Jan Schakowsky

Rep. Schakowsky: Erik Prince Of Blackwater Tried To Intimidate Me

Jillian Rayfield | November 30, 2011, 12:37PM

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)

Jan Schakowsky says that former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince has "attempted intimidation" of her in response to Schakowsky's campaign to reduce U.S. reliance on private military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read more »

Blackwater

Blackwater Video Game Trailer: You Too Can Shoot People From The Comfort Of Your Living Room

Jillian Rayfield | October 7, 2011, 10:37AM

Soon you will be able to shoot people with finger guns, activate fake grenades with your teeth and kick down imaginary doors without leaving the house, just like this guy in the Blackwater video game trailer.

Read more »

Erik Prince

Erik Prince Enters Video Game Biz With 'Blackwater' First-Person Shooter

Jillian Rayfield | September 12, 2011, 4:33PM

Blackwater, the video game

Erik Prince is gearing up for a foray into the video game business with a new first person shooter based on Blackwater, the infamous private security contractor now known as Xe Services.

Read more »

Blackwater

Blackwater Contractors Want Closed Court During Appeal

Ryan J. Reilly | January 24, 2011, 10:50AM

private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defense lawyers for five former Blackwater contractors who allegedly shot into a crowd during an incident in Baghdad's Al Nisur Square in 2007 want the press and the public excluded from oral arguments next month, Politico reports. The former contractors with the controversial firm are fighting to uphold a judge's dismissal of the case against them related to the attack, which left 14 Iraqis dead. The judge ruled the case should be thrown out because of missteps by prosecutors.

Read more »

Blackwater

Blackwater CEO Shopping Book and Movie Script; Says Obama Administration Approved Operations

Ryan J. Reilly | September 10, 2010, 12:13PM

Hollywood, get ready. Erik Prince -- the chairman of the controversial private security firm formerly known as Blackwater -- is shopping a memoir and has worked on a script that would provide enough material for several movies The Washington Post's Spy Talk Blog reported Friday.

Read more »

Blackwater

NYT: Blackwater's Shell Companies Won Millions In Secret Contracts

Rachel Slajda | September 6, 2010, 12:29PM

A Blackwater employee

According to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Blackwater has created 31 shell companies in order to win military and CIA contracts without revealing its notorious name.

Chairman Carl Levin released a chart of the subsidiaries to the New York Times last week. According to the Times, at least three of the companies have been awarded secret contracts. One official said Blackwater, now called Xe Services, and its subsidiaries have been paid $600 million in classified government deals since 2001.

Read more »

Blackwater

Blackwater To Pay $42 Million For Violating Export Control Regulations

Ryan J. Reilly | August 23, 2010, 9:42AM

A Blackwater employee

Xe Services, the private security company formerly known as Blackwater, has reached a settlement with the State Department in which the company will pay $42 million in fines for hundreds of violations of U.S. export control regulations, the New York Times reported.

Read more »

Erik Prince

Lawyer Suing Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Chases Him to Abu Dhabi

Ryan J. Reilly | August 20, 2010, 9:59AM

A lawyer representing former Blackwater employees who accuse company founder Erik Prince of defrauding the government will head to Abu Dhabi this weekend to depose the head of the controversial contractor.

Susan Burke, who has already settled seven suits against Prince in relation to the shooting of Iraqi citizens in 2007, will depose Prince in the United Arab Emirates, writes her husband Jamison Koehler.

Read more »

Blackwater

Obama Just Can't Quit Blackwater

Justin Elliott | June 28, 2010, 12:02PM

A Blackwater employee

In fairness, Barack Obama never said he wanted to quit Blackwater. But it's still notable that the troubled firm made famous by helping to fight George W. Bush's wars has become a permanent part of the U.S. foreign policy tableau, with news of two big contracts issued to the firm by the Obama Administration in recent weeks.

CIA chief Leon Panetta, whose agency's $100 million contract with Blackwater for security in Afghanistan was recently revealed, explained on ABC Sunday (emphasis ours):

Read more »

War In Afghanistan

Blackwater Snags $120 Million Contract In Afghanistan

Justin Elliott | June 21, 2010, 1:51PM

private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whether or not Erik Prince is fleeing America for the United Arab Emirates, his military contracting company continues to thrive on lucrative government contracts.

The latest: the Obama Administration has awarded Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, with a $120 million contract to provide security for U.S. consulates in Afghanistan. The contract could last as long as 18 months.

Read more »

Blackwater

Blackwater Gets Into The Retail And Merchandising Game

Eric Lach | June 8, 2010, 11:56AM

Don't know what gift to get for the paramilitary-enthusiast in your life? Look no further then the Blackwater proshop. That's right, Blackwater, also known as Xe, also known as the private military contracting outfit at the center of a number of controversies in Iraq and Afghanistan, is getting into the retail game.

Read more »

Blackwater

Feds: Blackwater Gifted Weapons To King Of Jordan --- Then Lied To Govt. About It

Zachary Roth | April 19, 2010, 2:15PM

King Abdullah II of Jordan and Blackwater troops on the company's compound in Moyock, N.C.

In an effort to win business from the Jordanian government, Blackwater execs gifted Glocks, an M4 rifle, and a shotgun, among other weapons, to the King of Jordan, according to prosecutors. But, say the Feds, the execs then realized they couldn't account for the weapons -- so they falsely told the government that they had bought them as individuals.

In an indictment filed Friday against Blackwater's former president, Gary Jackson, and four other former Blackwater staffers, prosecutors write that in 2005, the company -- now known as Xe Services -- was seeking to gain favor with the government of Jordan, in order to boost its chances of doing business there.

Read more »

Blackwater

Ex-Blackwater Prez Indicted On Weapons Charges

Zachary Roth | April 16, 2010, 4:23PM

private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The former president of Blackwater has been indicted on weapons charges.

Federal prosecutors today charged Gary Jackson with conspiracy to violate firearms laws, false statements and possession of an unregistered firearm, reports the Associated Press.

Four others were also charged, including former general counsel Andrew Howell and former executive vice president Bill Mathews.

Read more »

Blackwater

Despite Initial Denials, Young GOPers Headed To Blackwater Compound For Fundraiser

Justin Elliott | March 25, 2010, 5:27PM

RNC Chair Michale Steele and a Blackwater training session

Despite flat denials earlier this month, the RNC's Young Eagles will be holding an April fundraiser at the headquarters of Blackwater in Moyock, North Carolina, Politico is reporting.

The original report that the young Republican donors would gather at the HQ of Xe, the new name for the armed contractor company formerly known as Blackwater, came from a leaked RNC presentation. The event was listed for April 16.

Read more »

Blackwater

AP: Ex-Blackwater President Faces Possible Indictment Over AK-47s

Justin Elliott | March 23, 2010, 9:45AM

private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The latest legal headache for the company formerly known as Blackwater doesn't center on dead civilians in Afghanistan or alleged bribes in Iraq, but instead on a couple dozen automatic weapons the company may have illegally held at its Moyock, North Carolina, headquarters.

The AP is reporting that "senior Justice Department officials" are looking at a draft indictment against former Blackwater president Gary Jackson and two other ex-officials following a 2008 raid in which the Feds seized 17 AK-47s from the company's headquarters.

Read more »

Xe

Blackwater: There Will Be No GOP Fundraiser At Moyock Compound

Justin Elliott | March 4, 2010, 5:36PM

RNC Chair Michael Steele and a Blackwater training session

A Xe spokesman says that, contra a slide in the leaked RNC fundraising presentation, the Republican Party will not be holding an April fundraiser at the company's Moyock, North Carolina, training compound.

"The RNC is not coming to Moyock," spokesman Mark Corallo tells TPMmuckraker in an e-mail. "However, like the many corporations and organizations who choose our facilities for retreats and conferences, we would be happy to host the RNC and the DNC."

Read more »

Alan Grayson

Grayson: Even If Blackwater Saved Me From Coup, I Stand By Criticism Of Contractors

Justin Elliott | February 24, 2010, 2:15PM

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) and Blackwater training session

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), who found himself caught in a coup in Niger last week, was flown out of the country on an aircraft that may have been operated by a Blackwater subsidiary, Mother Jones reported today.

But in a statement to TPMmuckraker, Grayson's spokesman says the congressman -- who has been a fiery critic of the privatization of American foreign policy -- still believes the use of profit-driven contractors can be deeply problematic.

Read more »

Blackwater

Lawsuit: Blackwater Put Filipino Prostitute On Government Tab

Zachary Roth | February 11, 2010, 9:23AM

private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A lawsuit filed by two former employees of Blackwater charges that the controversial security contractor defrauded the U.S. government, including charging it for strippers and prostitutes, the New York Times reports.

Perhaps the most explosive charge in the lawsuit -- filed by a married couple, Brad and Melan Davis, is that the company put a Filipino prostitute in Afghanistan on its payroll under the "Morale Welfare Recreation" category, then billed the government for her salary and plane tickets.

Read more »

Kabul Shooting

Coke, Booze, Assault: Blackwater Contractors' Past Revealed In Murder Case

Justin Elliott | January 25, 2010, 6:35PM

SUV involved in May 2009 traffic incident

The two former Blackwater contractors who were charged this month with murder for the shooting death of two Afghan men left the military with other-than-honorable discharges for behavior ranging from assault to going AWOL and testing positive for cocaine, according to service records that surfaced in bond hearings, the AP reports.

A judge in federal court in Virginia has ordered Christopher Drotleff and Justin Cannon held in custody; arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday. The judge called Drotleff "a danger to the community based on the nature of the charged offense, his history of alcohol abuse and criminal and military history which include crimes of violence."

Read more »

Kabul Shooting

Contractors' Attorney: Blackwater Is Scapegoating My Clients In Kabul Murder Case

Justin Elliott | January 14, 2010, 8:45AM

SUV involved in May 2009 traffic incident

A lawyer for the Blackwater contractors charged last week with killing two men in Kabul says his clients were thrown under the bus by a company desperate to preserve its standing with the Afghan government, after another shooting case in Iraq led to a crackdown on its operations in that country.

Directly after the Kabul shooting last May, Blackwater went into crisis mode, Attorney Daniel Callahan tells TPMmuckraker. That same month, the company fired the two contractors who were charged last week, as well as two others who were involved in the incident, for violating the company's drinking policy.

Read more »

War In Afghanistan

The Blackwater Kabul Shooting Case: What Do We Know?

Justin Elliott | January 12, 2010, 12:39PM

private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Amid a busy news week, the indictment Wednesday of a pair of former Blackwater contractors for the alleged murder of two Afghan civilians hasn't gotten much attention. But the case has the potential to become a big problem for the U.S. war in Afghanistan, and for Blackwater's future business prospects in that country.

The particulars of what happened last May 5 -- including whether the contractors had been drinking and whether they were acting in self-defense -- are in dispute, but everyone agrees the shooting occurred after a traffic accident in Kabul.

Read more »

War In Afghanistan

Blackwater, Already On The Ground In Afghanistan, Now Gunning For More Contracts

Justin Elliott | December 21, 2009, 12:23PM

A Blackwater Aviation crew member prepares to drop supplies to an outpost in Bandar, Afghanistan, in 2007.

It looks like the Obama Administration just can't quit the company formerly known as Blackwater.

A Xe official told the Commission on Wartime Contracting Friday that the company has contracts for security as well as for training Afghan police and a "drug interdiction unit." Xe is also in the running for more work in Afghanistan. The comments of Xe Vice President Fred Roitz were first reported by the Virginia Pilot.

It's been a difficult year for Xe, with several former guards facing manslaughter charges over the shootings in Baghdad's Nisour Square that left 17 civilians dead, and company founder Erik Prince declaring he plans to leave the business.

Read more »

Blackwater

Blackwater's Prince Blames Dems For CIA Leak, Says He'll Become School Teacher

Justin Elliott | December 2, 2009, 5:52PM

Worth a read this evening is Vanity Fair's new 6,000-word profile of Blackwater Xe chief Erik Prince, which comes complete with man-of-action photo spread and a shot of a Blackwater facility near the Pakistani border.

Perhaps the biggest revelation in the story, written with Prince's full cooperation, are the unprecedented levels of collaboration between Prince and the CIA -- to the point, according to Vanity Fair, that he was "a full-blown asset."

It's worth noting that the author of the piece, Adam Ciralsky, was himself a lawyer for the CIA before leaving in the 1990s amid a controversy about allegations he was wrongly suspended on suspicions of unauthorized contact with Israel.

Read more »

American Police Force

APPF's 'Major Security Firm' Parent Company: Does It Exist?

Justin Elliott | October 6, 2009, 12:49PM

Michael Hilton

One of the abiding mysteries of the American Private Police Force story is who, if anyone, provided the financial backing the private security company claims to have.

As the project unravels and more of APPF's claims are shown to be dubious, it seems like the key question is not who the parent company is, but: does it actually exist?

Read more »

American Police Force

Scrubbed: APF Web Page That Claimed Ownership Of Blackwater Training Center Now Reads 'ETA Spring 2010'

Justin Elliott | October 5, 2009, 12:31PM

We knew that American Police Force, the shadowy private security company that has taken over an empty jail in a small Montana town, has a history of making outlandish and flat-out bogus claims. And it now appears that the company is taking some of the criticism to heart.

The firm, which is now calling itself American Private Police Force (feel better?), has toned down -- ever so slightly -- some of its colorful Web site's claims. (Old version here, current version here.)

APPF has deleted a reference to a training facility which it had earlier claimed to control, but which is in fact owned by Xe, aka Blackwater,

Read more »