CIA Defends Blackwater Contract
EmailBlackwater changed its name (it’s now called Xe), but its reputation has stuck to it like crude oil on a Gulf bird.
So it wasn’t much of a surprise that when news of a $100 million contract with the CIA broke this week, some members of Congress were very angry.
“I’m just mystified why any branch of the government would decide to hire Blackwater, such a repeat offender” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, told ABC News. “We’re talking about murder… A company with a horrible reputation that really jeopardizes our mission in so many different, different ways.”
This morning, in an EXCLUSIVE interview on “This Week,” host Jake Tapper put that question to CIA Director Leon Panetta.
“I have to tell you that in the war zone, we continue to have needs for security. You’ve got a lot of forward bases. We’ve got a lot of attacks on some of these bases. We’ve got to have security,” Panetta said.
“Unfortunately, there are a few companies that provide that kind of security. The State Department relies on them, we rely on them to a certain extent,” the CIA chief explained.
“So we bid out some of those contracts. They provided a bid that was underbid everyone else by about $26 million. And a panel that we had said that they can do the job, that they have shaped up their act. So there really was not much choice but to accept that contract,” he said.
Panetta added that he is reviewing all of the bids that the CIA has with Xe.
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I suppose Haliburton and KBR are OK also, now that Cheney is no longer in office.
Posted by: Sigmonde | June 27, 2010, 10:54 am 10:54 am
The only change we got was from Halliburton to Raytheon. I want a Halliburton FEMA Camp, they have much better interior design than the Raytheon ones.
Posted by: Eric Prince | June 27, 2010, 11:37 am 11:37 am
It would seem that if a company violated so many rules, over-charged millions regularly, it would be wiser to black list them for many years.
The $26 million lower bid shouldn’t have influenced who was hired. I’ve never understood hiring the lowest bidder if the quality of their previous work was below par. The losses incurred by shoddy work can easily cost much more than that. We see this again and again with town, city, state and federal contracts.
Past failures should definitely block new contracts for many years.
Posted by: Lydia | June 27, 2010, 2:30 pm 2:30 pm
The more things CHANGE, the more they stay the same. Does this mean that Bush and Cheney were making decision where as Panetta says, “There really was not much choice but to accept that contract.”?
Friday night, Gitmo document dump. Now this. Getting dizzy from the spin.
Posted by: MM | June 27, 2010, 6:22 pm 6:22 pm
Lydia said, “Past failures should definitely block new contracts for many years.”
Write to your congressmen, Lydia. Write to the president. Express your displeasure. Let’s not be so accepting just because the administration has changes parties.
Posted by: MM | June 27, 2010, 6:24 pm 6:24 pm
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. How do you like Obama’s “change”, America and the world? The only “change” is the acceleration of the wars, the crippling of the economy, the aggrandisement of Federal power and bankster internationalism, the shreding of the Constitution, the destruction of the middle class.
Posted by: Ed | June 27, 2010, 6:52 pm 6:52 pm
Blackwater in the time of Mr. Bush… bad, bad, bad… in the time of Mr. Obama, not so bad…
Gen. Petraeus in the time of Mr. Bush… bad, bad, bad… in the time of Mr. Obama, our savior in Afghanistan…
Seems like it was easier to criticize Mr. Bush than it is to be President..
Posted by: Quo Warranto? | June 27, 2010, 11:04 pm 11:04 pm
“And a panel that we had said that they can do the job, that they have shaped up their act. So there really was not much choice but to accept that contract,” he said”
Actually, there is a choice. It’s called preventing contractor’s who have committed violations of law on previous contracts from bidding whatsoever on U.S. taxpayer financed contracts.
And Leon’s incomplete story here is loaded with inuendo, and a really unprofessional and full of holes assesment of contracting — this coming from someone who pledged to clean this up for the CIA. We already know that Black Water and Xe hire foriegn nationals who DO NOT PASS SECURITY CLEARANCES to provide security for armed forces in the Middle East. These guys are skimming ENORMOUS PROFIT on these contracts, because they have ties to the very LAST PEOPLE you would expect or want to be providing security.
The current state of contracting in the Middle East is DISASTOROUS in terms of money that could really be saved by having the U.S. army provide security. Both in cost and the long-term self-defeating role that subcontractors have been playing in places like Afghanistan. Your taxpayer dollars are being used to pay off Tabliban extortion fees for security. And worse.
There is no cost savings in terms of hiring security people who could get a security clearance that would be essential for people entrusted with providing security in a war zone. Just some of what Leon Panetta is not telling you.
Another STEAMING PILE making promises and delivering gross mis-management of taxpayer dollars that does just what contractors, the CIA and the defense department want — an eternally bloating cash cow that both undermines security and detracts from anything that should be a short term effort.
Posted by: Dave | June 28, 2010, 8:09 am 8:09 am
“I have to tell you that in the war zone, we continue to have needs for security. You’ve got a lot of forward bases. We’ve got a lot of attacks on some of these bases. We’ve got to have security,”
wonder who did that kind of thing before rummy outsourced it to the highest bidder, couldn’t have been the military, could it ?? nah, i guess you have to blame it on labor and realize you have to get other people to do jobs americans don’t want to do, if they just repealed the jones act, and make sure you don’t tax them, either, also, in addition to
Posted by: tofubo | July 13, 2010, 6:22 pm 6:22 pm