CIA terminates contract with Blackwater, review of all contracts underway

[babylonsister]

Blackwater Loses a Job for the C.I.A.


By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: December 11, 2009


WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has terminated a contract with the security company formerly called Blackwater Worldwide that allowed the company to load bombs on C.I.A. drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, intelligence officials said Friday.

The contract gave employees with the company an operational role in one of the Central Intelligence Agency’s most significant covert programs, which has killed dozens of militants with Predator and Reaper drones. The company’s involvement highlighted the extent to which the C.I.A. had outsourced critical jobs to private companies since the 9/11 attacks.

The contract with the company, now called Xe Services, was canceled this year by Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, according to a C.I.A. spokesman. In August, The New York Times first revealed the existence of the contract, which was run by a division of the company called Blackwater Select, which handles classified contracts.

George Little, the C.I.A. spokesman, said that Mr. Panetta had ordered that the agency’s employees take over the jobs from Xe employees at the remote drone bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that Mr. Panetta had also ordered a review of all contracts with the company.


more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/us/politics/12blackwater.html?_r=3

[seeinfweggos]

1. good

[theophilus]

2. It's past time for Blackwater to go, imo. This is good news. Thanks

Thanks for posting.

[bridgit]

3. Oh my goodness, Liz will be soooo pissed!

[lapfog_1]

11. her eyes are set too close together.

idiot offspring of an asshole.

[bridgit]

12. It contributes to her myopia

[pleah]

4. About fucking time! K&R n/t

[OregonBlue]

5. Do we really want them back here working with the Teabaggers? Very dangerous men these.

[tridim]

7. They're probably going to work for the big banks.

Which IMO is even more frightening.

[OregonBlue]

8. They will be somebody's bully boys. And they are not a friend of "the people". I thinks it's very

dangerous having them back here. The Repugs will find a use for them somewhere.

[Tim01]

6. Sorry, I don't really believe it.

I believe they are moving people around and canceling contracts to make things look good. But I don't think anything significant is going on beyond a public relations move.

On Monday Johnny is relieved of his duties at Blackwater where he is a subcontractor for the CIA so that CIA employees can take over doing the job themselves. One Tuesday Johnny is brought on board as an employee of the CIA doing the same job he did for Blackwater, and somebody somewhere announces to the press that they have cleaned house and things have changed. On Wednesday Blackwater changes it's name. And on Thursday a brand new company starts a small(on paper) new role in the operations of the CIA. On Friday the CIA gets money for a contract with the , now indispensable new company. On the following Monday Johnny is let go by the CIA so that the CIA can say they have reduced operating expenses, much to the approval of the public, with a media release, of course.

Or maybe I'm just silly.

[Goldstein1984]

9. They are probably just being...

transferred from the "War on Terror" in the Middle East to the "War on Drugs" in Central and South America, or maybe to the "War of Liberty" back in the Homeland.

A good mercenary is a terrible thing to waste.

[kenny blankenship]

10. Some business is best done under the table,

away from prying eyes.

[nilram]

13. right on

hope it's true.

[EFerrari]

14. Maybe there's something wrong with me but I don't believe this for a moment.

And I don't mean to diss the president but the CIA is a criminal enterprise and trusting them is like trusting an alligator with your toe.

[Major Hogwash]

15. Why, don't you know the CIA always publishes the companies they contract with?

And when they cancel a contract, they always put it on the front page of the New York Times.

That's how secret spy agencies work now since the advent of Google.