Blackwater was one of several private security firms employed following the U.S. 2003–2006: First contracts īSC's first assignment was to provide 20 men with top secret clearance to protect the CIA headquarters and another base that was responsible for hunting Osama bin Laden. Additionally, Smith has been accused of further embellishing his military and contracting record to defraud investors at SCG International Risk. 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 30-day contract. 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. The concept was not a financial success and was kept financially solvent by sales from sister company Blackwater Target Systems. The company says it is the largest training facility in the country. It comprises several ranges: indoor, outdoor, urban reproductions an artificial lake and a driving track in Camden and Currituck counties. 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 Jamie Milam. There, he created his private training facility and his contracting company, Blackwater, which he named for the peat-colored water of the swamp. "We needed 3,000 acres to make it safe," Prince told reporter Robert Young Pelton. Prince purchased approximately 7,000 acres (28 km 2) of the Great Dismal Swamp, a vast swamp on the North Carolina–Virginia border that is now mostly a national wildlife refuge. In explaining its purpose, Prince stated: "We are trying to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service." After working with SEAL and SWAT teams, Blackwater USA received its first government contract following the bombing of USS Cole off of the coast of Yemen in October 2000. History 1997: Blackwater USA īlackwater USA was formed on December 26, 1996, by Al Clark and Erik Prince in North Carolina, to provide training support to military and law enforcement organizations. Four employees were convicted in the United States but later pardoned on December 22, 2020, by President Donald Trump. 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. In 2013, its subsidiary, International Development Solutions, received an approximately $92 million contract for U.S. Since 2003, it has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency. Ĭonstellis and its predecessors provide contract security services to the United States federal government. Later, Academi was fully integrated into the parent company, and now operates under the name Constellis. In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy, a subsidiary of Constellis Group. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed Academi in 2011 after it was acquired by a group of private investors. Security management, full-service risk management consultingĬonstellis, formerly known as Blackwater, is an American private military company founded on Decem by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. Law enforcement training, logistics, close quarter training, and security services
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