Posted on 08/23/2009 5:43:27 AM PDT by tlb
WASHINGTON — From a secret division at its North Carolina headquarters, the company formerly known as Blackwater has assumed a role in Washington’s most important counterterrorism program: the use of remotely piloted drones to kill Al Qaeda’s leaders, according to government officials and current and former employees.
The division’s operations are carried out at hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company’s contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft, work previously performed by employees of the Central Intelligence Agency. They also provide security at the covert bases, the officials said.
The role of the company in the Predator program highlights the degree to which the C.I.A. now depends on outside contractors to perform some of the agency’s most important assignments. And it illustrates the resilience of Blackwater, now known as Xe (pronounced Zee) Services, though most people in and outside the company still refer to it as Blackwater.
Blackwater employees assigned to the Predator bases receive training at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to learn how to load Hellfire missiles and laser-guided smart bombs on the drones, according to current and former employees, who asked not to be identified for fear of upsetting the company.
The C.I.A. has for several years operated Predator drones out of a remote base in Shamsi, Pakistan, but has secretly added a second site at an air base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, several current and former government and company officials said. The existence of the Predator base in Jalalabad has not previously been reported.
Blackwater is not involved in selecting targets or actual strikes. The targets are selected by the C.I.A., and employees at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Va., pull the trigger remotely.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Keewwwwll!!
Whatever it is, if the NYT is against it, I’m for it.
If Xe (Blackwater) has the contract you can be assured it is being done well.
At least Blackwater is doing it for money. Organizations like the New York Times and the entire liberal media establishments are doing Obama’s work against his enemies for free.
“but has secretly added a second site at an air base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, several current and former government and company officials said. The existence of the Predator base in Jalalabad has not previously been reported.”
NYT,,,, bas-turds!
Don't bore me with details of how, especially not in advance, just do it and then tell me what you can without giving away any info that will lessen the effectiveness of the next mission!
I like the fact it gives the organization doing it such great plausible deniablity! Nope wasn't us. Oh no, must have been someone else, we were all at a party.
My wife's cousin works for Blackwater. He was in Kosovo first for a couple of years. Then, they sent him to Iraq. We saw him on the news several times standing behind Rumsfeld and other VIP's. Haven't talked to him in a while, but I asked him once and he said they are always hiring qualified people. They make very good money, too, as evidenced by the house in Raleigh he bought with cash, the tricked out Harley he bought with cash and the Porche Boxter he bought with cash.....
The new york slimes, again revealing classified information designed to hurt the war effort.
The NYT has been going after Blackwater hard lately. They seem upset that BW is effective at killing terrorists.
There hasn’t been a Security company named “Blackwater” for some time now.
The name still raises the hairs on libs necks, though. I have several Blackwater t-shirts and I like to wear them whenever we go into town to see a movie or attend a concert. Doing so always elicits snide comments from Libtards.....just doing my part to raise their blood pressure, dontchaknow.......
The payload for a Predator IS 450 POUNDS?
http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/predator/
That’s exactly why this columnist continues to use the old name. If he used their current name, nobody would pay attention. I wonder if he has forgotten that it was four Blackwater employees who were slaughtered and thier bodies hung on a bridge in Fallujah a few years ago.
Yeah, the media has put so much time and effort into demonizing Blackwater they have to continue to use the name. Nobody would know who they were talking about if the article said "XE Services, LLC" blah, blah, blah. The good news is you can still get Blackwater caps, shirts and sweatshirts from their pro shop if you want to do your part to piss of the braindead Leftists. It is highly entertaining.
I wonder if he has forgotten that it was four Blackwater employees who were slaughtered and thier bodies hung on a bridge in Fallujah a few years ago.
Slimeball probably has a picture of it hanging on his refrigerator....
Guess when TSHTF it should be assumed B W is on ‘our’ side.
Don’t suppose they would go with highest bidder do you?
Just likes Pols, use our taxes to hire mercenaries to keep us ‘in line’...<: <: <:
Would imagine reason they are doing CIA ‘work’ is that regs prohibit the Govt from doing it? Also, aren’t the majority of BW former SpecOps Personel?
Remember in VN LtCol John Paul Vann got so ticked at the ‘handcuffs’ US Army forced him to work under that he went with USIA and got some ‘real work’ done?
The payload for a Predator IS 450 POUNDS?
http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/predator/
From deeper inside the link you provided....
The MQ-9 Reaper has an operational ceiling of 50,000ft, a maximum internal payload of 800lb and external payload over 3,000lb. It can carry up to four Hellfire II anti-armour missiles and two laser-guided bombs (GBU-12 or EGBU-12) and 500lb GBU-38 JDAM (joint direct attack munition). In May 2008, a USAF Reaper successfully test dropped four Raytheon GBU-49 Enhanced Paveway II 500lb bombs, which have laser and GPS guidance.
GBU-12’s are 500 lb Paveway II laser guided bombs.
Sounds like the NY Times are those folks Obama referred to as being “all wee wee’d up”.
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