CIA cancels Blackwater drone contract

[The Straight Story]

CIA cancels Blackwater drone contract


WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The CIA has canceled a secret contract with the U.S. security company formerly called Blackwater Worldwide, an agency spokesman says.

CIA spokesman George Little said the contract, which allowed the company's private security guards to load bombs onto CIA drones used to kill militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan, was canceled this year by agency Director Leon Panetta, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The newspaper in August revealed the existence of the contract with the company, now called Xe Services, as an example of the extent to which the CIA has outsourced critical jobs to private companies since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Little told the Times CIA employees have now taken over the bomb-loading duties from Xe/Blackwater. "At this time, Blackwater is not involved in any CIA operations other than in a security or support role," Little said.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/12/CIA-cancels-Blackwater-drone-contract/UPI-51441260646981/

[Lord Helmet]

1. k 'n r

[Hekate]

2. Another positive step from the Obama Administration. Now if only ALL Blackwater contracts...

... could be canceled as well.

Hekate

[arcadian]

3. Blackwater will reemerge under the next Republican administration.

They are only hibernating.

[ZombieHorde]

4. A positive step. Recommended.

[azul]

5. What, was this contract secret, or nobody saw anything wrong

with it previously?

Oh yea, CIA green light and carte blanche etc. We are in an undeclared, but make no mistake about it, war I'm almost sure.

But on the bright side, the blundering privatization of the military and CIA will bankrupt this nation's empire building machine more quickly and we might get out of the dead-end oil wars before we completely cook the planet.