6/16/2008: Security News Brief: Blackwater's Future Looks Good:

From California to Iraq, business has never been better for the
controversial private security firm Blackwater Worldwide. Company
President Gary Jackson recently boasted that Blackwater has "had two
successive quarters of unprecedented growth." Owner Erik Prince
recently spun his company as the "FedEx" of the U.S. national security
apparatus, describing Blackwater as a "robust temp agency."

Such rhetoric may seem brazen, given Blackwater's deadly record in
Iraq and troubled reputation at home, but here is the cold, hard fact:
Blackwater knows its future is bright no matter who next takes up
residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The company's most infamous moment came last September, when
Blackwater operatives were alleged to have gunned down 17 Iraqi
civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. A U.S. military investigation
labeled the shootings a "criminal event," and a federal grand jury in
Washington is hearing evidence in the case.

The father of one of the dead, a 9-year-old boy shot in the head,
testified before the grand jury in late May. He has rejected offers of
monetary compensation from the U.S. government and Blackwater; he
demands a public admission of guilt by the company. "This is important
for me, morally, for my family and my tribe," said Mohammed Hafidh
Abdul-Razzaq. Other survivors have been offering testimony to the
United Nations, and some have filed a lawsuit in federal court in this
country.

At the end of the day, perhaps criminal charges will be brought
against a handful of Blackwater operatives as a token gesture. But
this will not bring substantive change to the unaccountable private
war industry. Indeed, the killing of Iraqi civilians and other
scandals do not seem to hurt Blackwater's business at all. Quite the
opposite.

In April, over the objections of the U.S.-installed Iraqi government,
which has demanded Blackwater's expulsion, the Bush administration
quietly renewed the company's lucrative Iraq contract for yet another
year. To date, the company has pulled in over $1 billion from its Iraq
and Afghanistan "security" contracts alone.

Blackwater is also winning at home. The company recently fought back
widespread local opposition to its plans for a new warfare training
center in San Diego. When residents and local officials tried to block
it, Blackwater sued the city. A federal judge, appointed by President
Bush's father, ordered San Diego to stand down. Now the company is
entrenched, guns a blazin', in San Diego and is well positioned to
cash in on the increasingly privatized border-patrol industry.

Blackwater's California expansion is just one of several ventures that
reveal how Blackwater is growing. Among the others:

* Prince's private spy agency, Total Intelligence Solutions, is now
open for business. Run by three veteran CIA operatives, the company
offers "CIA-type services" to governments and Fortune 1000 companies.

* Blackwater was asked by the Pentagon to bid for a share of a
whopping $15-billion contract to "fight terrorists with drug-trade
ties" in countries such as Colombia, Bolivia, Afghanistan and
Uzbekistan. Analysts say it could be the company's "biggest job" ever.

* Blackwater is wrapping up work on its own armored vehicle, the
Grizzly, as well as its Polar Airship 400, a surveillance blimp
Blackwater wants to market for use in monitoring the U.S.-Mexico
border.

But is Blackwater counting its chickens before they hatch? Some may
see it as a foregone conclusion that if Barack Obama wins in November,
Blackwater's days on the federal payroll would be numbered. Obama has
labeled it "unaccountable" and a danger to U.S. troops in Iraq. (By
comparison, John McCain's top strategist, Charlie Black, has worked
for Blackwater.)

But it is far more complicated than that. Obama may want to draw down
U.S. troops in Iraq, for instance, but "diplomatic security" is where
Blackwater's bread is lathered with golden butter. Obama has pledged
to increase diplomatic activity in Iraq and to keep in place the Green
Zone and the monstrous U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Despite his criticism,
Obama may have no choice but to use these private forces. His top
advisors have painfully acknowledged Obama "cannot rule [it] out."

Consider the numbers: At present, Blackwater has about two-thirds as
many operatives in Baghdad as the U.S. State Department has diplomatic
security agents in the entire world, including Iraq. Although Obama
has said he wants diplomatic security to be done by U.S. government
employees, accountable under U.S. law, the State Department estimates
that it could take years to recruit, vet and train a force to take
over Blackwater's work.

In addition, Obama's rhetoric on Latin America strikes familiar "drug
war" chords, which bodes well for Blackwater, and he plans to send
7,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where the company is already firmly
entrenched.

Blackwater's work in Iraq began with one $27-million no-bid contract
to guard the U.S. administrator for the country, L. Paul Bremer III,
in 2003. In five years it has metastasized into a central component of
the U.S. presence in Iraq and is spreading fast into the most
sensitive areas of the national security apparatus.

There is no question that a McCain White House would be preferred by
Blackwater and its allies. The question is: Would a Democratic victory
really be bad for business?
Source: Morning Security News Brief via Internal News Wire