CIA Cuts Blackwater Ties

The C.I.A. has terminated its contract with Blackwater Worldwide (now called Xe Services) that employed the security company to load bombs on drones used by the agency in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The New York Times had revealed the existence of the deal, which paid Blackwater employees to assemble and load Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs on secret bases, in August, writing about disputes between the contractor and some C.I.A. employees, who accused the Blackwater operatives of shoddy work and poor weapon assembly (one story held that a bomb dropped off a Predator drone before the drone had launched its payload). "At this time, Blackwater is not involved in any C.I.A. operations other than in a security or support role," said agency spokesman George Little. C.I.A. employees are taking over the jobs performed by Blackwater's workers at the drone bases.

In April 2002, the CIA paid Blackwater more than $5 million to deploy a small team of men inside Afghanistan during the early stages of US operations in the country. A month later, Erik Prince, the company's owner and a former Navy SEAL, flew to Afghanistan as part of the original twenty-man Blackwater contingent. Blackwater worked for the CIA at its station in Kabul as well as in Shkin, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where they operated out of a mud fortress known as the Alamo. It was the beginning of a long relationship between Blackwater, Prince and the CIA.

The CIA's decision to hire contractors from Blackwater USA for a covert assassination program in 2004 was part of an expanding relationship in which the agency has relied on the widely criticized firm for tasks including guarding CIA lockups and loading missiles on Predator aircraft, according to current and former U.S. government officials.

The 2004 contract cemented what was then a burgeoning relationship with Blackwater, setting the stage for a series of departures by senior CIA officials who took high-level positions with the North Carolina security company.

U.S. officials familiar with the targeted-killing program said that Blackwater's involvement was limited in scope and duration, and that the arrangement ended several years before CIA Director Leon E. Panetta killed the program two months ago.

The program was kept secret from Congress for nearly eight years before Panetta told lawmakers about it in June. CIA officials have emphasized that the program was never operational and that it did not lead to the capture or killing of a single terrorism suspect.

It appears the mercenary firm has a long and dark history with the CIA. Were they Bush and Cheney's private hit men?

I wonder what we could discover if as much media attention was spent on Blackwater and its activities as is currently being spent on Tiger Wood's infidelities. Makes you wonder.