Winehole23
08-25-2010, 01:46 PM
State Department details Blackwater violations of U.S. laws
By Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The company formerly known as Blackwater violated U.S. export control laws nearly 300 times, ranging from attempts to do business in Sudan while that country was under U.S. sanctions to training an Afghan border patrol official who was a native of Iran, the State Department said Monday.
The alleged violations were spelled out in documents released Monday by the State Department as part of a $42 million settlement with Blackwater that will allow the company, now known as Xe Services LLC, to continue receiving U.S. government contracts.
The agreement appears to spell the end of a three-and-a-half-year, multi-agency federal probe into Xe Services' unauthorized exports of defense technologies and services. While elements of the case were presented to a federal grand jury, the company and its currently serving officers have avoided criminal prosecution.
The State Department said Monday that Xe Services' alleged violations, while widespread, "did not involve sensitive technologies or cause a known harm to national security." Additionally, it said, they took place while Xe "was providing services in support of U.S. government programs and military operations abroad."
Under the agreement with the U.S. government, the Moyock, N.C., company was levied a $42 million fine, but Xe is allowed to use $12 million of that to strengthen the company's export control compliance programs. Xe won't be barred from further U.S. government contracts, and a government policy of denying most of the firm's export control applications, in place since December 2008, will be lifted....
...Most of the 288 violations of export control laws cited in the document involve Blackwater providing unauthorized military or security training to foreign nationals or failing to vet adequately the backgrounds of those it was training. The concern is that U.S. enemies could benefit inadvertently from such training...
...Blackwater also violated firearms regulations on numerous occasions, the documents allege. In one case, it diverted weapons intended for use in supporting U.S. military operations in Iraq to the company's private contracts in that country.
The company "did not fully cooperate" during the first 18 months of the State Department investigation, which began in February 2007, and made several false statements to the government that it later revised, the documents said.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/23/99561/state-department-details-blackwater.html#ixzz0xe1MwdLS
Story | Feds won't charge Blackwater in Sudan sanctions case (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/27/96579/obama-wont-charge-blackwater-with.html)
Story | Blackwater exec says U.S. government approved weapons (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/22/92651/blackwater-exec-says-us-government.html)
Story | Former Blackwater employees contest federal charges (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/21/92628/former-blackwater-employees-contest.html)
Story | Blackwater indicted for violating federal firearms laws (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/16/92376/blackwater-indicted-for-violating.html)
Story | Iraq orders 200 current, former Blackwater employees to leave (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/10/84243/iraq-orders-200-current-former.html)
Story | Iraqi father vows to pursue U.S. lawsuit against Blackwater (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/01/30/83377/iraqi-father-vows-to-pursue-us.html)
Story | Judge dismisses charges in Blackwater shooting of 17 Iraqis (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/12/31/81546/judge-dismisses-charges-in-blackwater.html)
Story | Blackwater likely to be fined millions in Iraq weapons case (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/11/12/55790/blackwater-likely-to-be-fined.html)
By Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The company formerly known as Blackwater violated U.S. export control laws nearly 300 times, ranging from attempts to do business in Sudan while that country was under U.S. sanctions to training an Afghan border patrol official who was a native of Iran, the State Department said Monday.
The alleged violations were spelled out in documents released Monday by the State Department as part of a $42 million settlement with Blackwater that will allow the company, now known as Xe Services LLC, to continue receiving U.S. government contracts.
The agreement appears to spell the end of a three-and-a-half-year, multi-agency federal probe into Xe Services' unauthorized exports of defense technologies and services. While elements of the case were presented to a federal grand jury, the company and its currently serving officers have avoided criminal prosecution.
The State Department said Monday that Xe Services' alleged violations, while widespread, "did not involve sensitive technologies or cause a known harm to national security." Additionally, it said, they took place while Xe "was providing services in support of U.S. government programs and military operations abroad."
Under the agreement with the U.S. government, the Moyock, N.C., company was levied a $42 million fine, but Xe is allowed to use $12 million of that to strengthen the company's export control compliance programs. Xe won't be barred from further U.S. government contracts, and a government policy of denying most of the firm's export control applications, in place since December 2008, will be lifted....
...Most of the 288 violations of export control laws cited in the document involve Blackwater providing unauthorized military or security training to foreign nationals or failing to vet adequately the backgrounds of those it was training. The concern is that U.S. enemies could benefit inadvertently from such training...
...Blackwater also violated firearms regulations on numerous occasions, the documents allege. In one case, it diverted weapons intended for use in supporting U.S. military operations in Iraq to the company's private contracts in that country.
The company "did not fully cooperate" during the first 18 months of the State Department investigation, which began in February 2007, and made several false statements to the government that it later revised, the documents said.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/23/99561/state-department-details-blackwater.html#ixzz0xe1MwdLS
Story | Feds won't charge Blackwater in Sudan sanctions case (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/27/96579/obama-wont-charge-blackwater-with.html)
Story | Blackwater exec says U.S. government approved weapons (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/22/92651/blackwater-exec-says-us-government.html)
Story | Former Blackwater employees contest federal charges (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/21/92628/former-blackwater-employees-contest.html)
Story | Blackwater indicted for violating federal firearms laws (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/16/92376/blackwater-indicted-for-violating.html)
Story | Iraq orders 200 current, former Blackwater employees to leave (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/10/84243/iraq-orders-200-current-former.html)
Story | Iraqi father vows to pursue U.S. lawsuit against Blackwater (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/01/30/83377/iraqi-father-vows-to-pursue-us.html)
Story | Judge dismisses charges in Blackwater shooting of 17 Iraqis (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/12/31/81546/judge-dismisses-charges-in-blackwater.html)
Story | Blackwater likely to be fined millions in Iraq weapons case (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2008/11/12/55790/blackwater-likely-to-be-fined.html)