Razoreye
10-17-07, 11:15
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119258332118861426.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Few Alternatives to Blackwater
U.S. Weighs Security-Firm Change
Amid Political Fallout in Iraq
By NEIL KING JR. and AUGUST COLE
October 17, 2007; Page A6
WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials face a blunt reality as they weigh whether to replace Blackwater USA as the prime protector of U.S. diplomats in Iraq: They have no easy alternative.
Mounting evidence suggesting Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square without provocation last month has sparked calls within the Iraqi government to throw the private-security company out of Iraq. Some critics in Congress say the State Department should replace the North Carolina-based contractor with government security, even with U.S. soldiers.
With several investigations under way, U.S. officials are considering whether to turn Blackwater's work over to another contractor, while tightening the rules under which U.S. security contractors operate in Iraq. But finding a replacement could prove difficult.
Blackwater's security work for the State Department in Baghdad is up for renewal in May, and U.S. officials say it would take at least that long to arrange for another private contractor to take over. Even a new company would have to rely heavily on hires from Blackwater's employee base of about 1,000 in Iraq. Hiring and training new guards, all of whom must be Americans with classified-security clearance, would otherwise take months.
Blackwater, part of Prince Group LLC, couldn't be reached for comment.
Blackwater and two other U.S. security companies, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy Inc., are working under a global contract with the State Department that gives them a total of $571 million a year to protect officials in countries like Israel, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Iraq alone accounts for $520 million.
Kathleen Hicks, a former Defense Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, said that while the State Department could break Blackwater's contract before it runs out, it would be easier to see it through to the end.
"Regardless of who they pick, they're going to have to have much better oversight," she said.
Besides providing security details for U.S. diplomats and other officials in Iraq, Blackwater also supplies a fleet of helicopters and pilots. U.S. officials said the "Little Bird" helicopters, which are like those used by elite military units and can maneuver in tight confines like cities, provide essential evacuation, surveillance and transportation functions that neither the military nor other contractors can easily offer.
Blackwater's helicopters have been known to fill in during crisis moments, such as picking up the Polish ambassador to Iraq after he was injured in an ambush earlier this month. Blackwater's Presidential Airways affiliate owns the helicopters, three of which have been destroyed this year.
Even finding a replacement for its basic security services could prove tough. The administration has dismissed suggestions to tap the State Department's own Diplomatic Security bureau, which has about 1,400 trained specialists scattered at U.S. embassies and other outposts around the world. Hiring and training new diplomatic-security agents takes at least a year; mustering the numbers required for Iraq, U.S. officials said, would be out of the question.
"There's just no way our system could handle trying to get hundreds of new people trained and sent to Iraq," said a State Department official. "That would be a multiyear process."
Both the Pentagon and the State Department long ago ruled out using U.S. soldiers to guard the hundreds of American diplomats and officials in Iraq. Even the Defense Department relies on private security for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others doing Pentagon-funded work in Iraq.
An Iraqi investigation of the Sept. 16 killings found that a Blackwater convoy didn't come under attack before it opened fire on civilians in Nisour Square. Some Iraqi officials are demanding that the company be prosecuted under Iraqi law, and relatives of the dead filed a federal lawsuit against Blackwater last week in a U.S. court.
Blackwater has said its convoy was fired on.
The State Department has three teams in Iraq looking into the Sept. 16 incident. One group, led by the agency's top management official, Patrick Kennedy, is formulating recommendations on whether the U.S. should stick with Blackwater or find some other arrangement. Its findings are expected to be released in early November.
U.S. officials familiar with the internal debate over Blackwater said it is possible that the Kennedy team will determine that the company is too much of a liability and must be replaced. "If the determination is that Blackwater is the problem, then we would have to find a way to phase them out," said the State Department official.
Some U.S. officials said the State Department was likely to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government either to keep Blackwater or to replace it with DynCorp or Triple Canopy.
DynCorp has been a U.S. government contractor for decades and has experience working in dangerous areas for the State Department. It held the previous State Department security contract and has done international police training as well as counternarcotics missions in Afghanistan and Colombia. Though it doesn't have a fleet of aircraft like Blackwater does, DynCorp has extensive experience working on aviation contracts for the government. DynCorp declined to comment.
Triple Canopy is a much younger company, formed in 2003. The company, which also provides security for the Defense Department, declined to comment.
Any of the firms would likely face tighter oversight and more-restrictive rules on how to respond to threats like car bombs. The State Department is looking at a range of new technologies, including high-end lasers, that security guards could use to warn approaching drivers. Currently, the security guards use an escalating scale of force from signs and hand signals to thrown water bottles and gunfire.
Despite such steps, questions are likely to grow among both the companies and security guards over whether the political and legal risks they face in Iraq -- on top of the day-to-day dangers -- are worth it. While security guards can earn hundreds of dollars a day, many are likely to think twice because of the uncertainty of legal protections under Iraqi law, combined with growing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and watchdog groups.
According to the State Department breakdown of spending globally, Blackwater's security work under the contract costs $360 million annually, while its aviation operations account for an additional $113 million. Triple Canopy has a smaller role under the contract, with its work costing the government $59 million a year. DynCorp's share tallies up to $39 million.
Write to Neil King Jr. at neil.king@wsj.com and August Cole at august.cole@dowjones.com
Few Alternatives to Blackwater
U.S. Weighs Security-Firm Change
Amid Political Fallout in Iraq
By NEIL KING JR. and AUGUST COLE
October 17, 2007; Page A6
WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials face a blunt reality as they weigh whether to replace Blackwater USA as the prime protector of U.S. diplomats in Iraq: They have no easy alternative.
Mounting evidence suggesting Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square without provocation last month has sparked calls within the Iraqi government to throw the private-security company out of Iraq. Some critics in Congress say the State Department should replace the North Carolina-based contractor with government security, even with U.S. soldiers.
With several investigations under way, U.S. officials are considering whether to turn Blackwater's work over to another contractor, while tightening the rules under which U.S. security contractors operate in Iraq. But finding a replacement could prove difficult.
Blackwater's security work for the State Department in Baghdad is up for renewal in May, and U.S. officials say it would take at least that long to arrange for another private contractor to take over. Even a new company would have to rely heavily on hires from Blackwater's employee base of about 1,000 in Iraq. Hiring and training new guards, all of whom must be Americans with classified-security clearance, would otherwise take months.
Blackwater, part of Prince Group LLC, couldn't be reached for comment.
Blackwater and two other U.S. security companies, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy Inc., are working under a global contract with the State Department that gives them a total of $571 million a year to protect officials in countries like Israel, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Iraq alone accounts for $520 million.
Kathleen Hicks, a former Defense Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, said that while the State Department could break Blackwater's contract before it runs out, it would be easier to see it through to the end.
"Regardless of who they pick, they're going to have to have much better oversight," she said.
Besides providing security details for U.S. diplomats and other officials in Iraq, Blackwater also supplies a fleet of helicopters and pilots. U.S. officials said the "Little Bird" helicopters, which are like those used by elite military units and can maneuver in tight confines like cities, provide essential evacuation, surveillance and transportation functions that neither the military nor other contractors can easily offer.
Blackwater's helicopters have been known to fill in during crisis moments, such as picking up the Polish ambassador to Iraq after he was injured in an ambush earlier this month. Blackwater's Presidential Airways affiliate owns the helicopters, three of which have been destroyed this year.
Even finding a replacement for its basic security services could prove tough. The administration has dismissed suggestions to tap the State Department's own Diplomatic Security bureau, which has about 1,400 trained specialists scattered at U.S. embassies and other outposts around the world. Hiring and training new diplomatic-security agents takes at least a year; mustering the numbers required for Iraq, U.S. officials said, would be out of the question.
"There's just no way our system could handle trying to get hundreds of new people trained and sent to Iraq," said a State Department official. "That would be a multiyear process."
Both the Pentagon and the State Department long ago ruled out using U.S. soldiers to guard the hundreds of American diplomats and officials in Iraq. Even the Defense Department relies on private security for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others doing Pentagon-funded work in Iraq.
An Iraqi investigation of the Sept. 16 killings found that a Blackwater convoy didn't come under attack before it opened fire on civilians in Nisour Square. Some Iraqi officials are demanding that the company be prosecuted under Iraqi law, and relatives of the dead filed a federal lawsuit against Blackwater last week in a U.S. court.
Blackwater has said its convoy was fired on.
The State Department has three teams in Iraq looking into the Sept. 16 incident. One group, led by the agency's top management official, Patrick Kennedy, is formulating recommendations on whether the U.S. should stick with Blackwater or find some other arrangement. Its findings are expected to be released in early November.
U.S. officials familiar with the internal debate over Blackwater said it is possible that the Kennedy team will determine that the company is too much of a liability and must be replaced. "If the determination is that Blackwater is the problem, then we would have to find a way to phase them out," said the State Department official.
Some U.S. officials said the State Department was likely to reach an agreement with the Iraqi government either to keep Blackwater or to replace it with DynCorp or Triple Canopy.
DynCorp has been a U.S. government contractor for decades and has experience working in dangerous areas for the State Department. It held the previous State Department security contract and has done international police training as well as counternarcotics missions in Afghanistan and Colombia. Though it doesn't have a fleet of aircraft like Blackwater does, DynCorp has extensive experience working on aviation contracts for the government. DynCorp declined to comment.
Triple Canopy is a much younger company, formed in 2003. The company, which also provides security for the Defense Department, declined to comment.
Any of the firms would likely face tighter oversight and more-restrictive rules on how to respond to threats like car bombs. The State Department is looking at a range of new technologies, including high-end lasers, that security guards could use to warn approaching drivers. Currently, the security guards use an escalating scale of force from signs and hand signals to thrown water bottles and gunfire.
Despite such steps, questions are likely to grow among both the companies and security guards over whether the political and legal risks they face in Iraq -- on top of the day-to-day dangers -- are worth it. While security guards can earn hundreds of dollars a day, many are likely to think twice because of the uncertainty of legal protections under Iraqi law, combined with growing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and watchdog groups.
According to the State Department breakdown of spending globally, Blackwater's security work under the contract costs $360 million annually, while its aviation operations account for an additional $113 million. Triple Canopy has a smaller role under the contract, with its work costing the government $59 million a year. DynCorp's share tallies up to $39 million.
Write to Neil King Jr. at neil.king@wsj.com and August Cole at august.cole@dowjones.com