At a Pentagon press conference last week, Defense Department Press Secretary Geoff Morell fielded questions from reporters, including the following exchange:
Q Just, do you know whether in fact the Defense Department or the U.S. military in Iraq has any active investigations underway related to work by Blackwater in Iraq?MR. MORRELL: We do not have Blackwater as a company that does work on our behalf in Iraq. We do -- the military, I believe, does have contracts with Blackwater, but not in Iraq. So I don't know the role that DOD would play in investigating problems with Blackwater.Are they participating in the investigations --Q (Off mike) -- I mean, some other, any incidents or any matters whatsoever of --MR. MORRELL: No, to my knowledge, Blackwater is not a current contractor with the Department of Defense in Iraq. [emphasis added]
I don't know if anyone else has caught this, but Morell may be wrong. The Defense Department awarded at least one contract with Blackwater for work in Iraq. It was awarded the contract last summer by the Army for security work through September 2008:
Blackwater Security Consulting, Moyock, N.C., was awarded on Aug. 7, 2006, a $7,161,101 firm-fixed-price contract for personal security detail services – protection security services. Work will be performed in Baghdad, Iraq, and is expected to be completed by September 30, 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited via the World Wide Web on March 25, 2006, and 21 bids were received. The Joint Contracting Command, Baghdad, Iraq, is the contracting activity (W91GY0-06-C-0027).
Most of the scrutiny of Blackwater in Iraq arises from its work for the State Department. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said he wants to rein in security contractors. And though authorities such as Maj. General Richard Sherlock has said, "Department of Defense contractors are already under the UCMJ [Uniform Code of Military Justice]," others think there may be some problems with that.
-- Nick Schwellenbach
UPDATE: Oh by the way, Presidential Airways (aka Blackwater Aviation), won a Defense Department contract for work in central Asia today:
Presidential Airways, Inc., an aviation Worldwide Services company (d/b/a Blackwater Aviation), Moyock, N.C., is being awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) type contract for $92,000,000.00. The contractor is to provide all fixed-wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance and supervision necessary to perform passenger, cargo and combi Short Take-Off and Landing air transportation services between locations in the Area of Responsibility of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. This contract was competitively procured and two timely offers were received. The performance period is from 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2011. The United States Transportation Command Acquisition Directorate, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., is the contracting activity (HTC7 11 -08-D-0010).
Comments