Blackwater Security Agency

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Their aviation and ground mobility expertise could get people and equipment to any place it was required. They could do this by utilizing their own fleet of aircraft and trucking system. They modified all of a client’s needs to fit the ability they could do using their own expert transportation network. They used different partners to meet any requirement in the supply line.

They were one of the leaders in unmanned aerial drone usage. The remotely piloted drone was very cost effective for a client. These drones supported military as well as nonmilitary personnel on missions in terrain where it was difficult to maneuver vehicles and mass personnel. It was also utilized in areas where stealth was highly mandated.

The last area of Blackwater’s security skills that will be discussed is the personal protection arm of the firm. Blackwater used expert personnel to recruit to find and employ just the right people for the firm’s many areas. They had an extensive computer database to be able to search for those qualified personnel to meet job demands. There also was a need for expert canine security animals. So how did someone get a position in this agency?

Blackwater employment opportunities were numerous throughout the world. They were one of the largest privately owned military firms at the time. They touted themselves as a modern mercenary employer. However, this did not mean that people employed by the Blackwater Security Agency was going to load up with ammunition, grab a weapon, or hop in an armored vehicle, and go out and hunt down terrorists. Due to public opinion against the use of mercenaries, the United Nations Mercenary Convention in 1989, prohibits the recruitment, training, use, and financing of mercenaries. Countries with large militaries such as the United States, China, Russia, France, Japan, India, and the United Kingdom have not ratified the treaty. Milliard (2008). This treaty did not hurt Blackwater’s recruiting at all.

Blackwater opportunities for employment revolve around armed security guards, logistics, dog handlers, and skilled drivers. They also employed firearms instructors, explosive instructors, guard dog instruction, armorer, cooks, support personnel, and supply people. The job opportunities all required some form of military and security experience or training. This is because people who took those jobs would be deployed in areas that have the potential of some kind of combat action taking place. Even though these jobs were risky in nature, they paid really well. The average security personnel stationed in an overseas market could make up to 500 United States dollars per day (www.blackwateremployment.com). Of course, it never hurt a person’s resume to say they worked for Blackwater Security Agency.

So, what went wrong with the agency that in 2010 the agency was sold and renamed Academi and was run by a board of directors? Then in 2014 it became Constellis Holdings. Erik Prince retained the rights to the Blackwater name. Several things happened during Blackwater’s time overseas that had a major impact on the agency’s ability to maintain a presence in countries it operated in. In March 2004, four Americans that were working for the agency as private security personnel in Iraq were killed. They were ambushed in Fallujah, and their dead bodies were dragged through the streets and hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. Dempsey (2008). This was really the first time that most people in the United States even heard of the Blackwater Security Agency and even though most people probably knew there were such personnel working overseas, they didn’t fully understand the dangers these mercenaries were really a part of until those dead bodies were being shown on television around the world.

Another major incident that involved the agency was when in December 2008, five Blackwater security guards were indicted by the United States government and charged with involuntary manslaughter and weapons violations for their roles in the September 16, 2007, killing of fourteen unarmed civilians and the wounding of twenty other civilians at Nisur Square in Baghdad. Dempsey (2008). One other person who had plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter charges, testified against those five security personnel being charged. He said that they were not fired upon or ambushed as sworn to by the five guards. Because of this incident, immunity is no longer granted to security personnel working overseas in Iraq and are, therefore, able to be prosecuted under Iraqi legal system. Erik Prince still defends the five security personnel’s version of the events of that day. Four Blackwater guards involved in the shooting had a trial in Washington. It was the United States government's second attempt to prosecute the case in a US court after previous charges against five guards were dismissed in 2009. Tran (2014).

What really happened that day projected the Blackwater Security Agency into the limelight and not in a good way. This incident brought about a more detailed inspection of all security companies working in areas where American interests were taking place. The public wanted to know why the American soldiers stationed there were not providing the security needed for American businesses to operate safely. These hired private security personnel were perceived as not having any restrictions placed upon them by normal military rules of engagements. This was probably so for the most part as Iraq and Afghanistan are open combat zones for the American military and also, the private security personnel stationed there.

Private security guards work in much smaller teams and are more vulnerable to ambushes and kidnappings themselves. This makes them more trigger sensitive, but not necessarily trigger happy, when encountering situations that require quick thinking, fast action, and little time to review rules of engagement. There are mistakes made, this is true, but Blackwater lost 20 security personnel during its time overseas as a security agency. These men and women put themselves in the line of fire on a daily basis and this is why they have the requirement that personnel who worked for them have a military or law enforcement background. Make no doubt about it, these are professional soldiers doing a very dangerous job and despite how much money they may make, their lives can be taken at any moment.

The recent movie (13 Hours), about the Benghazi attack on the United States Embassy in Libya has brought the private security industry back into the public eye but this time on a more positive note. Those personnel stationed at the Central Intelligence Agency’s post in Benghazi who sacrificed their lives in an attempt to save the people at the embassy showed that the majority of security personnel