Blackwater: The Rise And Fall Of An Empire

subject Type Homework Help
subject Pages 10
subject Words 3558
subject School N/A
subject Course N/A

Unlock document.

This document is partially blurred.
Unlock all pages and 1 million more documents.
Get Access
Running head: BLACKWATER: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN EMPIRE 1
Blackwater:
The Rise and Fall of an Empire
Jennifer Rossin
American Military University
BUSN623 Legal and Ethical Issues in Management
June 19, 2015
BLACKWATER
Abstract
One of the most well-known private security firms in the world, Blackwater USA is no stranger
to the media. The company has made headlines from their assistance to the military in the
Middle East, to the more infamous ones regarding illegal operations. This paper gives a brief
background of the company, to include the ethical problems it has faced, what part
whistleblowers played in the exposure to the company and how employment-at-will affected the
employees and the company. It will also determine if the measures the company took following
its fallout were successful, or whether the company Blackwater will have a black mark forever.
2
BLACKWATER
A Little Prince
In 1997, just months after being discharged from the military, Erik Prince, a former
United States Navy Seal developed a private firearms and security training center in North
Carolina. Have bought over 5,000 acres in pursuit of his venture, Prince’s vision was to fulfill
growing demand of the government to outsource security and firearms training. By 1998, Prince
opened Blackwater USA for business.
Named for the black water caused by the peat in the area, it was slow moving at first.
But the company quickly rose to be one of the best training facilities of its kind, with over 50,000
military and civilian personnel having trained at the Blackwater Training Center since it first
opened. Prince had the ability to take situations all over the globe and then create training
programs to meet perceived needs. Following the Columbine High School shooting, Blackwater
created a training facility or building on the property that was used to train law enforcement
personnel tactics needed for active shooter situations.
It was September 11, 2001 that ultimately led to the rise and uber-success of Blackwater,
though. Following the attacks, the company sent civilian contractors first into Afghanistan and
then Iraq when it was invaded 2003. Employees of Blackwater were familiar with the terrain, as
they were primarily former military and more often than not former special operations personnel.
Green berets, Navy Seals, and Delta Force troops were attracted to the pay, the adventure and the
familiarity of the military posture without the heavy regime. By 2002, Blackwater had signed a
$5.4 million dollar contract with the CIA, another classified contract with the CIA in
Afghanistan, and a major Naval contract to boot (Blackwater USA, 2015).
3
BLACKWATER
The Rise of an Empire
After the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, Blackwater expanded and began offering itself
up to the military for training services. It is then that the company was awarded a major Naval
contract. Following that, Blackwater signed multiple contracts with the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) and other government entities. As more and more private security operators were
sent into the Middle East, the cost of life insurance-which private military companies are
required to pay for their employees-rose nearly 500%. This in turn forced some companies out
of the market, paving the way for Blackwater to grab up more contracts (Weiner, 2006). And yet
the company was still not very well known to the public.
When Blackwater first truly took over the mainstream media, it was due largely to the
death of four operatives who were killed in Fallujah, Iraq. On March 31, 2004, four employees
of the company were killed by small arms fire, then mutilated and hung from a bridge. Families
of the slain men then filed a lawsuit against Blackwater, claiming security costs such as personal
armor and the need for a rear gunner in the vehicle they were riding in were cut in order to garner
a higher profit. Additionally, there were claims that a proper risk assessment wasn’t completed
prior to the men’s mission that would have advised them to take a much safer route (Profile:
Blackwater USA, 2015). Yet despite the bad press the company received for cutting costs,
employment applications for Blackwater spiked, partially due to a sense of revenge by the
applicants for what had occurred and partially due to the press the private military company was
receiving in general. Prior to the incident, little was known about the presence of these
companies all over the world.
Following the attack on the operators, Blackwater quickly rose to the top to become the
poster child for private military companies. Due to budgetary restraints and thinning forces, the
4
page-pf5
BLACKWATER
military as well as the government relied on firms like Blackwater. By November of 2004
Blackwater reported a 600% growth in its employees. While not under the same regime as the
military, and not accountable as military men and women were/are, the company went on to
expand its training center, set up a consulting firm within the business, establish a canine division
and explosives training division in a fashion that was similar to the military (Blackwater USA,
2015). Erik Prince once said of his original vision for Blackwater, “We are trying to do for the
national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service” (as cited in Wilson, 2014).
By 2007, Blackwater accounted for roughly 80% of all the private military personnel that the
State Department had employed (Dunning, n.d.). The company was quickly becoming
legendary.
5
page-pf6
page-pf7
page-pf8
page-pf9
page-pfa
page-pfb
page-pfc
page-pfd
page-pfe
page-pff
page-pf10

Trusted by Thousands of
Students

Here are what students say about us.

Copyright ©2022 All rights reserved. | CoursePaper is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university.