Blackwater reportedly joined CIA raids in Iraq, Afghanistan

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Staffers with the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide sometimes operated side by side with CIA field officers in Iraq and Afghanistan on missions to kill or capture insurgents, according to a former government official and a source familiar with the operations.
The actions went beyond the protective role specified in a classified Blackwater contract with the CIA and included active participation in raids overseen by CIA or special forces, these sources said.

The sources emphasized that roles and responsibilities often are blurred or altered in a battlefield setting, and that Blackwater personnel were drawn into the operations on an ad-hoc basis because they were present and had the necessary skills.

Still, Blackwater’s involvement in raids is likely to raise questions about the degree to which deadly actions in Iraq and Afghanistan were outsourced to people who operated without direct contractual authority or the kind of accountability applied to the CIA and military.

The CIA still relies on the firm, now named Xe Services, to provide security for its employees and assets. CIA Director Panetta told Congress in the summer that he had shut down a CIA assassination program that employed Blackwater personnel in a supporting role. The CIA has publicly stated that the program, which dated from President George W. Bush’s first term in office, was never fully implemented and that no one was killed. A House committee is investigating that program.

The CIA declined to comment Thursday on specific intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Xe Services, said Blackwater was never under contract to participate in covert raids with CIA or special forces troops “in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else.” Corallo added: “Any allegation to the contrary by any news organization would be false.”

— Washington Post