Blackwater - changes name to Xe {zee, omega} - the end . lol

I missed this name change announcement (February 13, 2009). I think how Xe-Blackwater-US Training Center works is: its personnel get lots of money and American troops don't. Also, it's difficult to know who your army is, as a people {sh&t! where's the army?!}


http://www.xeblackwater.com/

Xenon - colorless, odorless {sneaky name} gas [from Greek: something strange]

Scandal-Ridden Blackwater Changes Name
Controversial Security Firm Attempts to Rebrand Itself
By MADDY SAUER and MEGAN CHUCHMACH - February 13, 2009
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Blackw...6873331&page=1

The scandal-ridden security firm Blackwater USA is officially changing its name effective immediately as the company moves to rebrand itself after being fired last month by the State Department from its job protecting diplomats in Iraq.

The company will now be known as Xe and hopes to be a "one-stop shopping source for world class services in the fields of security, stability, aviation, training and logistics", according to a memo sent by company president Gary Jackson to employees today.

The division that handles the diplomatic protection services will now be known as U.S. Training Center, Inc., but now its primary focus will be operating training facilities, including the flagship campus in North Carolina, according to Jackson. It was that very division that handled Blackwater's overseas operations, which also faced the most criticism.
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In today's news:

Blackwater Seeks Gag Order
By Jeremy Scahill - July 22, 2009
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090803/scahill

...Another interesting line to emerge in Blackwater's motion is that the company now prefers to be called by one of its recently created alternate identities, "US Training Center." One would be forgiven for thinking this is an Olympic facility, instead of a mercenary operation. The lawyer representing Blackwater, Peter H. White, boasts in his bio that he is "listed in The Best Lawyers in America--White Collar Criminal Defense."

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Blackwater and the Administration of Justice
By Scott Horton - January 19, 2008
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/01/hbc-90002175

Kudos should be delivered first to the Raleigh News and Observer, which has done yeoman’s work covering that odd outcropping in its backyard and to Joseph Neff, their intrepid reporter who pulled this up. This is an excellent example of Blackwater’s very heavy handed technique, which has often included acts of intimidation targeting former employees, their family members, journalists and their editors who publish information about Blackwater and its doings. (The standard Blackwater shtick consists of unsustainable claims that everything that the company does is shrouded in national security classifications, or is otherwise secret, coupled with threats to bring lawsuits against those who disclose it.)

But for all the bluntness of the Mathews memorandum, Blackwater has a very extensive and sophisticated government relations apparatus, and it scores results. I’ve looked at Blackwater contracts several times and was amazed by what I saw. I am not a government contracts expert, but I’ve been around enough government procurement contracts to have a feel for them. I’ve never seen anything like the Blackwater contracts, which look like Blackwater wrote them. Two possible explanations for this. One is that Blackwater has the best government contract lawyers that Washington has to offer (and from fleeting dealings with them, I am convinced this is true). The other is that Blackwater has relationships with the pinnacles of power in the Bush Administration that allow them to cut through the traditional rules governing contracting like a glowing red knife through butter. Simply put, Blackwater plays the most insider of insider football in Washington, D.C.
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War is Boring: Mercenary Air Forces Underpin Afghanistan, Africa Operations
David Axe | Bio | 22 Jul 2009
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=4105

Contractors' involvement in military campaigns is often under-reported in the press, despite the high level of scrutiny directed at U.S. firms once or currently operating in Iraq -- including the former Blackwater, now known as "Xe." The lack of press coverage is consistent with the broader absence of strict government oversight. Pecotox Air, the Moldovan company whose Mi-26 was shot down in Afghanistan, managed to win its NATO contract despite being banned from EU airspace for safety reasons. The company has also been fingered in an arms-smuggling probe by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

[Seashore]

We need to learn this new name and know what their logo looks like.

Their website:

http://xecompany.com/