactics and weapons training to military, government, and law enforcement agencies. USTC also offers several open-enrollment courses periodically throughout the year, from hand to hand combat (executive course) to precision rifle marksmanship. They also offer courses in tactical and off-road driving.[64]

USTC's primary training facility, located on 7,000 acres (28 km2) in northeastern 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 acquired an 80-acre (32 ha) facility 150 mi (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.[citation needed] The training facility has since been renamed Impact Training Center[65] and then again renamed Hollow Training Center.[citation needed]

In 2011, the Pentagon contracted USTC to provide "intelligence analyst support and material procurement" for NATO in the ongoing Afghan drug war.[66]

Maritime security service edit

Academi offers tactical training for maritime force protection units. In the past, it has trained Greek security forces for the 2004 Olympics, Azerbaijan Naval Sea Commandos, and Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior.[67] Academi's facilities include a man-made lake, with stacked containers simulating the hull and deck of a ship for maritime assaults. Blackwater received a contract to train United States Navy sailors, which was managed by Jamie Smith, following the attack on the USS Cole.[68] It also purchased a 183-foot (56 m) vessel, McArthur, which has been outfitted for disaster response and training.[69] According to Blackwater USA, it features "state of the art navigation systems, full GMDSS communications, SEATEL Broadband, dedicated command and control bays, helicopter decks, hospital and multiple support vessel capabilities".[69] McArthur was built in 1966 by the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Company and served as the survey ship USC&GS McArthur (MSS 22) for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1966 to 1970, and then as NOAAS McArthur (S 330) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1970 until her decommissioning in 2003. The ship is home-ported in Norfolk, Virginia.[70]

Canine training edit

The company trains canines to work in patrol capacities as war dogs, explosives and drug detection, and various other roles for military and law enforcement duties.[citation needed]

Security consulting edit

Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) was formed as a Delaware LLC in December 2001 and was the brainchild of Jamie Smith, a former CIA officer who was the Founding Director as well as acting Vice President of Blackwater USA.[71] The company, based in Moyock, North Carolina, is one of the 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 coalition forces.[20]

The company was started to help train SEALS for combat. However, in the aftermath of 9/11, civilian security teams were needed by the United States Military.[19]

Before 2001, tier-one contractors, or former members of elite, special forces units, were hired from a small pool of applicants. After the September 11 attacks, Cofer Black, the former head of counter terrorism at the CIA, requested that the federal government hire more contractors to operate overseas. Eventually, the CIA realized that a large number of civilian contractors would be needed overseas to accomplish its broad goals. The federal government turned to Blackwater for assistance.[19] Jamie Smith and his deputy David Phillips recruited, vetted and hired a 21-man team. This team was then trained and deployed on a Top Secret project to provide protection for CIA personnel and facilities in Afghanistan. Jamie Smith and Erik Prince deployed with the team to Afghanistan. The two then deployed to the Pakistani border as a two-man element providing security assistance in one of the most dangerous places in the country at the time. Prince stayed there for one week and was in Afghanistan for a total of two weeks, leaving Smith and the remainder of the team to continue to carry out the mission.[72]

By 2003, the ground war in Iraq changed into a diplomatic mission, demanding hundreds of diplomats and State Department employees. The government traditionally handles its own security, but it lacked the staff for high-risk protection details. Therefore, a different type of protection was needed, and Blackwater would provide the solution. Blackwater's founder, Erik Prince, says that "not one State Department employee was killed while we were protecting them".[19]

Academi's primary public contract is from the U.S. State Department under the Bureau of Diplomatic Security's Worldwide Personal Protective Services (WPPS) and WPPS II umbrella contracts, along with DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, Inc., for protective services in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Israel.[73][74]

Products edit

Target systems edit

Academi provides and maintains a "shoot house" system and patented the BEAR multi-target training system that was designed and developed by the company.[75][76] Blackwater Target Systems company was managed by Jim Dehart and the company was largely responsible for keeping Blackwater Training Center financially solvent until the creation of Blackwater Security Company by Smith.[16]

Cougar (MRAP) edit

Force Protection Inc in early 2005 provided the first Cougar Security Vehicle (SV) to Blackwater USA for use as a transport vehicle for U.S. Provisional Coalition Authority officials in Baghdad.[citation needed]

Grizzly armored vehicle edit

Academi operates and markets its own armored personnel carrier, the Grizzly APC.[77]

Former corporate units edit

Aviation Worldwide Services edit

Main article: Presidential Airways (charter)
 
AWS CASA C-212 Aviocar in Afghanistan

Aviation Worldwide Services (AWS) was founded by Richard Pere and Tim Childrey, and was based at Melbourne, Florida, U.S. It owned and operated three subsidiaries: STI Aviation, Inc. Air Quest, Inc. and Presidential Airways, Inc. In April 2003 it was acquired by Blackwater USA.[78]

Presidential Airways (PAW) is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Regulations Part 135 charter cargo and passenger airline based at Melbourne Orlando International Airport. It operates aircraft owned by AWS. Presidential Airways holds a Secret Facility Clearance from the U.S. Department of Defense.[79] It operates several CASA 212 aircraft in addition to a Boeing 767.[80][81] Several of the MD-530 helicopters used by Blackwater Security Consulting in Iraq are also operated through AWS.[82][83]

A CASA 212 aircraft, tail number N960BW, operated by Presidential Airways crashed on November 27, 2004, in Afghanistan; it had been a contract flight for the United States Air Force en route from Bagram to Farah.[84] All aboard, three soldiers and three civilian crew members, were killed. Several of their surviving kin filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Presidential in October 2005.[85]

In late September 2007, Presidential Airways received a $92m contract from the Department of Defense for air transportation in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.[86]

STI Aviation focuses on aircraft maintenance, and is a FAA/Joint Aviation Authorities 145 repair station.[78] They specialize in Short 360, EMB 120, Saab 340, and CASA 212 maintenance. As of January 2008, STI Aviation appears to have been folded into AWS, along with Air Quest.[87]

Many of Blackwater's tactical and training aircraft are registered to Blackwater affiliate EP Aviation LLC, named for Blackwater's owner, Erik Prince.[88] These aircraft include fourteen Bell 412 helicopters, three Hughes/MD 369 "Little Bird" helicopters, four Bell 214ST medium-lift helicopters, three Fairchild Swearingen Merlin IIIC turboprop airliners, nine Aérospatiale Puma utility helicopters,[89] a Maule Air MT-7-235 STOL aircraft, an Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano counterinsurgency aircraft, and a Mooney M20E fixed wing aircraft.[90]

Aviation Worldwide Services was purchased for $200 million in 2010 by AAR Corp., an Illinois company. In a letter released on February 8, 2011, the new owners informed state officials that they are shutting down the Moyock, North Carolina, operation and moving some employees to a new business location in Melbourne, Florida. Some 260 staff are affected with about 50 losing their jobs, beginning at the end of February. The company views the aviation division as a growth opportunity.[91]

Greystone Limited edit

In 2010, Greystone was acquired by current management.[who?] Greystone now operates as a standalone, management owned provider of protective support services and training.[citation needed]

A private security service, Greystone is registered in Barbados, and employs soldiers for off-shore security work through its affiliate Satelles Solutions, Inc.[92] Their web site advertises their ability to provide "personnel from the best militaries throughout the world" for worldwide deployment. Tasks can be from very small scale up major operations to "facilitate large scale stability operations requiring large numbers of people to assist in securing a region".[92][dead link]

Erik Prince intended Greystone to be used for peacekeeping missions in areas like Darfur where military operations would need to take place to establish peace.[93]

Greystone had planned to open a training facility on the former grounds of the Subic Bay U.S. Naval Base, but those plans were later abandoned.[94]

Former international services edit

 
Blackwater CASA 212 over Afghanistan dropping supplies to U.S. Army soldiers

According to a company press release, Blackwater provided airlift, security, logistics, and transportation services, as well as humanitarian support. 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,[95] 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."[96]

Academi (then Blackwater USA) was one of five companies picked in September 2007 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, OHI, and Arinc Inc.[97] Blackwater USA has also been contracted by various foreign governments. The DEA and DoD counternarcotics program is supported by Blackwater Worldwide in Afghanistan as well.[98] "Blackwater is involved on DoD side" of the counter-narcotics program in Afghanistan says Jeff Gibson, vice president for international training at Blackwater. "We interdict. The NIU surgically goes after shipments going to Iran or Pakistan. We provide training to set up roadblocks, identify where drug lords are, and act so as not to impact the community."[98] In 2008, about 16 Blackwater personnel were in Afghanistan at any given time to support DoD and DEA efforts at training facilities around the country.[98] Blackwater is also involved in mentoring Afghan officials in drug interdiction and counter narcotics.[99] As Richard Douglas, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, explained, "The fact is, we use Blackwater to do a lot of our training of counternarcotics police in Afghanistan. I have to say that Blackwater has done a very good job."[100] The Obama administration awarded Academi a $250 million contract to work for the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan.[101]

In 2005, Blackwater worked to train the Naval Sea Commando regiment of Azerbaijan, enhancing their interdiction capabilities on the Caspian Sea.[102] In Asia, Blackwater had contracts in Japan guarding AN/TPY-2 radar systems.[103]

In March 2006, Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA, allegedly suggested at an international conference in Amman, Jordan, that the company was ready to move towards providing security professionals up to brigade size (3,000–5,000) for humanitarian efforts and low-intensity conflicts.[104] The company denies making this claim.[105]

Mark Manzetti, writing in The New York Times on August 19, 2009, reported that the CIA had hired Blackwater "as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda."[106] Newly appointed CIA director Leon Panetta had recently acknowledged a planned secret targeted killing program, one withheld from Congressional oversight. Manzetti's sources, which tied the program to Blackwater, declined to have their names made public. The CIA was acting on a 2001 presidential legal pronouncement, known as a finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts.[107] Several million dollars were spent on planning and training, but it was never put into operation and no militants were caught or captured.[107][108] Manzetti notes that it was unknown "whether the C.I.A. had planned to use the contractors to actually capture or kill Al Qaeda operatives, or just to help with training and surveillance in the program."[106] Jeremy Scahill reported in The Nation in November 2009 that Blackwater operated alongside the CIA in Pakistan in "snatch and grab" operations targeting senior members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The report cited an unnamed source who has worked on covert U.S. military programs, who revealed that senior members of the Obama administration may not be aware that Blackwater is operating under a U.S. contract in Pakistan. A spokesman for Blackwater denied the claims, stating that they have "only one employee in Pakistan."[109]

Role in the Iraq War edit

Contracts edit

Blackwater Worldwide played a substantial role during the Iraq War as a contractor for the United States government. 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.[110] 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.[111]

In 2006, Blackwater was awarded a contract to protect diplomats for the U.S. embassy in Iraq, 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 high as 100,000, though no official figures exist.[111][112] 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."[113][114]

For work in Iraq, the company 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.[96] 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."[115] Between 2005 and September 2007, Blackwater security staff were involved in 195 shooting incidents; in 163 of those cases, Blackwater personnel fired first.[116] Erik Prince points out that the company followed the orders of United States government officials, who frequently put his men in harm's way. Many of the shootings occurred after drivers in vehicles failed to stop when ordered by Blackwater guards.[117]

According to former CIA director Michael Hayden, Blackwater, among other security contractors, were allowed to perform waterboarding on suspects.[118] Leaks in 2009 suggest CIA - Blackwater contracts to assassinate al-Qaida leaders.[119]

Fallujah and Najaf edit

Main article: March 31, 2004 Fallujah ambush
 
A Blackwater Security Company MD-530F helicopter aids in securing the site of a car bomb explosion in Baghdad, in December 2004, during the Iraq War.

On March 31, 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed two SUVs, killing the four armed Blackwater contractors inside.[120] Local residents hung the charred bodies above a bridge across the Euphrates.[121] In response, U.S. Marines attacked the city in Operation Vigilant Resolve,[122] which became the first Battle of Fallujah. In the fall of 2007, a congressional report by the House Oversight Committee found that Blackwater intentionally "delayed and impeded" investigations into the contractors' deaths. The report also acknowledges that members of the now-defunct Iraqi Civil Defense Corps "led the team into the ambush, facilitated blocking positions to prevent the team's escape, and then disappeared."[123] Intelligence reports concluded that Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi was the mastermind behind the attack, and he was captured after a Navy SEAL special operation in 2009.[124] al-Isawi was ultimately handed over to Iraqi authorities for trial and executed by hanging some time before November 2013.[125]

In April 2004, at the U.S. government's headquarters in Najaf, hundreds of Shiite militia forces barraged Blackwater contractors, four MPs and a Marine gunner with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 fire for hours before U.S. Special Forces troops arrived. As supplies and ammunition ran low, a team of Blackwater contractors 70 miles (113 km) away flew to the compound to resupply and bring an injured U.S. Marine back to safety outside of the city.[126]

Nisour Square Massacre edit

Main article: Nisour Square massacre

The Iraqi Government revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq on September 17, 2007, after a massacre in Nisour Square, Baghdad in which Blackwater contractors were later convicted of killing 17 Iraqi civilians.[127][128] The deaths 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 license was reinstated by the American government in April 2008, but in early 2009 the Iraqis announced that they had refused to extend that license.[129] In 2009, FBI investigators were unable to match the bullets from the shooting to those guns carried by Blackwater contractors, leaving open the possibility that insurgents also fired at the victims.[130] In a 2010 interview, Erik Prince, the company's founder, said the government is looking for dirt to support what he dismissed as "baseless" accusations that run the gamut from negligence, racial discrimination, prostitution, wrongful death, murder, and the smuggling of weapons into Iraq in dog-food containers. He pointed out that current and former executives have been regularly deposed by federal agencies.[131] Prince argued in September 2007 that there was a "rush to judgment" about Blackwater, due to "inaccurate information.”[citation needed]

Other incidents edit

On February 16, 2005, four Blackwater guards escorting a U.S. State Department convoy in Iraq fired 70 rounds into a car. The guards stated that they felt threatened when the driver ignored orders to stop as he approached the convoy. The fate of the car's driver was unknown because the convoy did not stop after the shooting. An investigation by the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service concluded that the shooting was not justified and that the Blackwater employees provided false statements to investigators. The statements claimed that one of the Blackwater vehicles had been hit by insurgent gunfire, but the investigation concluded that one of the Blackwater guards had actually fired into his own vehicle by accident. John Frese, the U.S. embassy in Iraq's top security official, declined to punish Blackwater or the security guards because he believed any disciplinary actions would lower the morale of the Blackwater contractors.[132]

On February 6, 2006, a sniper employed by Blackwater Worldwide opened fire from the roof of the Iraqi Justice Ministry, killing three guards working for the state-funded Iraqi Media Network. Many Iraqis at the scene said that the guards had not fired on the Justice Ministry. The U.S. State Department said, however, that their actions "fell within approved rules governing the use of force" based on information obtained from Blackwater guards.[133]

On April 21, 2005, six Blackwater USA independent contractors were killed in Iraq when their Mil Mi-8 Hip helicopter was shot down. Also killed were three Bulgarian crewmembers and two Fijian gunners. Initial reports indicated that the helicopter was shot down by rocket propelled grenades.[134]

In 2006, a car accident occurred in the Baghdad Green Zone when an SUV driven by Blackwater USA contractors crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee. "The colonel ... said the Blackwater guards disarmed the soldiers and forced them to lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle their vehicles."[135]

On December 24, 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, a Blackwater employee at the time, of killing 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.[136] The DOJ investigated and announced in 2010 that they were declining to prosecute Moonen, citing a likely affirmative defense of self-defense and high standards for initiating such a prosecution. The United States State Department and Blackwater USA had attempted to keep his identity secret for security reasons.[137][138][139]

In 2007, the U.S. government investigated whether Blackwater employees smuggled weapons into Iraq.[140] No charges were filed.

Five Blackwater contractors were killed on January 23, 2007, in Iraq when their Hughes H-6 helicopter was shot down on Baghdad's Haifa Street. The crash site was secured by a personal security detail, callsign "Jester" from 1/26 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Three insurgents claimed to be responsible for shooting down the helicopter, although this has not been confirmed by the United States. A U.S. 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.[141][142]

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. The first incident occurred when a Blackwater-protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad. The following incident occurred when an Iraqi vehicle drove too close to a convoy. However, according to incident testimony, the Blackwater guards tried to wave off the driver, shouted, fired a warning shot into the car's radiator, finally shooting into the car's windshield.[112] On May 30, 2007, Blackwater employees shot an Iraqi civilian said to have been "driving too close" to a State Department convoy that was being escorted by Blackwater contractors.[143] Following the incident, the Iraqi government allowed Blackwater to provide security by operating within the streets of Iraq.[144]

On August 21, 2007, Blackwater Manager Daniel Carroll threatened to kill Jean Richter, a U.S. State Department Investigator, in Iraq.[145] In June 2014, a New York Times investigation reported that it had secured an internal State Department memo stating this. Richter later returned from Iraq to the U.S. and wrote a scathing review of the lax standards to which Blackwater was held accountable, only two weeks before a serious Blackwater incident in which 17 Iraqi civilians were shot and killed by Blackwater employees under questionable circumstances. The death threat incident was confirmed by a second investigator, a Mr. Thomas, who was also present at the meeting. The shooting incident that followed has been described by some as a "watershed" moment, and a factor which contributed to Iraq's later decision to refuse to allow U.S. troops to stay beyond 2011.[146]

Documents obtained from the Iraq War documents leak of 2010 argue that Blackwater employees committed serious abuses in Iraq, including killing civilians.[147]

Prosecution edit

U.S. Congress edit

On October 2, 2007, Erik Prince attended a congressional hearing conducted by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform following the controversy related to Blackwater's conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan.[148][149] Blackwater hired the public relations firm BKSH & Associates Worldwide, a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, to help Prince prepare for his testimony at the hearing. Robert Tappan, a former U.S. State Department official who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, was one of the executives handling the account.[150][151][152] Burson-Marsteller was brought aboard by McDermott Will & Emery and Crowell & Moring, the Washington law firms representing Blackwater.[150] BKSH, a self-described "bipartisan" firm (Hillary Clinton, when pursuing the Democratic presidential nomination, was also a client), is headed 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.[153]

In his testimony before Congress, Prince said his company has a lack of remedies to deal with employee misdeeds. When asked why Andrew Moonen had been "whisked out of the country" after the shooting death of the vice-presidential guard, he replied, "We can't flog him, we can't incarcerate him."[154][149]: 63  When asked by a member of Congress for financial information about his company, Prince declined to provide documentation, saying "we're a private company, and there's a key word there – private."[155][149]: 109  Later he stated that the company could provide it at a future date if questions were submitted in writing.[156][157][149]: 110  When the term "mercenaries" was used to describe Blackwater employees, Prince objected, characterizing them as "loyal Americans."[158]

A staff report compiled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on behalf of Representative Henry Waxman questioned the cost-effectiveness of using Blackwater forces instead of U.S. 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.[159] 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.[149]: 64  Moreover, he pointed out that Blackwater's employees are trained in special operations and exceed the capabilities of the average soldier.[159][160]

In the wake of Prince's testimony before Congress, the U.S. House amended the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act in October 2007. The new legislation, H.R.2740 - the MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007, expanded the original scope to MEJA to encompass all security contractors working overseas, not only those working under the Department of Defense. This subsequently led to the prosecution by U.S. courts of some U.S. military contractors, but only for incidents involving attacks on U.S. nationals.[161] The legal status of Blackwater and other security firms in Iraq was a subject of contention.[162] Two days before he left Iraq, L. Paul Bremer signed "Order 17" giving all Americans associated with the CPA and the American government immunity from Iraqi law.[163][164] 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.[165] 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 that supervise their activities.[166]

In December 2008, a U.S. State Department panel recommended that Xe should be dropped as the main private security contractor for U.S. diplomats in Iraq.[167]

On January 30, 2009, the State Department told Blackwater Worldwide that it will not renew its contract in Iraq.[168] However, in 2010 it was awarded a $100 million contract from the CIA.[131]

Regardless of these developments, Xe defended its work in Iraq. A company spokeswoman stated: "When the US government initially asked for our help to assist with an immediate need to protect Americans in Iraq, we answered the call and performed well. We are proud of our success – no-one under our protection has been killed or even seriously wounded."[169]

In August 2010, the company agreed to pay a $42 million fine to settle allegations that it unlawfully provided armaments and military equipment overseas. However, the company is still allowed to accept government contracts.[170] The settlement and fine conclude a U.S. State Department investigation that began in 2007.

Iraqi courts edit

On September 23, 2007, the Iraqi government said that it expects to refer criminal charges to its courts in connection with the Blackwater shootings.[171] However, on October 29, 2007, immunity from prosecution was granted by the U.S. State Department, delaying a criminal inquiry into the September 16 shootings of 17 Iraqi civilians.[172] Immediately afterwards, the Iraqi government approved a draft law to end any and all immunity for foreign military contractors in Iraq, to overturn Order 17. The U.S. Department of Justice also said any immunity deals offered to Blackwater employees were invalid, as the department that issued them had no authority to do so.[173] It is unclear what legal status Blackwater Worldwide operates under in the U.S. and other countries, or what protection the U.S. extends to Blackwater Worldwide's operations globally.[174] A number of Iraqi families took Blackwater to court over alleged "random killings committed by private Blackwater guards".[175]

Legal specialists say that the U.S. government is unlikely to allow a trial in the Iraqi courts, because there is little confidence that trials would be fair. Contractors accused of crimes abroad could be tried in the United States under either military or civilian law; however, the applicable military law, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, was changed in 2006, and appears to now exempt State Department contractors that provide security escorts for a civilian agency. Prosecution under civilian law would be through the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows the extension of federal law to civilians supporting military operations; however, according to the deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's criminal division, Robert Litt, trying a criminal case in federal court would require a secure chain of evidence, with police securing the crime scene immediately, while evidence gathered by Iraqi investigators would be regarded as suspect.[174]

The Iraqi government announced that Blackwater must leave Iraq as soon as a joint Iraqi–U.S. committee finishes drafting the new guidelines on private contractors under the current Iraqi–U.S. security agreement.[176] On January 31, 2009, the U.S. State Department notified Blackwater that the agency would not renew its security contract with the company.[177] The Washington Times reported on March 17, 2009, that the U.S. State Department had extended its Iraq security contract with Blackwater's air operations arm, Presidential Airways, to September 3, 2009, for a cost of $22.2 million.[178]

On January 31, 2010, three current and former U.S. government officials confirmed the Justice Department is investigating whether officials of Blackwater Worldwide tried to bribe Iraqi government officials in hopes of retaining the firm's security work in Iraq after the shooting in Nisour Square in Baghdad, which left 17 Iraqis dead and stoked bitter resentment against the United States. The officials said that the Justice Department's fraud section opened the inquiry late in 2009 to determine whether Blackwater employees violated a federal law banning American corporations from paying bribes to foreign officials.[179] In 2012 the Department of Justice closed the investigation without filing any charges.[180]

Lawsuits edit

In the March 2004 court case Helvenston et al. v. Blackwater Security, Blackwater was sued by the families of four contractors killed in Fallujah. The families said they were suing not for financial damages, but for the details of their sons' and husbands' deaths, saying that Blackwater had 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."[111] On February 7, 2007, four family members testified in front of the House Government Reform Committee. 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 defense contractors.[111] Blackwater then countersued the lawyer representing the empty estates of the deceased for $10 million on the grounds the lawsuit was contractually prohibited from ever being filed.[181] In January 2011, U.S. district judge James C. Fox dismissed the suit.[182][183][184]

On November 27, 2004, an aircraft operated by Presidential Airways and owned by its sister company, Blackwater AWS, crashed in Afghanistan; it had been a contract flight for the United States Air Force en route from Bagram to Farah. Three soldiers and three civilian crew members aboard the plane were killed. Several relatives of the victims filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Presidential in October 2005.[85][185][186]

On October 11, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Blackwater under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of an injured Iraqi and the families of three of the 17 Iraqis killed by Blackwater employees during the September 16, 2007, Blackwater Baghdad shootings.[187] The suit, Abtan v. Blackwater, alleged that Blackwater had engaged in war crimes, created a "culture of lawlessness", and routinely deployed employees who used steroids and other psychoactive drugs.[188]

In June 2009, an amended lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, alleging that Blackwater employees shot and killed three members of an Iraqi family, including a nine-year-old boy, who were traveling from the Baghdad airport to Baghdad on July 1, 2007. The suit further accused Blackwater employees of murder, weapons smuggling, money laundering, tax evasion, and child prostitution.[189] Two affidavits filed as part of the suit by former employees accuse Blackwater of encouraging the murder of Iraqi civilians, and of murdering or having murdered employees who intended to testify against the company.[190][191] The lawsuit was ultimately settled confidentially in 2010, with plaintiffs accepting cash payments from the company.[192]

Federal prosecution edit

In August 2012, the company agreed to pay $7.5 million in fines, without admitting guilt, to the U.S. government to settle various charges involving pre-Academi personnel. February 2013, the majority of the remaining charges were dropped when it was shown that, in many cases, the Blackwater employees had been acting under the orders of the U.S. government.[193][194][195][196] Once the court decision had been finalized, Academi pointed out that "[t]he court decision involves former Blackwater executives, none of whom have ever worked for ACADEMI or the current ownership."[197]

After the Nisour Square killings of 17 Iraqi civilians and the injury of 20 more by Blackwater convoy guards in a Baghdad traffic circle in September 2007, charges were brought against five guards. One pleaded guilty to a lesser offense in exchange for his testimony for the prosecution. Three were eventually convicted in October 2014 of 14 manslaughter charges and in April 2015 sentenced to 30 years plus one day in prison. These sentences were deemed unfair upon appeal and these three await resentencing. Another was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison; however, this verdict was overturned in August 2017.[198]

On December 22, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned four former Blackwater contractors serving long prison terms: Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard. The pardons do not establish innocence; however, they were criticised, both in the U.S. and in Iraq, as condoning killing of innocent civilians.[199][200]

See also edit

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Further reading edit

Books edit

  • Singer, P. W. (2003). Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, ISBN 0-8014-4114-5.
  • Pelton, Robert Young (2006). Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror. Crown Books, New York, ISBN 1-4000-9781-9. Extensive material on Blackwater in Prologue and Chapter 2, "The New Breed", Chapter 5, "The Blackwater Bridge", Chapter 6, "Under Siege", which discusses Blackwater at An Najaf, Chapter 7, "The Dog Track and the Swamp", which chronicles Pelton's visits to Blackwater training facilities, one of which is a dog track, Chapter 8, "Running the Gauntlet", and Chapter 11, "The Lord and the Prince", partly about Erik Prince.
  • Scahill, Jeremy (2007). Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.
  • Simons, Suzanne (2009) Master of War: Blackwater USA's Erik Prince and the Business of War. New York: Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-165135-9. OCLC 262884160.
  • Umar, Asim (2009). Dajjal Ka Lashkar: Black Water (transl. Army of Anti-Christ: the Black Water). OCLC 716058823

Articles edit

  • John M. Broder, "Report Says Firm Sought To Cover Iraq Shootings," The New York Times, October 2, 2007.
  • John M. Broder, "Chief Of Blackwater Defends His Employees," The New York Times, October 3, 2007.
  • John M. Broder, "Ex-Paratrooper Is Suspect In Killing Of Iraqi," New York Times, October 4, 2007.
  • Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, United States House of Representatives, Committee memorandum, October 1, 2007.
  • Karen DeYoung, "Other Killings by Blackwater Staff Detailed," Washington Post, Oct 2, 20007.
  • James Glanz and Alissa J. Rubin, "From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths," The New York Times, October 3, 2007.
  • Marybeth Laguna, "My Husband was a Blackwater Hero," Washington Post, November 30, 2008.
  • Robert Young Pelton, Men's Journal, November 1, 2010.
  • Ralph Peters, "Trouble For Hire: The Mercenaries Who Murder In Your Name," New York Post, September 30, 2007.
  • Sudarsan Raghavan, "Tracing The Paths Of 5 Who Died In A Storm Of Gunfire," Washington Post, October 4, 2007.
  • James Risen, "Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater," The New York Times, June 29, 2014.
  • Eric Schmitt, "Report Details Shooting By Drunken Blackwater Worker," New York Times, October 2, 2007.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Academi.
  • Official website

Media edit

  • Shadow Company: documentary film directed and written by Nick Bicanic. The only film with footage of Blackwater employees training and operating in Iraq
  • "Private Warriors" episode of Frontline (June 21, 2005), includes piece on Blackwater USA

December 18, 2023
blackwater, company, academi, redirects, here, literary, agency, academi, confused, with, academy, academe, academi, formerly, known, blackwater, american, private, military, contractor, founded, december, 1996, former, navy, seal, officer, erik, prince, renam. Academi redirects here For the literary agency see the Academi Not to be confused with Academy or Academe Academi formerly known as Blackwater is an American private military contractor founded on December 26 1996 2 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince 3 4 It was renamed Xe Services in 2009 and was again renamed to Academi in 2011 after it was acquired by a group of private investors 5 In 2014 Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings 6 7 8 ConstellisTypePrivateIndustryPrivate security services contractorFounded1997 26 years ago 1997 North Carolina U S FoundersErik PrinceAl ClarkDefunctJune 2014 9 years ago June 2014 FateMerged with Triple CanopyHeadquarters12018 Sunrise Valley DriveSuite 140Reston Virginia U S 1 38 56 54 N 77 21 42 W 38 9484 N 77 3618 W 38 9484 77 3618Area servedWorldwideKey peopleCraig Nixon and Allen SchafferProductsLaw enforcement training logistics close quarter training and security servicesServicesSecurity management full service risk management consultingWebsitewww wbr constellis wbr comAcademi and its predecessors provide contract security services to the United States federal government Since 2003 it has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency In 2013 its subsidiary International Development Solutions received an approximately 92 million contract for U S State Department security guards 9 In 2007 Blackwater received widespread notoriety for the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad when a group of its employees killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured 20 Four employees were convicted in the United States and later pardoned on December 22 2020 by President Donald Trump 10 11 Contents 1 History 1 1 1997 Blackwater USA 1 2 1998 Training center opens 1 3 2002 2007 Blackwater Security Company 1 3 1 2003 2006 First contracts 1 3 2 Leadership 1 3 3 2006 2007 New training centers 1 4 2007 2009 Blackwater Worldwide 1 5 2009 2010 Xe Services LLC 1 6 2010 2014 Academi 1 7 2014 present Constellis Holdings 2 Board of directors 3 Services and products 3 1 United States Training Center 3 1 1 Maritime security service 3 1 2 Canine training 3 1 3 Security consulting 3 2 Products 3 2 1 Target systems 3 2 2 Cougar MRAP 3 2 3 Grizzly armored vehicle 4 Former corporate units 4 1 Aviation Worldwide Services 4 2 Greystone Limited 5 Former international services 6 Role in the Iraq War 6 1 Contracts 6 2 Fallujah and Najaf 6 3 Nisour Square Massacre 6 4 Other incidents 6 5 Prosecution 6 5 1 U S Congress 6 5 2 Iraqi courts 6 5 3 Lawsuits 6 5 4 Federal prosecution 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 9 1 Books 9 2 Articles 10 External links 10 1 MediaHistory edit1997 Blackwater USA edit Blackwater USA was formed on December 26 1996 2 by Al Clark 12 and Erik Prince in North Carolina to provide training support to military and law enforcement organizations In explaining its purpose Prince stated We are trying to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service 13 After working with SEAL and SWAT teams Blackwater USA received its first government contract following the bombing of USS Cole off the coast of Yemen in October 2000 1998 Training center opens edit Prince purchased approximately 7 000 acres 28 km2 of the Great Dismal Swamp a vast swamp on the North Carolina Virginia border that is now mostly a national wildlife refuge We needed 3 000 acres to make it safe Prince told reporter Robert Young Pelton 14 There he created his private training facility and his contracting company Blackwater which he named for the peat colored water of the swamp 15 The Blackwater Lodge and Training Center officially opened on May 15 1998 with a 6 000 acre 2 400 ha 6 5 million facility headed by Robert Anderson 14 It comprises several ranges indoor outdoor urban reproductions an artificial lake and a driving track in Camden and Currituck counties The company says it is the largest training facility in the country The concept was not a financial success but was kept solvent by sales from sister company Blackwater Target Systems 16 2002 2007 Blackwater Security Company edit Jeremy Scahill has claimed that Blackwater Security Company BSC was the brainchild of Jamie Smith a former CIA officer who became vice president of Blackwater USA and the founding director of Blackwater Security Company holding both positions simultaneously 17 However this claim is denied by Prince and Blackwater executive Gary Jackson who describe firing Smith from his position as a low level administrator for non performance after a thirty day contract Smith has been accused of further embellishing his military and contracting record to defraud investors at SCG International Risk 18 2003 2006 First contracts edit BSC s first assignment was to provide twenty men with top secret clearance to protect the CIA headquarters and another base that was responsible for hunting Osama bin Laden 19 Blackwater was one of several private security firms employed following the U S invasion of Afghanistan BSC was originally formed as a Delaware LLC and was one of over sixty 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 coalition forces 20 Smith left Blackwater to start his own firm SCG International Risk in 2003 Blackwater was hired during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the U S Department of Homeland Security to protect government facilities as well as by private clients including communications petrochemical and insurance companies why 21 Overall the company received over US 1 billion in U S government contracts 22 The company consisted of nine divisions and a subsidiary Blackwater Vehicles nbsp Paul Bremer escorted by Blackwater Security guardsIn August 2003 Blackwater received its first Iraq contract a 21 million contract for a personal security detachment and two helicopters for Paul Bremer head of the U S occupation in Iraq 23 In July 2004 Blackwater was hired by the U S Department of State under the Bureau of Diplomatic Security s Worldwide Personal Protective Services WPPS umbrella contract along with DynCorp International and Triple Canopy Inc for the purpose of providing protective services in Iraq Afghanistan Bosnia and Israel 24 The contract applied for two years and expired on June 6 2006 It authorized 482 personnel and Blackwater received 488m for its work 25 On September 1 2005 following Hurricane Katrina Blackwater dispatched a rescue team and helicopter to support relief operations 26 Blackwater moved about 200 personnel into the area impacted by Hurricane Katrina most of whom 164 employees were working under a contract with the Federal Protective Service to protect government facilities 21 but the company held contracts with private clients as well Blackwater s presence after Katrina cost the federal government 240 000 per day 27 In May 2006 the U S State Department awarded WPPS II the successor to its previous diplomatic security contract 25 Under this contract the State Department awarded Blackwater along with Triple Canopy and DynCorp a contract for diplomatic security in Iraq Under this contract Blackwater was authorized to have 1 020 staff in Iraq 25 Blackwater s responsibilities included the United States embassy in Iraq 28 At the time it was a privately held company and published limited information about internal affairs 29 Leadership edit Cofer Black the company s vice chairman from 2006 through 2008 was director of the CIA s Counterterrorist Center CTC at the time of the September 11 attacks in 2001 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 of Blackwater 30 31 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 30 31 2006 2007 New training centers edit In November 2006 Blackwater USA announced that it had acquired an 80 acre 32 ha facility 120 miles 190 km west of Chicago in Mount Carroll Illinois called Impact Training Center This facility has been operational since April 2007 and serves law enforcement agencies throughout the Midwest citation needed Blackwater tried to open an 824 acre 3 33 km2 training facility three miles north of Potrero a small town in rural east San Diego County California located 45 miles 72 km east of San Diego for military and law enforcement training 32 33 34 35 The opening had faced heavy opposition from local residents residents of nearby San Diego local Congressmember Bob Filner and environmentalist and anti war organizations Opposition focused on a potential for wildfire increases the proposed facility s proximity to the Cleveland National Forest noise pollution and opposition to the actions of Blackwater in Iraq 36 37 In response Brian Bonfiglio project manager for Blackwater West said There will be no explosives training and no tracer ammunition Lead bullets don t start fires In October 2007 when wildfires swept through the area Blackwater made at least three deliveries of food water personal hygiene products and generator fuel to 300 residents near the proposed training site many of whom had been trapped for days without supplies They also set up a tent city for evacuees 38 On March 7 2008 Blackwater withdrew its application to set up a facility in San Diego County 39 2007 2009 Blackwater Worldwide edit nbsp Blackwater logo introduced 2007 top and original logo below In October 2007 Blackwater USA began the process of changing its name to Blackwater Worldwide and unveiled a new logo 40 The change deemphasized the cross hair reticle theme simplifying it slightly 40 On July 21 2008 Blackwater Worldwide stated that it would shift resources away from security contracting because of the extensive risks in that sector Said company founder and CEO Erik Prince The experience we ve had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk 41 2009 2010 Xe Services LLC edit nbsp Xe logoIn February 2009 Blackwater announced that it would be once again renamed this time to Xe Services LLC as part of a company wide restructuring plan 42 43 intended to re focus the company on its logistics aviation and training aspects rather than its security operations 44 Prince announced his resignation as CEO on March 2 2009 He remained as chairman of the board but was no longer involved in day to day operations 45 Joseph Yorio was named as the new president and CEO replacing Gary Jackson as president and Prince as CEO Danielle Esposito was named the new chief operating officer and executive vice president 46 47 2010 2014 Academi edit In 2010 Xe was acquired by USTC Holdings an investor consortium who sought to further re brand the company The sale formally ended Erik Prince s operational and management role in the company 48 Xe was officially renamed Academi in 2011 49 50 Academi s Board of Directors included former Attorney General John Ashcroft former White House Counsel and Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Jack Quinn retired Admiral and former NSA Director Bobby Ray Inman 51 and Texas businessman Red McCombs who served as chairman of the board 52 Quinn and Ashcroft were independent directors without other affiliations to Academi 53 In May 2011 Academi named Ted Wright as CEO 54 Wright hired Suzanne Rich Folsom as Academi s chief regulatory and compliance officer and deputy general counsel 55 The Academi Regulatory and Compliance team won National Law Journal s 2012 Corporate Compliance Office of the Year Award 56 In 2012 retired Brigadier General Craig Nixon was named the new CEO of Academi 57 2014 present Constellis Holdings edit A merger between Triple Canopy and Academi along with other companies that were part of the Constellis Group package are now all gathered under the Constellis Holdings Inc umbrella 58 The transaction brings together an array of security companies including Triple Canopy Constellis Ltd Strategic Social Tidewater Global Services National Strategic Protective Services ACADEMI Training Center and International Development Solutions 8 In 2015 six Colombian mercenaries reported by local media to be employed by Academi were killed in Yemen The mercenaries were being led by an Australian commander believed to have been hired by the United Arab Emirates to fight the Houthi insurgency 59 In 2016 Ali al Houthi former President of the Revolutionary Committee a body formed by Houthi militants reported that a Tochka missile hit on a Saudi led command center in Ma rib resulting in the death of over 120 mercenaries including 55 Saudi 9 officers 11 UAE and 11 foreign commanders of Blackwater on January 17 as well as other material losses 60 Also in 2016 two hundred Sudanese mercenaries from Blackwater and their commander U S Colonel Nicolas Petras were killed in Yemen in an attack by Yemeni forces on January 31 with another Tochka missile that impacted a gathering of the Saudi forces at Al Anad Air Base in Lahij province according to Houthi and Iranian sources 60 In September 2016 Constellis was bought by Apollo 61 Constellis moved their global headquarters to Herndon Virginia in February 2020 62 Board of directors editRed McCombs chairman 63 John Ashcroft 63 Dean Bosacki 63 Jason DeYonker 63 Bobby Ray Inman 63 Jack Quinn 63 Russ Robinson 63 Services and products editAcademi has a variety of services and product offerings United States Training Center edit nbsp Shooters take part in firearms training held at the U S Training Center in Moyock North CarolinaUnited States Training Center USTC formerly Blackwater Training Center offers tactics and weapons training to military government and law enforcement agencies USTC also offers several open enrollment courses periodically throughout the year from hand to hand combat executive course to precision rifle marksmanship They also offer courses in tactical and off road driving 64 USTC s primary training facility located on 7 000 acres 28 km2 in northeastern 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 acquired an 80 acre 32 ha facility 150 mi 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 citation needed The training facility has since been renamed Impact Training Center 65 and then again renamed Hollow Training Center citation needed In 2011 the Pentagon contracted USTC to provide intelligence analyst support and material procurement for NATO in the ongoing Afghan drug war 66 Maritime security service edit Academi offers tactical training for maritime force protection units In the past it has trained Greek security forces for the 2004 Olympics Azerbaijan Naval Sea Commandos and Afghanistan s Ministry of Interior 67 Academi s facilities include a man made lake with stacked containers simulating the hull and deck of a ship for maritime assaults Blackwater received a contract to train United States Navy sailors which was managed by Jamie Smith following the attack on the USS Cole 68 It also purchased a 183 foot 56 m vessel McArthur which has been outfitted for disaster response and training 69 According to Blackwater USA it features state of the art navigation systems full GMDSS communications SEATEL Broadband dedicated command and control bays helicopter decks hospital and multiple support vessel capabilities 69 McArthur was built in 1966 by the Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Company and served as the survey ship USC amp GS McArthur MSS 22 for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1966 to 1970 and then as NOAAS McArthur S 330 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 1970 until her decommissioning in 2003 The ship is home ported in Norfolk Virginia 70 Canine training edit The company trains canines to work in patrol capacities as war dogs explosives and drug detection and various other roles for military and law enforcement duties citation needed Security consulting edit Blackwater Security Consulting BSC was formed as a Delaware LLC in December 2001 and was the brainchild of Jamie Smith a former CIA officer who was the Founding Director as well as acting Vice President of Blackwater USA 71 The company based in Moyock North Carolina is one of the 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 coalition forces 20 The company was started to help train SEALS for combat However in the aftermath of 9 11 civilian security teams were needed by the United States Military 19 Before 2001 tier one contractors or former members of elite special forces units were hired from a small pool of applicants After the September 11 attacks Cofer Black the former head of counter terrorism at the CIA requested that the federal government hire more contractors to operate overseas Eventually the CIA realized that a large number of civilian contractors would be needed overseas to accomplish its broad goals The federal government turned to Blackwater for assistance 19 Jamie Smith and his deputy David Phillips recruited vetted and hired a 21 man team This team was then trained and deployed on a Top Secret project to provide protection for CIA personnel and facilities in Afghanistan Jamie Smith and Erik Prince deployed with the team to Afghanistan The two then deployed to the Pakistani border as a two man element providing security assistance in one of the most dangerous places in the country at the time Prince stayed there for one week and was in Afghanistan for a total of two weeks leaving Smith and the remainder of the team to continue to carry out the mission 72 By 2003 the ground war in Iraq changed into a diplomatic mission demanding hundreds of diplomats and State Department employees The government traditionally handles its own security but it lacked the staff for high risk protection details Therefore a different type of protection was needed and Blackwater would provide the solution Blackwater s founder Erik Prince says that not one State Department employee was killed while we were protecting them 19 Academi s primary public contract is from the U S State Department under the Bureau of Diplomatic Security s Worldwide Personal Protective Services WPPS and WPPS II umbrella contracts along with DynCorp International and Triple Canopy Inc for protective services in Iraq Afghanistan Bosnia and Israel 73 74 Products edit Target systems edit Academi provides and maintains a shoot house system and patented the BEAR multi target training system that was designed and developed by the company 75 76 Blackwater Target Systems company was managed by Jim Dehart and the company was largely responsible for keeping Blackwater Training Center financially solvent until the creation of Blackwater Security Company by Smith 16 Cougar MRAP edit Force Protection Inc in early 2005 provided the first Cougar Security Vehicle SV to Blackwater USA for use as a transport vehicle for U S Provisional Coalition Authority officials in Baghdad citation needed Grizzly armored vehicle edit Academi operates and markets its own armored personnel carrier the Grizzly APC 77 Former corporate units editAviation Worldwide Services edit Main article Presidential Airways charter nbsp AWS CASA C 212 Aviocar in AfghanistanAviation Worldwide Services AWS was founded by Richard Pere and Tim Childrey and was based at Melbourne Florida U S It owned and operated three subsidiaries STI Aviation Inc Air Quest Inc and Presidential Airways Inc In April 2003 it was acquired by Blackwater USA 78 Presidential Airways PAW is a Federal Aviation Administration FAA Regulations Part 135 charter cargo and passenger airline based at Melbourne Orlando International Airport It operates aircraft owned by AWS Presidential Airways holds a Secret Facility Clearance from the U S Department of Defense 79 It operates several CASA 212 aircraft in addition to a Boeing 767 80 81 Several of the MD 530 helicopters used by Blackwater Security Consulting in Iraq are also operated through AWS 82 83 A CASA 212 aircraft tail number N960BW operated by Presidential Airways crashed on November 27 2004 in Afghanistan it had been a contract flight for the United States Air Force en route from Bagram to Farah 84 All aboard three soldiers and three civilian crew members were killed Several of their surviving kin filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Presidential in October 2005 85 In late September 2007 Presidential Airways received a 92m contract from the Department of Defense for air transportation in Afghanistan Kyrgyzstan Pakistan and Uzbekistan 86 STI Aviation focuses on aircraft maintenance and is a FAA Joint Aviation Authorities 145 repair station 78 They specialize in Short 360 EMB 120 Saab 340 and CASA 212 maintenance As of January 2008 STI Aviation appears to have been folded into AWS along with Air Quest 87 Many of Blackwater s tactical and training aircraft are registered to Blackwater affiliate EP Aviation LLC named for Blackwater s owner Erik Prince 88 These aircraft include fourteen Bell 412 helicopters three Hughes MD 369 Little Bird helicopters four Bell 214ST medium lift helicopters three Fairchild Swearingen Merlin IIIC turboprop airliners nine Aerospatiale Puma utility helicopters 89 a Maule Air MT 7 235 STOL aircraft an Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano counterinsurgency aircraft and a Mooney M20E fixed wing aircraft 90 Aviation Worldwide Services was purchased for 200 million in 2010 by AAR Corp an Illinois company In a letter released on February 8 2011 the new owners informed state officials that they are shutting down the Moyock North Carolina operation and moving some employees to a new business location in Melbourne Florida Some 260 staff are affected with about 50 losing their jobs beginning at the end of February The company views the aviation division as a growth opportunity 91 Greystone Limited edit In 2010 Greystone was acquired by current management who Greystone now operates as a standalone management owned provider of protective support services and training citation needed A private security service Greystone is registered in Barbados and employs soldiers for off shore security work through its affiliate Satelles Solutions Inc 92 Their web site advertises their ability to provide personnel from the best militaries throughout the world for worldwide deployment Tasks can be from very small scale up major operations to facilitate large scale stability operations requiring large numbers of people to assist in securing a region 92 dead link Erik Prince intended Greystone to be used for peacekeeping missions in areas like Darfur where military operations would need to take place to establish peace 93 Greystone had planned to open a training facility on the former grounds of the Subic Bay U S Naval Base but those plans were later abandoned 94 Former international services edit nbsp Blackwater CASA 212 over Afghanistan dropping supplies to U S Army soldiersAccording to a company press release Blackwater provided airlift security logistics and transportation services as well as humanitarian support 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 95 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 96 Academi then Blackwater USA was one of five companies picked in September 2007 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 OHI and Arinc Inc 97 Blackwater USA has also been contracted by various foreign governments The DEA and DoD counternarcotics program is supported by Blackwater Worldwide in Afghanistan as well 98 Blackwater is involved on DoD side of the counter narcotics program in Afghanistan says Jeff Gibson vice president for international training at Blackwater We interdict The NIU surgically goes after shipments going to Iran or Pakistan We provide training to set up roadblocks identify where drug lords are and act so as not to impact the community 98 In 2008 about 16 Blackwater personnel were in Afghanistan at any given time to support DoD and DEA efforts at training facilities around the country 98 Blackwater is also involved in mentoring Afghan officials in drug interdiction and counter narcotics 99 As Richard Douglas a deputy assistant secretary of defense explained The fact is we use Blackwater to do a lot of our training of counternarcotics police in Afghanistan I have to say that Blackwater has done a very good job 100 The Obama administration awarded Academi a 250 million contract to work for the U S State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan 101 In 2005 Blackwater worked to train the Naval Sea Commando regiment of Azerbaijan enhancing their interdiction capabilities on the Caspian Sea 102 In Asia Blackwater had contracts in Japan guarding AN TPY 2 radar systems 103 In March 2006 Cofer Black vice chairman of Blackwater USA allegedly suggested at an international conference in Amman Jordan that the company was ready to move towards providing security professionals up to brigade size 3 000 5 000 for humanitarian efforts and low intensity conflicts 104 The company denies making this claim 105 Mark Manzetti writing in The New York Times on August 19 2009 reported that the CIA had hired Blackwater as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda 106 Newly appointed CIA director Leon Panetta had recently acknowledged a planned secret targeted killing program one withheld from Congressional oversight Manzetti s sources which tied the program to Blackwater declined to have their names made public The CIA was acting on a 2001 presidential legal pronouncement known as a finding which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts 107 Several million dollars were spent on planning and training but it was never put into operation and no militants were caught or captured 107 108 Manzetti notes that it was unknown whether the C I A had planned to use the contractors to actually capture or kill Al Qaeda operatives or just to help with training and surveillance in the program 106 Jeremy Scahill reported in The Nation in November 2009 that Blackwater operated alongside the CIA in Pakistan in snatch and grab operations targeting senior members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda The report cited an unnamed source who has worked on covert U S military programs who revealed that senior members of the Obama administration may not be aware that Blackwater is operating under a U S contract in Pakistan A spokesman for Blackwater denied the claims stating that they have only one employee in Pakistan 109 Role in the Iraq War editContracts edit Blackwater Worldwide played a substantial role during the Iraq War as a contractor for the United States government 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 110 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 111 In 2006 Blackwater was awarded a contract to protect diplomats for the U S embassy in Iraq 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 high as 100 000 though no official figures exist 111 112 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 113 114 For work in Iraq the company 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 96 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 115 Between 2005 and September 2007 Blackwater security staff were involved in 195 shooting incidents in 163 of those cases Blackwater personnel fired first 116 Erik Prince points out that the company followed the orders of United States government officials who frequently put his men in harm s way Many of the shootings occurred after drivers in vehicles failed to stop when ordered by Blackwater guards 117 According to former CIA director Michael Hayden Blackwater among other security contractors were allowed to perform waterboarding on suspects 118 Leaks in 2009 suggest CIA Blackwater contracts to assassinate al Qaida leaders 119 Fallujah and Najaf edit Main article March 31 2004 Fallujah ambush nbsp A Blackwater Security Company MD 530F helicopter aids in securing the site of a car bomb explosion in Baghdad in December 2004 during the Iraq War On March 31 2004 Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed two SUVs killing the four armed Blackwater contractors inside 120 Local residents hung the charred bodies above a bridge across the Euphrates 121 In response U S Marines attacked the city in Operation Vigilant Resolve 122 which became the first Battle of Fallujah In the fall of 2007 a congressional report by the House Oversight Committee found that Blackwater intentionally delayed and impeded investigations into the contractors deaths The report also acknowledges that members of the now defunct Iraqi Civil Defense Corps led the team into the ambush facilitated blocking positions to prevent the team s escape and then disappeared 123 Intelligence reports concluded that Ahmad Hashim Abd al Isawi was the mastermind behind the attack and he was captured after a Navy SEAL special operation in 2009 124 al Isawi was ultimately handed over to Iraqi authorities for trial and executed by hanging some time before November 2013 125 In April 2004 at the U S government s headquarters in Najaf hundreds of Shiite militia forces barraged Blackwater contractors four MPs and a Marine gunner with rocket propelled grenades and AK 47 fire for hours before U S Special Forces troops arrived As supplies and ammunition ran low a team of Blackwater contractors 70 miles 113 km away flew to the compound to resupply and bring an injured U S Marine back to safety outside of the city 126 Nisour Square Massacre edit Main article Nisour Square massacre The Iraqi Government revoked Blackwater s license to operate in Iraq on September 17 2007 after a massacre in Nisour Square Baghdad in which Blackwater contractors were later convicted of killing 17 Iraqi civilians 127 128 The deaths 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 license was reinstated by the American government in April 2008 but in early 2009 the Iraqis announced that they had refused to extend that license 129 In 2009 FBI investigators were unable to match the bullets from the shooting to those guns carried by Blackwater contractors leaving open the possibility that insurgents also fired at the victims 130 In a 2010 interview Erik Prince the company s founder said the government is looking for dirt to support what he dismissed as baseless accusations that run the gamut from negligence racial discrimination prostitution wrongful death murder and the smuggling of weapons into Iraq in dog food containers He pointed out that current and former executives have been regularly deposed by federal agencies 131 Prince argued in September 2007 that there was a rush to judgment about Blackwater due to inaccurate information citation needed Other incidents edit On February 16 2005 four Blackwater guards escorting a U S State Department convoy in Iraq fired 70 rounds into a car The guards stated that they felt threatened when the driver ignored orders to stop as he approached the convoy The fate of the car s driver was unknown because the convoy did not stop after the shooting An investigation by the State Department s Diplomatic Security Service concluded that the shooting was not justified and that the Blackwater employees provided false statements to investigators The statements claimed that one of the Blackwater vehicles had been hit by insurgent gunfire but the investigation concluded that one of the Blackwater guards had actually fired into his own vehicle by accident John Frese the U S embassy in Iraq s top security official declined to punish Blackwater or the security guards because he believed any disciplinary actions would lower the morale of the Blackwater contractors 132 On February 6 2006 a sniper employed by Blackwater Worldwide opened fire from the roof of the Iraqi Justice Ministry killing three guards working for the state funded Iraqi Media Network Many Iraqis at the scene said that the guards had not fired on the Justice Ministry The U S State Department said however that their actions fell within approved rules governing the use of force based on information obtained from Blackwater guards 133 On April 21 2005 six Blackwater USA independent contractors were killed in Iraq when their Mil Mi 8 Hip helicopter was shot down Also killed were three Bulgarian crewmembers and two Fijian gunners Initial reports indicated that the helicopter was shot down by rocket propelled grenades 134 In 2006 a car accident occurred in the Baghdad Green Zone when an SUV driven by Blackwater USA contractors crashed into a U S Army Humvee The colonel said the Blackwater guards disarmed the soldiers and forced them to lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle their vehicles 135 On December 24 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 a Blackwater employee at the time of killing 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 136 The DOJ investigated and announced in 2010 that they were declining to prosecute Moonen citing a likely affirmative defense of self defense and high standards for initiating such a prosecution The United States State Department and Blackwater USA had attempted to keep his identity secret for security reasons 137 138 139 In 2007 the U S government investigated whether Blackwater employees smuggled weapons into Iraq 140 No charges were filed Five Blackwater contractors were killed on January 23 2007 in Iraq when their Hughes H 6 helicopter was shot down on Baghdad s Haifa Street The crash site was secured by a personal security detail callsign Jester from 1 26 Infantry 1st Infantry Division Three insurgents claimed to be responsible for shooting down the helicopter although this has not been confirmed by the United States A U S 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 141 142 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 The first incident occurred when a Blackwater protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad The following incident occurred when an Iraqi vehicle drove too close to a convoy However according to incident testimony the Blackwater guards tried to wave off the driver shouted fired a warning shot into the car s radiator finally shooting into the car s windshield 112 On May 30 2007 Blackwater employees shot an Iraqi civilian said to have been driving too close to a State Department convoy that was being escorted by Blackwater contractors 143 Following the incident the Iraqi government allowed Blackwater to provide security by operating within the streets of Iraq 144 On August 21 2007 Blackwater Manager Daniel Carroll threatened to kill Jean Richter a U S State Department Investigator in Iraq 145 In June 2014 a New York Times investigation reported that it had secured an internal State Department memo stating this Richter later returned from Iraq to the U S and wrote a scathing review of the lax standards to which Blackwater was held accountable only two weeks before a serious Blackwater incident in which 17 Iraqi civilians were shot and killed by Blackwater employees under questionable circumstances The death threat incident was confirmed by a second investigator a Mr Thomas who was also present at the meeting The shooting incident that followed has been described by some as a watershed moment and a factor which contributed to Iraq s later decision to refuse to allow U S troops to stay beyond 2011 146 Documents obtained from the Iraq War documents leak of 2010 argue that Blackwater employees committed serious abuses in Iraq including killing civilians 147 Prosecution edit U S Congress edit On October 2 2007 Erik Prince attended a congressional hearing conducted by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform following the controversy related to Blackwater s conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan 148 149 Blackwater hired the public relations firm BKSH amp Associates Worldwide a subsidiary of Burson Marsteller to help Prince prepare for his testimony at the hearing Robert Tappan a former U S State Department official who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad was one of the executives handling the account 150 151 152 Burson Marsteller was brought aboard by McDermott Will amp Emery and Crowell amp Moring the Washington law firms representing Blackwater 150 BKSH a self described bipartisan firm Hillary Clinton when pursuing the Democratic presidential nomination was also a client is headed 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 153 In his testimony before Congress Prince said his company has a lack of remedies to deal with employee misdeeds When asked why Andrew Moonen had been whisked out of the country after the shooting death of the vice presidential guard he replied We can t flog him we can t incarcerate him 154 149 63 When asked by a member of Congress for financial information about his company Prince declined to provide documentation saying we re a private company and there s a key word there private 155 149 109 Later he stated that the company could provide it at a future date if questions were submitted in writing 156 157 149 110 When the term mercenaries was used to describe Blackwater employees Prince objected characterizing them as loyal Americans 158 A staff report compiled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on behalf of Representative Henry Waxman questioned the cost effectiveness of using Blackwater forces instead of U S 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 159 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 149 64 Moreover he pointed out that Blackwater s employees are trained in special operations and exceed the capabilities of the average soldier 159 160 In the wake of Prince s testimony before Congress the U S House amended the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act in October 2007 The new legislation H R 2740 the MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007 expanded the original scope to MEJA to encompass all security contractors working overseas not only those working under the Department of Defense This subsequently led to the prosecution by U S courts of some U S military contractors but only for incidents involving attacks on U S nationals 161 The legal status of Blackwater and other security firms in Iraq was a subject of contention 162 Two days before he left Iraq L Paul Bremer signed Order 17 giving all Americans associated with the CPA and the American government immunity from Iraqi law 163 164 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 165 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 that supervise their activities 166 In December 2008 a U S State Department panel recommended that Xe should be dropped as the main private security contractor for U S diplomats in Iraq 167 On January 30 2009 the State Department told Blackwater Worldwide that it will not renew its contract in Iraq 168 However in 2010 it was awarded a 100 million contract from the CIA 131 Regardless of these developments Xe defended its work in Iraq A company spokeswoman stated When the US government initially asked for our help to assist with an immediate need to protect Americans in Iraq we answered the call and performed well We are proud of our success no one under our protection has been killed or even seriously wounded 169 In August 2010 the company agreed to pay a 42 million fine to settle allegations that it unlawfully provided armaments and military equipment overseas However the company is still allowed to accept government contracts 170 The settlement and fine conclude a U S State Department investigation that began in 2007 Iraqi courts edit On September 23 2007 the Iraqi government said that it expects to refer criminal charges to its courts in connection with the Blackwater shootings 171 However on October 29 2007 immunity from prosecution was granted by the U S State Department delaying a criminal inquiry into the September 16 shootings of 17 Iraqi civilians 172 Immediately afterwards the Iraqi government approved a draft law to end any and all immunity for foreign military contractors in Iraq to overturn Order 17 The U S Department of Justice also said any immunity deals offered to Blackwater employees were invalid as the department that issued them had no authority to do so 173 It is unclear what legal status Blackwater Worldwide operates under in the U S and other countries or what protection the U S extends to Blackwater Worldwide s operations globally 174 A number of Iraqi families took Blackwater to court over alleged random killings committed by private Blackwater guards 175 Legal specialists say that the U S government is unlikely to allow a trial in the Iraqi courts because there is little confidence that trials would be fair Contractors accused of crimes abroad could be tried in the United States under either military or civilian law however the applicable military law the Uniform Code of Military Justice was changed in 2006 and appears to now exempt State Department contractors that provide security escorts for a civilian agency Prosecution under civilian law would be through the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act which allows the extension of federal law to civilians supporting military operations however according to the deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department s criminal division Robert Litt trying a criminal case in federal court would require a secure chain of evidence with police securing the crime scene immediately while evidence gathered by Iraqi investigators would be regarded as suspect 174 The Iraqi government announced that Blackwater must leave Iraq as soon as a joint Iraqi U S committee finishes drafting the new guidelines on private contractors under the current Iraqi U S security agreement 176 On January 31 2009 the U S State Department notified Blackwater that the agency would not renew its security contract with the company 177 The Washington Times reported on March 17 2009 that the U S State Department had extended its Iraq security contract with Blackwater s air operations arm Presidential Airways to September 3 2009 for a cost of 22 2 million 178 On January 31 2010 three current and former U S government officials confirmed the Justice Department is investigating whether officials of Blackwater Worldwide tried to bribe Iraqi government officials in hopes of retaining the firm s security work in Iraq after the shooting in Nisour Square in Baghdad which left 17 Iraqis dead and stoked bitter resentment against the United States The officials said that the Justice Department s fraud section opened the inquiry late in 2009 to determine whether Blackwater employees violated a federal law banning American corporations from paying bribes to foreign officials 179 In 2012 the Department of Justice closed the investigation without filing any charges 180 Lawsuits edit In the March 2004 court case Helvenston et al v Blackwater Security Blackwater was sued by the families of four contractors killed in Fallujah The families said they were suing not for financial damages but for the details of their sons and husbands deaths saying that Blackwater had 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 111 On February 7 2007 four family members testified in front of the House Government Reform Committee 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 defense contractors 111 Blackwater then countersued the lawyer representing the empty estates of the deceased for 10 million on the grounds the lawsuit was contractually prohibited from ever being filed 181 In January 2011 U S district judge James C Fox dismissed the suit 182 183 184 On November 27 2004 an aircraft operated by Presidential Airways and owned by its sister company Blackwater AWS crashed in Afghanistan it had been a contract flight for the United States Air Force en route from Bagram to Farah Three soldiers and three civilian crew members aboard the plane were killed Several relatives of the victims filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Presidential in October 2005 85 185 186 On October 11 2007 the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit against Blackwater under the Alien Tort Claims Act on behalf of an injured Iraqi and the families of three of the 17 Iraqis killed by Blackwater employees during the September 16 2007 Blackwater Baghdad shootings 187 The suit Abtan v Blackwater alleged that Blackwater had engaged in war crimes created a culture of lawlessness and routinely deployed employees who used steroids and other psychoactive drugs 188 In June 2009 an amended lawsuit was filed in U S District Court in Alexandria Virginia alleging that Blackwater employees shot and killed three members of an Iraqi family including a nine year old boy who were traveling from the Baghdad airport to Baghdad on July 1 2007 The suit further accused Blackwater employees of murder weapons smuggling money laundering tax evasion and child prostitution 189 Two affidavits filed as part of the suit by former employees accuse Blackwater of encouraging the murder of Iraqi civilians and of murdering or having murdered employees who intended to testify against the company 190 191 The lawsuit was ultimately settled confidentially in 2010 with plaintiffs accepting cash payments from the company 192 Federal prosecution edit In August 2012 the company agreed to pay 7 5 million in fines without admitting guilt to the U S government to settle various charges involving pre Academi personnel February 2013 the majority of the remaining charges were dropped when it was shown that in many cases the Blackwater employees had been acting under the orders of the U S government 193 194 195 196 Once the court decision had been finalized Academi pointed out that t he court decision involves former Blackwater executives none of whom have ever worked for ACADEMI or the current ownership 197 After the Nisour Square killings of 17 Iraqi civilians and the injury of 20 more by Blackwater convoy guards in a Baghdad traffic circle in September 2007 charges were brought against five guards One pleaded guilty to a lesser offense in exchange for his testimony for the prosecution Three were eventually convicted in October 2014 of 14 manslaughter charges and in April 2015 sentenced to 30 years plus one day in prison These sentences were deemed unfair upon appeal and these three await resentencing Another was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison however this verdict was overturned in August 2017 198 On December 22 2020 U S President Donald Trump pardoned four former Blackwater contractors serving long prison terms Nicholas Slatten Paul Slough Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard The pardons do not establish innocence however they were criticised both in the U S and in Iraq as condoning killing of innocent civilians 199 200 See also edit nbsp Virginia portal nbsp Companies portalArms industry Executive Outcomes International Stability Operations Association Prince Foundation Shadow Company Wagner Group Russian private military company Mozart Group American military volunteer group in UkraineReferences edit Academi About Us Contact Us Archived from the original on April 24 2016 Retrieved March 1 2018 a b North Carolina Secretary of State Business Registration Search Archived from the original on January 17 2023 Retrieved October 2 2021 Gielink Dirk Buitenhuis Maarten Moelker Rene 2007 No Contractors on the Battlefield The Dutch Military s Reluctance to Outsource In Thomas Jager Gerhard Kummel ed Private Military and Security Companies Chances Problems Pitfalls and Prospects VS p 149 ISBN 978 3 531 14901 1 Flintoff Corey September 25 2009 Blackwater s Prince Has 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contractors and disgraced lawmakers The Guardian Archived from the original on October 26 2021 Retrieved December 23 2020 Chulov Martin Safi Michael December 24 2020 Our blood is cheaper than water anger in Iraq over Trump pardons The Guardian Archived from the original on December 23 2020 Retrieved December 24 2020 Further reading editBooks edit Singer P W 2003 Corporate Warriors The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry Cornell University Press Ithaca New York ISBN 0 8014 4114 5 Pelton Robert Young 2006 Licensed to Kill Hired Guns in the War on Terror Crown Books New York ISBN 1 4000 9781 9 Extensive material on Blackwater in Prologue and Chapter 2 The New Breed Chapter 5 The Blackwater Bridge Chapter 6 Under Siege which discusses Blackwater at An Najaf Chapter 7 The Dog Track and the Swamp which chronicles Pelton s visits to Blackwater training facilities one of which is a dog track Chapter 8 Running the Gauntlet and Chapter 11 The Lord and the Prince partly about Erik Prince Scahill Jeremy 2007 Blackwater The Rise of the World s Most Powerful Mercenary Army Simons Suzanne 2009 Master of War Blackwater USA s Erik Prince and the Business of War New York Collins ISBN 978 0 06 165135 9 OCLC 262884160 Umar Asim 2009 Dajjal Ka Lashkar Black Water transl Army of Anti Christ the Black Water OCLC 716058823Articles edit John M Broder Report Says Firm Sought To Cover Iraq Shootings The New York Times October 2 2007 John M Broder Chief Of Blackwater Defends His Employees The New York Times October 3 2007 John M Broder Ex Paratrooper Is Suspect In Killing Of Iraqi New York Times October 4 2007 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform United States House of Representatives Additional Information about Blackwater USA Committee memorandum October 1 2007 Karen DeYoung Other Killings by Blackwater Staff Detailed Washington Post Oct 2 20007 James Glanz and Alissa J Rubin From Errand to Fatal Shot to Hail of Fire to 17 Deaths The New York Times October 3 2007 Marybeth Laguna My Husband was a Blackwater Hero Washington Post November 30 2008 Robert Young Pelton Erik Prince an American Commando in Exile Men s Journal November 1 2010 Ralph Peters Trouble For Hire The Mercenaries Who Murder In Your Name New York Post September 30 2007 Sudarsan Raghavan Tracing The Paths Of 5 Who Died In A Storm Of Gunfire Washington Post October 4 2007 James Risen Before Shooting in Iraq a Warning on Blackwater The New York Times June 29 2014 Eric Schmitt Report Details Shooting By Drunken Blackwater Worker New York Times October 2 2007 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Academi Official websiteMedia edit Shadow Company documentary film directed and written by Nick Bicanic The only film with footage of Blackwater employees training and operating in Iraq Private Warriors episode of Frontline June 21 2005 includes piece on Blackwater USA Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Blackwater company amp oldid 1185803445, wikipedia, 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