Blackwater Worldwide
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Type | Private military security firm |
|---|---|
| Industry | Private military and security contractor |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Founder(s) | Erik Prince Al Clark |
| Headquarters | Moyock, North Carolina, USA[1] |
| Divisions | Nine |
| Website | www.xecompany.com/ |
Xe Services LLC (pronounced /ˈziː/ zee) is a private military company founded as Blackwater USA in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark.[2][3] The company has a wide array of business divisions, subsidiaries, and spin-off corporations but the organization as a whole has aroused significant controversy.[4][5][6][7][8]
Based in North Carolina, Xe operates a tactical training facility (36°27′N 76°12′W / 36.45°N 76.2°W) that the company claims is the world's largest, where it trains more than 40,000 people a year, mostly from U.S. and other military and police services. The training consists of military offensive and defensive operations, as well as smaller scale personal security.
Xe is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors. Of the 987 contractors Xe provides, 744 are U.S. citizens.[9][10] At least 90% of the company's revenue comes from government contracts, of which two-thirds are no-bid contracts.[11] Xe provided security services in Iraq to the United States federal government, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency[1] on a contractual basis. They no longer have a license to operate in Iraq: the new Iraqi government made multiple attempts to expel them from their country,[12][13] However, the company is still under contract with the State Department and some Xe personnel were working legally in Iraq at least until September 2009.[14] and denied their application for an operating license in January 2009.
In October 2007, the company, Blackwater USA, was renamed Blackwater Worldwide. It announced on February 13, 2009 that it would operate under the new name "Xe." In a memo sent to employees, President Gary Jackson occupation of Iraq.[15] Spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said there was no meaning in the new name, which the company took over a year to arrive at in an internal search.[16] wrote that the new name "reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security." A spokesperson for the company stated that it feels the Blackwater name is too closely associated with the company's work in the
