Foro de Inteligencia, Espionaje y Servicios Secretos

BW corporate opportunities escribió: Title: SEAL Division Manager
Date Posted: 09-25-2007
Closing Date: Open Until Filled

Location: Lake County, IL

Primary Purpose:
Oversee Blackwater Staff at Great Lakes Navy Center who are engaged in the preparation of recent Navy Boot Camp graduates for success at BUD/S through rigorous physical training.

Essential Functions:
Execute daily and weekly training plans as promulgated by Naval Special Warfare Command.

Instruct students in proper exercise techniques to include flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular conditioning.

Identify any physical injuries as they develop and report same to appropriate medical staff.

Maintain overall safety and organization of the training environment.

Organize, collect, analyze, and present statistical information related to the tracking of enlisted NSW applicants.

Perform other duties as directed by the chain of command

Motivate, Supervise and Develop Physical Training Leaders

Participate in curriculum development as directed



Required Education/Experience:
Former US Navy SEAL who was discharged in a retired or Honorable status.
Excellent English verbal and written communication skills are required.
Must possess and maintain valid Driver's License.
Must adhere to Navy grooming standards.
Dive Motivator experience strongly preferred
Master Training Specialist Certification preferred

Must be able to pass the Navy SEAL Physical Standards Test:
1. Swim 500 Yards in less than 13:00 (Breast stroke or Side stroke)
2. Perform 42 Push Ups in less than 2:00
3. Perform 50 Sit Ups in less than 2:00
4. Perform 6 Pull Ups continuously (may rest in the hang position)
5. Run 1.5 miles in less than 12:30





Working Conditions:
Subject to frequent interruptions in a training environment. Will be subject to colder climate conditions in which training will occur. Some training will take place in a pool environment.

Schedule will generally adhere to a 40 hour work week but a certain amount of flexibility should be expected.



Will report to Lake County, Illinois, Naval Recruit Training Center Great Lakes.

LA Times escribió:State Dept. intercedes in Blackwater probe
A House panel reveals a letter telling the firm not to disclose information about its Iraq operations without the administration's OK.
By Peter Spiegel
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 26, 2007

WASHINGTON — The State Department has interceded in a congressional investigation of Blackwater USA, the private security firm accused of killing Iraqi civilians last week, ordering the company not to disclose information about its Iraq operations without approval from the Bush administration, according to documents revealed Tuesday.

In a letter sent to a senior Blackwater executive Thursday, a State Department contracting official ordered the company "to make no disclosure of the documents or information" about its work in Iraq without permission.

The letter and other documents were released Tuesday by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), whose House committee has launched wide-ranging investigations into contractor abuses and corruption in Iraq.

The State Department order and other steps it has taken to limit congressional access to information have set up a confrontation between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Waxman, who has repeatedly accused the State Department of impeding his inquiries.

In his own letter to Rice on Tuesday, Waxman called her department's latest efforts to withhold information from the committee "extraordinary" and "unusual."

"Congress has the constitutional prerogative to examine the impacts of corruption within the Iraqi ministries and the activities of Blackwater," Waxman wrote. "You are wrong to interfere with the committee's inquiry."

In response to Waxman's letter, Kiazan Moneypenny, a senior contracting officer in the State Department's office of acquisition management, appeared to soften the department's stand, saying later Tuesday that it would allow Blackwater to hand over unclassified documents.

Classified documents still would be subject to State Department review. The committee has accused the administration of using secrecy designations to keep bad news about Iraq out of the hands of Congress.

The firm's contract The State Department's order to Blackwater last week cited a provision in the North Carolina security firm's contract that makes all records produced by the company in Iraq property of the U.S. government, and prohibits the company from releasing documents without State Department approval.

Waxman had sought information about Blackwater's contract with the State Department, under which it provides nearly 1,000 armed guards to protect U.S. diplomats when they travel outside Baghdad's Green Zone.

The request was part of a probe into a Sept. 16 incident in which at least 11 Iraqis were killed after Blackwater employees protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy opened fire.

The incident enraged the Iraqi government, which accused the firm of routinely shooting civilians with impunity.

L. Paul Bremer III, the former U.S. administrator for Iraq, granted contractors immunity from prosecution in an order he signed the day before handing over sovereignty in June 2004.

A preliminary Iraqi investigation said the shootings occurred without provocation; Blackwater and the State Department said the convoy was ambushed and the guards opened fire after being attacked.

Hearing scheduled Waxman has scheduled a Blackwater hearing for next Tuesday, but Blackwater's attorneys warned the committee that the State Department's letter may complicate company executives' testimony.

"In the fluid setting of a congressional hearing it may become difficult, if not impossible, for Blackwater personnel to meet the terms of" the State Department finding, wrote Stephen M. Ryan, an attorney advising Blackwater in the congressional investigation.

"This contractual direction from the [State Department] is unambiguous."

A company spokeswoman said Tuesday that Blackwater interpreted the State Department's apparent shift Tuesday as permission to release documents sought by Waxman.

The State Department has repeatedly defended Blackwater in the aftermath of the Sept. 16 incident. After a brief ban on diplomatic travel outside the Green Zone, department officials have resumed trips under Blackwater guard and have said that the company's status has not changed.

In his letter to Rice, Waxman also objected to a move by the department to bar its officials from speaking with committee investigators about corruption inside the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

An e-mail received by the committee Monday night indicated that the State Department was treating information about corruption as classified, suggesting it might undermine bilateral relations.

"The scope of this prohibition is breathtaking," Waxman wrote. "On its face, it means that unless the committee agrees to keep the information secret from the public . . . the committee cannot obtain information about whether Mr. Maliki himself has been involved in corruption or has intervened to block corruption investigations."

Waxman said that previous official reports of corruption within Iraqi ministries were treated as "sensitive but unclassified." The State Department retroactively classified the reports after his committee requested them, Waxman said.

CNN.com escribió:From Mike Mount
CNN Pentagon producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Security contractors in Iraq use some over-the-top tactics and overreact at times, a top U.S. general in Iraq said Friday.

Many in Iraq have witnessed security contractors operating in a questionable fashion, said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, chief of staff for the Multi-National Corps in Iraq.

"I can certainly say I've seen them do some tactics that I thought were over the top. But that's something we've got to keep working out," Anderson said in a briefing to Pentagon reporters via teleconference from Iraq.

His comments soon after Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he wants closer oversight of Pentagon contractors in Iraq. Gates has dispatched a team there to review accountability and oversight.

Anderson did not offer specific examples of incidents he had seen.

He agreed security contractors in Iraq have taken a lot of criticism, but he said they are in a tough position.

"They obviously have a tough job to do in a tough environment. I don't know if they're overly aggressive. I think the question becomes what rules do they follow with respect to what the rules of engagement are," he said.

The actions of private security contractors have come under scrutiny since a Baghdad shooting incident earlier this month.

Iraqi authorities say Blackwater guards fired indiscriminately, killing as many as 20 civilians; Blackwater says its employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on a convoy.

Under an order laid down by the U.S.-led occupation government in 2004, security contractors are not subject to Iraqi law for actions taken within their contracts, a condition that irritates Iraqi officials.

About 137,000 civilians are working for the U.S. military in Iraq, Gates said Wednesday. That number includes at least 7,300 of the estimated 25,000 private security contractors working in Iraq, he said.

After the Blackwater shootings, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England issued a memo to commanders in Iraq outlining their responsibility for holding contractors accountable, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

Anderson said the assessment team sent by Gates is getting a feel for how the military employs contractors, to what scale, what functions they're providing and what differentiates between Department of Defense and Department of State contractors in the security role.

The State Department also is investigating the role of private security contractors. Ambassador Patrick Kennedy, a management and policy expert, will lead the effort, along with a high-level panel of outside experts, including retired Gen. George Joulwan, former commander of NATO forces in Europe; Stapleton Roy, former U.S. ambassador to China; and Eric Boswell, a former assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants an interim report by next Friday.

5 Witnesses Insist Iraqis Didn't Fire On Guards
State Dept. to Study System for Security

By Sudarsan Raghavan and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 29, 2007; A01



BAGHDAD, Sept 28 -- Five eyewitnesses to a Sept. 16 shooting incident in Baghdad involving the private security firm Blackwater USA insisted that company guards fired without provocation, forcing civilians and Iraqi police to run for cover, and that the Iraqi officers did not return fire.

The eyewitnesses and a senior Iraqi police official close to an investigation of the incident contradicted initial accounts provided by the company and the State Department, which employs Blackwater to protect U.S. diplomats. At least 11 Iraqis died in the shootings, which have focused attention on the actions of largely unregulated security companies operating in Iraq.

"The Iraqi security forces had the right to shoot at them when they saw the [Blackwater] convoy shooting at the people, but they did not shoot at the convoy," said Ahmed Ali Jassim, 19, a maintenance worker who saw the incident. "When they see Iraqis getting shot like that, their blood would be boiling. But no one crossed the limits."

The latest eyewitness accounts emerged as the State Department announced the creation of a high-level panel to assess whether appropriate rules are in place for the three private firms that protect U.S. diplomats and other civilian officials, whether the companies -- including the largest, Blackwater -- are following those rules, and whether the system should be altered or scrapped altogether.

Named by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the panel will travel to Baghdad on Saturday to begin a comprehensive review of the State Department's multibillion-dollar private security operation in Iraq, according to Patrick E. Kennedy, the department's senior management official and head of the panel. The inquiry would remain separate from probes into the Sept. 16 incident, including a joint Iraq-U.S. committee composed of U.S. military and State Department personnel and Iraqi officials.

An ABC News report Friday quoted what it said were sworn statements from Blackwater employees, four of whom said they fired on a white sedan that failed to slow down despite hand and arm signals and water bottles they threw as it approached their convoy.

"I turned and engaged the car with approximately 20 to 30 rounds from my M4 rifle. After I no longer felt the threat to my life, I turned back to cover my sector," wrote one guard, according to ABC.

The guards also reported taking fire from gunmen dressed as civilians and Iraqi police officers from a tree line, a red bus and a dirt mound. One guard reported firing on a man who exited another white sedan with what the guard believed was a detonating device.

"Fearing for my life and the lives of my team members, I fired several well aimed rounds center mass at the threat," he wrote, according to ABC.

Another guard wrote that he fired in response to shots fired from Iraqis dressed as civilians. "I fired one shot from my SR-25 at the closest threat," wrote the guard, referring to a semiautomatic sniper rifle. "He went down and did not fire anymore."

The ABC report showed a photo of what Blackwater said was an armored vehicle that had been hit by at least five rounds during the incident.

The report also showed the fiery images of what Blackwater guards said was a car bomb attack before the incident. The car bomb detonated outside a financial compound where a U.S. official under Blackwater's protection was attending a meeting. The compound is about a mile from the site of the shootings, which did not occur until nearly 30 minutes after the bombing.

The eyewitnesses -- three traffic policemen and two maintenance workers who were interviewed separately -- offered a dramatically different account of the events in Nisoor Square.

Traffic police officer Sarhan Thiab said that shortly after noon he saw two Blackwater convoys, minutes apart, come through the traffic circle. Following procedure, he and other traffic officers ordered cars to stop entering the circle to allow the convoys to pass.

Fifteen minutes later, a third Blackwater convoy of four gray REVA armored vehicles arrived. Unlike the two previous convoys, this one swerved left and rolled into the circle against the flow of traffic, the eyewitnesses said. Such a move made it more difficult for the traffic policemen to slow down vehicles that were driving directly into the convoy.

The Blackwater guards threw water bottles in the circle to halt traffic, Thiab said. He and another officer, Ali Khalaf, walked into two intersections to stop traffic heading toward the convoy, which had stopped in a semicircle.

Suddenly, guards fired on a white sedan that did not slow down quickly enough, the witnesses said. The car kept moving forward, but not in a threatening way, said Khalaf, who has given his account to U.S. and Iraqi investigators.

"The car went on rolling slowly. But they kept on shooting," said Khalaf, who ran for cover. Thiab and other witnesses said that they heard loud booms and that the vehicle burst into flames, killing the female passenger.

In seconds, there was shooting in all directions, eyewitnesses said. People were fleeing their cars and running for cover. Afterward, dead and wounded were found in almost every direction, police said.

Eyewitnesses also disputed the Blackwater guards' account that civilians were firing from a red bus. Hussam Abdul Rahman, 25, another traffic policeman who was near the bus, said passengers were kicking out the windows in a desperate attempt to escape the firing.

"There were many on this bus. They were hardly able to walk and they were screaming," Khalaf said.

The senior Iraqi police official also rejected Blackwater's account of being ambushed by gunmen. Nisoor Square, he said, sits in front of the National Police headquarters. There were checkpoints, Iraqi army and police, nearby in nearly every direction, making it hard for gunmen to take positions to ambush the convoy.

The police guards in the square, he added, would not shoot without orders. The square is a common route for dozens of heavily armored U.S. military and embassy convoys. Anyone planning an attack would use heavy weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades -- not guns, the official said. "To attack body-armored vehicles with bullets? No one can believe this," the police official said.

Both the State Department and the Defense Department have maintained they have no choice but to contract out security and other functions in an era of downsized government and increased international danger. "As long as the security threats continue at the level they are now, we're going to have to figure out a way" to protect civilians operating in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots, Kennedy said. "How that is done is the purpose of the review."

Kennedy's team includes retired NATO commander Gen. George A. Joulwan; J. Stapleton Roy, a former senior diplomat who is now vice chairman of Kissinger Associates; and Eric Boswell, a senior official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Defense Department this week sent its own five-man team to Iraq for a parallel review of contractor security operations.

DeYoung reported from Washington. Correspondent Steve Fainaru in El Cerrito, Calif., and special correspondent Saad al-Izzi in Baghdad contributed to this report.