Xe Services

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Blackwater Hires John Ashcroft as Ethics Head

Move shows they're still hungry for government contracts

(Newser) - Xe Services, the artist formerly known as Blackwater, has hired none other than John Ashcroft to be its guiding light on ethics. Ashcroft has been named an “independent director” in charge of Xe’s new subcommittee on governance. His job? To “promote the highest degrees of ethics and...

Afghanistan Disarms Security Contractors

Including the artist formerly known as Blackwater

(Newser) - Afghanistan has begun disbanding the private security firms operating in the country, the Karzai administration announced today. Authorities have seized more than 400 weapons so far, according to Reuters . At the moment they're focusing on eight companies, including Xe Services, the artist formerly known as Blackwater, two other American...

Blackwater Used Shell Companies to Get Contracts

It set up 30 firms after Iraqi trouble

(Newser) - When Blackwater got into trouble in Iraq for general thuggery and lost lucrative contracts, it came up with an easy solution: It put on a fake nose and mustache and kept right on collecting government money under different names. In another damning piece about the contractor everyone loves to hate,...

CIA Boss Defends $100M Blackwater Contract

'We need the security,' says Panetta

(Newser) - Despite criminal charges against former Blackwater security guards, CIA chief Leon Panetta has passionately defended a new $100 million contract with the controversial company. "We've got to have security," Panetta tells ABC News . “Unfortunately, there are a few companies that provide that kind of security. The State...

CIA Hires Renamed Blackwater in Afghanistan

Gives company $100M for 'protective services'

(Newser) - The CIA has secretly given a $100 million contract to Xe Services—the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide—to guard its facilities in Afghanistan and elsewhere, sources tell the Washington Post . The news comes hot on the heels of the revelation the State Department granted Xe a $120 million...

Blackwater Founder Plans Move to UAE

...which doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US

(Newser) - Blackwater founder Erik Prince is not only selling his company , he's getting ready to move to the United Arab Emirates, reports the Nation . It's apparently not for the scenery: The UAE doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US, and five of Prince's top deputies already have been indicted on...

For Sale: One Disgraced Security Firm

Name change didn't rescue Blackwater from its bad reputation

(Newser) - The private security firm that used to be known as Blackwater is up for sale, after a recent name change to Xe Services failed to cure its dismal reputation. Founder Erik Prince has put the company on the block, saying improvements since the disastrous shootout at a Baghdad intersection in...

Ex-Blackwater Prez Hit With Federal Weapons Charges

Gary Jackson, 4 others allegedly stockpiled arms

(Newser) - The former president of Blackwater Worldwide and four other former officials at the embattled security firm were indicted today on federal weapons charges, partially the result of a raid 2 years ago by agents that rounded up 22 weapons, including AK-47s. The indictment charges Gary Jackson, who left the company...

Blackwater Used South Park Alias to Grab Afghan Guns

Senate panel slams contractor's 'lawless' conduct

(Newser) - A Blackwater subsidiary operating in Afghanistan hired violent drug addicts to train Afghan forces and seized hundreds of guns intended for the Afghan police, a Senate panel has found. The probe, which criticized the US Army for turning a blind eye to Blackwater abuses, found that in one incident a...

Iraq Orders Blackwater Contractors Out of Country

Move affects 250 current and former employees

(Newser) - Iraq has ordered about 250 former and current Blackwater employees to leave the country within seven days or face having their visas pulled. The order comes in the wake of a US judge dismissing criminal charges against five Blackwater guards accused in the 2007 shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis in...

Iraqi Nixes Blackwater Settlement Offer

'We won't accept such an amount' for Baghdad massacre, he says

(Newser) - An Iraqi injured by the US private security firm once known as Blackwater today rejected a compensation deal for injuries he suffered after company employees opened fire in a crowded Baghdad square. "We have rejected the settlement because it is a small amount. We won't accept such an amount,...

Blackwater Guards Indicted in Afghan Killings

Contractors face murder charges in Kabul shootings

(Newser) - A Virginia jury has indicted two former Blackwater guards on second-degree murder charges for their actions during confrontation in Kabul last year that left two Afghans dead and another wounded. The men, both employed as trainers by Blackwater subsidiary Paravant, opened fire on a vehicle at an intersection after their...

Iraq Will Sue Blackwater Guards

Dismissal of manslaughter charges leaves Baghdad irate

(Newser) - Outraged by an American judge's dismissal of manslaughter charges against five security contractors accused of massacring 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007, Iraq plans to sue the former Blackwater Worldwide security guards. "We were expecting that American justice system is fair and independent," an Iraqi lawyer tells CNN . "...

Judge Dismisses Charges in Blackwater Shooting

He blasts Justice Department's handling of the case

(Newser) - A federal judge today dismissed charges against five Blackwater guards accused of manslaughter in a Baghdad shooting that left at least 14 people dead. The judge criticized how the Justice Department handled the high-profile case from 2007, saying that prosecutors violated the guards' rights by coercing testimony "under a...

Blackwater Helped CIA With Covert Raids
Blackwater Helped CIA
With Covert Raids
updated
Dec 11, 2009 5:46 AM CST

Blackwater Helped CIA With Covert Raids

Guards took part in missions against suspected insurgents

(Newser) - The ties between Blackwater and the CIA just keep getting deeper. A new series of interviews by the New York Times with former employees and intelligence officials spells out how Blackwater guards took part in almost nightly covert raids with the CIA against suspected insurgents in Iraq, blurring the separation...

Blackwater Waging 'Secret War' in Pakistan

Mercenaries doing CIA dirty work, plotting killings

(Newser) - An elite team of Blackwater operatives have been doing the CIA's dirty work in Pakistan, a Nation investigation finds. The team plans operations, including "snatch-and-grab" assassinations and drone strikes from a secret base in Karachi run by US Joint Special Operations Command, according to a senior source with direct...

Contractor Bought Guns on Black Market: Ex-Employees

Triple Canopy accused of funding insurgents

(Newser) - Triple Canopy, the company that succeeded Blackwater as the top US security contractor in Iraq, bought its weapons on Iraq’s black market, former employees allege in court documents obtained by ProPublica. “We’re spending a lot of money on these rifles, millions of dollars—where do you think...

CIA Uses Blackwater to Help Run Drone Attacks

(Newser) - The CIA has relied on a secret division inside the company once known as Blackwater for its drone operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan, private employees and government officials tell the New York Times. The for-profit company assembles and loads Hellfire missiles and quarter-ton bombs on secret CIA bases on both...

CIA Hired Blackwater to Help Plan al-Qaeda Killings

(Newser) - We knew the US outsourced a lot of its work in Iraq to Blackwater, but this takes the cake: The CIA hired the infamous military contractor in 2004 to help it figure out how to track down and kill al-Qaeda operatives, reports the New York Times. The move to hire...

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