Blackwater Worldwide

See Also: Blackwater Worldwide Blackwater Otay Blackwater In Southwestern College Blackwater Potrero Blackwater In Moyock Blackwater North Blackwater Intro Video

Read and endorse our Open Letter To Congress regarding dismissal of Blackwater and enactment of the Stop Outsourcing Security Act.

Blackwater Worldwide (formerly BlackwaterUSA) is part of the Prince Group and one of the largest private military contractors in the world. Their name was officially changed to Xe (Pronounced "Zee") Services, LLC, but to avoid getting confused, we will continue to use the old name here.

• Stop Blackwater Presentation, by Raymond Lutz -- This video is your best starting point! (updated April, 2009)

Hot news

• Open Letter to Congress - We've seen enough of the expansion of Blackwater and other private mercenary firms, and we want it stopped!! PLEASE SIGN ON TO OUR OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS and help us put pressure on the administration to pull all funding and do away with the trend toward privatizing our public military and putting in the hands of profiteers --> Open Letter To Congress.
• Blackwater In Southwestern College - a proposal to let Blackwater use on-campus conference rooms in trade for students using shooting range in Blackwater Otay facility. We worked for 10 months on this project, and we finally got the Southwestern College District? to discontinue the agreement with Blackwater! Put another feather in the hat of the public, but we have a long way to go. Keep your eyes out, they're bound to pop up somewhere else... maybe in your back yard!

Background

• Main Corporate site: http://www.blackwaterusa.com
• Blackwater Potrero - Details public resistance to the Blackwater Mercenary Camp in Potrero, just miles from the US-Mex border. We won this one, due primarily to intense public scrutiny and outcry.
• Blackwater Otay - Their secret facility in Otay Mesa, just blocks from the US-Mex border was "outed" on April 22, 2008. Blackwater claims their permits were legitimate under the names Southwest Law Enforcement and Raven Development.
  • Blackwater In Southwestern College - a proposal to let Blackwater use on-campus conference rooms in trade for students using shooting range in Blackwater Otay facility.
• Blackwater In Moyock - Their North Carolina facility is in Moyock. Includes aerial photos.
• Blackwater North - About 125 miles west of Chicago.
  • "Blackwater Rising" Chicago abc segment on Blackwater North: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=investigative&id=5267983
  • http://www.noprivatearmies.org - Activist group organizing to fight the Blackwater North facility.
• Other Blackwater-like facilities:
  • Procinctu Group - located in Riverside County, California
  • Covert Canyon - located in East San Diego County, California
  • Wind Zero - located in Imperial County, California, just east of San Diego County.

• Congressional Oversight Of Blackwater - Rep. Henry Waxman chairs the oversight committee charged with investigating the misdeeds of Blackwater. Collected documents, video, and comment.
• Blackwater Related Legislation - A number of bills have been proposed to help counter the privatization trend and make contractors accountable to law.
• Agencies Using Blackwater Training -- A list of law enforcement agencies who do use or have used Blackwater for training.

• Family members of Blackwater employees killed in Fallujah testify on capitol hill: View Video Rep. Waxman investigates waste, fraud, and abuse by layers of federal contractors.
• Journalist Jeremy Scahill Charts the Rise of Blackwater USA on NPR's Fresh Air: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8992128
• Are Blackwater Employees Mercenaries - Discussion and editorial about this difficult question.
• Blackwater Revenue - How much do they make??
• Blackwater Worldwide Relationship Map is interactive. Click around to explore relations in the map. (Moved to its own page as it was slow loading.)
• Blackwater Federal Firearms License - Records from the Federal Firearms License relating to Blackwater
• Blackwater Gsa Offerings - GSA contract information, including pricing.

Recent Articles and Media:

• All Blackwater News Media - This page contains all the news media about Blackwater that has been submitted to the site. Some media that is very important was recently submitted to the site but has an earlier publication date... You can find it here. This is the most recently published 20 articles, most recent first.
• Judge rules training center eviction was legal -- JHarry Jones, Union Tribune, 2012-02-02
• Eagle Rock Training Center Should be Shut Down -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2011-09-10
• Close Eagle Rock Training Center -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2011-07-24
• News 8 takes rare tour inside Eagle Rock Training Center - San Diego, California News Station - KFMB -- ", News 8, 2011-05-26
• Secret Desert Force Set Up by Blackwater’s Founder -- Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, 2011-05-15
• Bin Laden Dead -- Raymond Lutz, Citizens Oversight, 2011-05-02
• Ex-Blackwater Guards Face Renewed Charges -- James Risen, New York Times, 2011-04-23 Case was in arbitration but recently abandoned due to lack of funds. BW mers were given immunity by govt (state dept) akin to episode on '24' before they could testify.
• Marines, SEALs confirm training on Indian reservation -- JHarry Jones, Union Tribune, 2011-04-23 Blackwater Los Coyotes, Includes promotional video
• Military training facility on Indian reservation is revealed -- JHarry Jones, Union Tribune, 2011-04-14 Blackwater Los Coyotes
• At what risk? Correcting over-reliance on contractors in contingency operations -- ", Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2011-02-24
• Blackwater deaths suit tossed after six years -- Mike Baker, Washington Post, 2011-01-26 An unfortunate likely consequence when you pick a fight with a corporation with deep pockets and who was likely just following black-ops contract provisions designed to sacrifice the BW contractors in an orchestrated ambush so that the Bush admin had an excuse for the siege of Fallujah. You need money to use our court system if you want to be treated with any measure of fairness. No money, and you will not be able to withstand the tactics of a deep-pocket adversary. Very sad. --Ray
• 30 False Fronts Won Contracts for Blackwater -- JAMES RISEN and MARK MAZZETTI, New York Times, 2010-09-03
• Foreign mercs must leave, Karzai says -- AS/HGL, Press Tv, 2010-08-08
• Power outage questions probed -- Shut-off of Otay Mesa plant remains unclear -- Onell Soto, Union Tribune, 2010-04-03 Power outage caused COPs office computer to go offline, an example of potential cyber terrorism.
• AP Exclusive: Charges eyed for ex-Blackwater chief -- DEVLIN BARRETT and MIKE BAKER, Associated Press, 2010-03-23
• Stop Outsourcing Security Act -- Jan Schakowski, Bernie Sanders, Congress, 2010-02-23
• Activist a common sight recording local meetings -- Ray Lutz is government watchdog -- Anne Krueger, Union Tribune, 2010-01-30 Features Raymond Lutz
• Coyote Wells (AKA Wind Zero) Draft EIR -- ", Imperial County, 2010-01-26
• Biden: U.S. to appeal dismissal of Blackwater charges -- Dan Lothian and Samira Simone, CNN, 2010-01-23 Nisour Square Massacre
• Police academy suspends classes -- Kristina Davis, Union Tribune, 2010-01-21 (Note: this academy recently pulled their contract with Blackwater/Xe to use the Blackwater Otay training facility. See Blackwater In Southwestern College for the full story on our 10-month battle to stop that contract. This additional scrutiny of their training facility may be a result as well.)

Related Projects

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• Stop Blackwater Organizations - Add your organization to this list... Let us know how you can help!

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