The DEA is claiming that the agent was a DEA agent and not employed by Blackwater.

The problem isn’t Blackwater itself but the military and law enforcement agencies that under pay their best personnel. The best have figured out that their is more money in training, consulting and in personal security.

Blackwater took off because of its weapons experts, their vast firing ranges and the training they provided to nearly every government agency. When Blackwater entered the private security detail (PSD) business they were very new and not as experienced South African and British security firms. Blackwater PSD specialists comprising of former military special forces troops at its core did not have developed rules of engagement and followed the same rules of surrounding military units. Keep in mind though that in the early years of the Iraq war there wasn’t clear guidance for anyone to include the military.

Personally I have had different levels of experience with Blackwater. Their former special forces guys are excellent and very professional. Because of the performance of these key personal Blackwater was able to expand but they had to fill in the additional ranks with ex-military that could be characterized as less capable than the former special forces guys. That is probably what led to incidents leading to death of civilains in the 2005-2006 period. Plus the rules of engagement were tightening up on the military side as the Iraq government was taking more control of certain aspects of governance. The standard to fire warning shots or engage vehicles that were potential car bombs was tightening up. Incidents in which civilians were killed became significantly more costly to the Iraq-U.S. relationship. Some security firms did not evolve as quickly as the military in changing the rules of engagement, thinking that they could continue with business as usual.

Blackwater certainly has a very unique culture. It is a company that is favorable to Christian conservatives, which you could argue bodes well with the current administration. I believe the true reason it continues to expand its influence in the consulting field is because of its recruiting practices. It recruits through the military and law-enforcement good-old-boy system. Most of their employees were personally referred because they are known experts in their fields. It difficult for these guys to turn away $80-150,000 (sometimes more) salaries compared to the $35,000-$45,000 they are making from the government.

The government doesn’t pay individuals for their skills. When I was in the military I got paid the same amount as the guy handing out towels at the gym because we had the same rank. He also had more awards and medals than me despite never deploying. I served in 7 combat tours around the globe (4 in Iraq) and was one of only a dozen people in the Air Force that did what I did. So naturally I left the military to take a job with a consulting firm.

Given the amount of training Blackwater provides to the government it is of little surprise that Blackwater shirts are everywhere. I was once given a shirt by a Blackwater recruiter but gave it to a buddy who really wanted it. Shirts from Blackwater, Armor Group or other industry professionals say “I went to a Blackwater school or I was once employed by Blackwater”, which infers that you are skilled at your job.

Blackwater grew too fast and they learned that their rapid growth has consequences. Their biggest advantage is that they can get things done and provide support to the government without all of the bureaucratic red tape. On the other hand Blackwater is learning which parts of that red tape process does Blackwater need to incorporate into their business practices. Iraq created the Blackwater we know today, however it has struggled to keep contracts because of the bad press. The more experienced British firms have taken over some of the security contracts from Blackwater.

Blackwater will continue to succeed until the government starts paying people for their skills instead of rank. But that would require a drastic restructuring in the military rank system which really hasn’t changed since the Spanish American War.

I think Blackwater gets in over their heads. Most people within Blackwater are well intended but they are growing greedy and want to monopolize their industry. As the war on terror and post-Iraq over hiring boom fades (which it is) so will their contracts and they will probably have to scale back (just like the Starbucks over expansion). Their contracts very dependent on Republican fear-mongering and keeping terrorism as a key issue. When the next terrorist attack kills American citizens somewhere in the world demand for Blackwater type services will go up again. I can understand why Blackwater sees creepy, its the nature of their business. But the nature of that business requires people keep a close eye on the ambitions of Blackwater.