Last night, the New York Times gave us another ready-for-Hollywood story: Back in 2004, the CIA paid the merc outfit formerly known as Blackwater several million dollars as part of a program that explored the use of assassination squads to take out al Qaeda leaders. So much for the rebranding effort!
Blackwater was renamed Xe in a bid to create a less menacing image, but the company can't seem to stay out of the headlines. A few weeks back, company founder Erik Prince found himself in the spotlight after unnamed employees filed affidavits describing company management as gun-running crusaders bent on killing Iraqis.
According to the Times' Mark Mazzetti, the spy agency "did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with top company officials, including the founder, Erik D. Prince, a politically connected former member of the Navy SEALs and the heir to a family fortune. Blackwater’s work on the program actually ended years before [current Director Leon] Panetta took over the agency, after senior CIA officials themselves questioned the wisdom of using outsiders in a targeted killing program."
So will this story lead anywhere? Speaking at a panel on outsourcing intel work, former CIA Director Michael Hayden was all, "Meh, whatevs," over the story. "We view contractors as an integral part of our work force," Mr. Hayden said, according to the Wall Street Journal's Siobhan Gorman. Contractors offer the agency "very discreet skill sets," Hayden added.
And did the CIA actually outsource any lethal action? Take a closer look at the story, and the story is pretty clear: The CIA spent several million bucks on the program, but the whole effort was canceled without any terror suspects being captured or killed.
[PHOTO: Wikimedia]
See Also:
- Blackwater Chief is a Super Villian: Ex-Employees
- Blackwater Takes Our Advice, Adopts Inscrutable, Opaque Name ...
- Layoffs at Blackwater Worldwide Xe
- Blackwater Air Also Forced to Leave Iraq
- Blackwater's Pirate-Fighting Ops Sunk After Discrimination Suits ...
- Iraq Deal Dead, Blackwater Now Faces A'stan Scrutiny
