Blackwater/Xe Contractors were in the Inner Circle - not perimeter guards

[RamboLiberal]

Two of the seven Americans killed in the Dec. 30 suicide bombing of a CIA outpost in Khost, Afghanistan, were employees of Xe, the current incarnation of the controversial paramilitary contractor formerly known as Blackwater, according to people familiar with the issue, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information. One source said that the Xe employees had been involved directly in CIA intelligence operations, rather than merely serving as security guards at the remote CIA facility.

An Associated Press story published Wednesday cited an obituary released Wednesday as the original source for information indicating that bombing victim Jeremy Wise, a 35-year-old a former Navy SEAL from Virginia Beach, Va., had been working at the outpost, known as Forward Operating Base Chapman, for the company now known as Xe. The wire service reported that MindyLou Paresi of Dupont, Wash., had told The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash., that her husband, 46-year-old Dane Clark Paresi, was also a Xe contractor who was killed in the attack.

Two people familiar with details of the incident confirmed the identities of Wise and Paresi to NEWSWEEK and that they were working for Xe, evidently as contractors to the CIA, at the time of their deaths. While Xe has principally been known for providing highly trained physical-security officers to U.S. agencies like the State Department and CIA, according to one of the people familiar with the late Xe employees' activities, their role in CIA activities at the Chapman base may have involved them directly in agency counterterrorism operations, rather than merely providing security to the base.

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...However the dead are now understood to include the two Xe employees. The involvement in the incident of personnel from Xe, which changed its name from Blackwater after that corporate identity became tarnished in the wake of a series of deadly incidents in Iraq, is almost certain to raise new questions about the extent to which U.S. government agencies rely upon outside contractors for ultra-sensitive security and intelligence operations. Intelligence sources have said that Blackwater personnel, if not the company itself, were also involved in discussions that CIA officials had during the Bush administration about establishing some kind of Israeli-style hit squads to hunt down and kill Al Qaeda leaders.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/01/06/two-americans-killed-in-attack-on-cia-base-worked-for-xe-formerly-blackwater.aspx

[tekisui]

1. knr.

[ShortnFiery]

2. Blackwater aka Xe should be disbanded and sued the hell out of ...

it also does not excuse why someone didn't "speak up" and ask "Has this guy been frisked?"

The CIA operatives are are FAR from IDIOTS.

Something stinks with this entire YARN. :thumbsdown:

[Frustratedlady]

3. Your last sentence is right on.

I wonder if those two were the two that were named?

Every time I hear of Blackwater's activities (no matter what they call themselves) Poppa Bush's comment during the Gulf War comes back to mind. Saudi Arabia wanted to pay each of the troops $10K, or some such, to take some of the sting out of being called in (reserves). Poppa said "No!" as he didn't want them to be thought of as mercenaries. Ten thousand is a drop in the bucket to what Blackwater/Xe has cost us. What did we get in return? A rotten reputation.

[CJCRANE]

4. If the CIA has Blackwater people working for them...

and former al-Qaeda operatives working for them...then I wonder who is left who is actually working directly for the U.S. government? There seem to be too many divided loyalties.

[LeftHandPath]

5. Is Blackwater libel for the deaths of 5 service members?

I think each of those soldiers families should consider suing Blackwater and the estates of these mercenaries for negligence.

[leveymg]

6. If it wasn't the Xe guards, who opened the door? Whose job is it to search and secure?

At a CIA Forward Observation Post, who would cover the entrances? Certainly not the CIA Chief of Station or Agency analysts. That sort of guard duty is now performed by private security contractors, which in this case is Blackwater/Xe.

Perhaps, some of the Xe people in Khost did assume additional duties. But, there can be little doubt, failure to search the bomber led to the loss of US life. That unenviable role belonged to the hired security guards.

Don't try to deflect responsibility.

Here's a good explanation in the NYT of the role that Xe guards have in perimeter security, and how that role has expanded to CIA personal guard, and even some operational combat in the field. But, at a base, these guys primarily still do perimeter guard duty, which is the most exposed and potentially deadly job on base, and also one of the most important: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/11-0

In the spring of 2002, Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, offered to help the spy agency guard its makeshift Afghan station in the Ariana Hotel in Kabul. Not long after Mr. Prince signed the security contract with Alvin B. Krongard, then the C.I.A.'s third-ranking official, dozens of Blackwater personnel - many of them former members of units of the Navy Seals or Army Delta Force - were sent to provide perimeter security for the C.I.A. station.

But the company's role soon changed as Blackwater operatives began accompanying C.I.A. case officers on missions, according to former employees and intelligence officials.

A similar progression happened in Iraq, where Blackwater was first hired for "static security" of the Baghdad station. In addition, Blackwater was charged with providing personal security for C.I.A. officers wherever they traveled in the two countries. That meant that Blackwater personnel accompanied the officers even on offensive operations sometimes begun in conjunction with Delta Force or Navy Seals teams.

This raises the issue of whether Blackwater mercenaries should be doing any of this, if they are apparently unable to do basic security effectively.