What is/was Blackwater?

Xe (pronounced /ˈzi/, formerly Blackwater Worldwide & Blackwater USA), is a private military company founded in 1997 by Erik Prince [2] and Al Clark. In October 2007, Blackwater USA renamed itself Blackwater Worldwide, and was colloquially referred to simply as "Blackwater".

Based in the American state of North Carolina, Xe operates a tactical training facility ( [show location on an interactive map] 36°27′19″N 76°12′09″W / 36.455359°N 76.202545°W / 36.455359; -76.202545) which the company claims is the world's largest, and at which the company trains more than 40,000 people a year, mostly from U.S. or foreign military and police services. The training consists of military offensive and defensive operations, as well as smaller scale personal security.

Xe Worldwide is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors. Of the 987 contractors Xe provides, 744 are U.S. citizens.[3][4] At least 90 percent of the company's revenue comes from government contracts, of which two-thirds are no-bid contracts.[5] Xe provided security services in Iraq to the United States federal government, particularly the Department of State[1] on a contractual basis. They no longer have a presence in Iraq: the new Iraqi government made multiple attempts to expel them from their country,[6] and has denied their application for an operating license in January 2009.[7]

On February 13, 2009 the company announced that it will now operate under the name 'Xe' (pronounced 'zee'). In a memo sent to employees, President Gary Jackson wrote that the new name "reflects the change in company focus away from the business of providing private security." A spokesman for the company stated that it feels the Blackwater name is too closely associated with the company's work in Iraq.[8] Spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said there was no meaning in the new name, which the company spent over a year to arrive at in an internal search.[9]