“We have contractors that regularly see things that top policy-makers don’t unless they ask.”

[kpete]

Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater’s most dogged journalistic pursuer, has an absolute monster story in The Nation about the Joint Special Operations Command contracting out very sensitive drone-strike spotting and terrorist-snatch operations to Blackwater. It’s a huge piece, so read the whole thing. There’s a ton of detail in here, and a lot about the lack of oversight with which much of this relationship is said to operate:
http://washingtonindependent.com/68748/the-nation-jsoc-relies-on-blackwater-for-pakistan-dirty-work#more-68748

Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan
By Jeremy Scahill

November 23, 2009
...........

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help run a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.


The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.

.........................

A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the military intelligence source's claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC, the premier counterterrorism and covert operations force within the military. He said that Blackwater is also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm that puts US Blackwater operatives on the ground with Pakistani forces in counter-terrorism operations, including house raids and border interdictions, in the North-West Frontier Province and elsewhere in Pakistan. This arrangement, the former executive said, allows the Pakistani government to utilize former US Special Operations forces who now work for Blackwater while denying an official US military presence in the country. He also confirmed that Blackwater has a facility in Karachi and has personnel deployed elsewhere in Pakistan. The former executive spoke on condition of anonymity.

...............


One of the concerns raised by the military intelligence source is that some Blackwater personnel are being given rolling security clearances above their approved clearances. Using Alternative Compartmentalized Control Measures (ACCMs), he said, the Blackwater personnel are granted clearance to a Special Access Program, the bureaucratic term used to describe highly classified “black” operations. “With an ACCM, the security manager can grant access to you to be exposed to and operate within compartmentalized programs far above ’secret’–even though you have no business doing so,” said the source. It allows Blackwater personnel that “do not have the requisite security clearance or do not hold a security clearance whatsoever to participate in classified operations by virtue of trust,” he added. “Think of it as an ultra-exclusive level above top secret. That’s exactly what it is: a circle of love.” Blackwater, therefore, has access to “all source” reports that are culled in part from JSOC units in the field. “That’s how a lot of things over the years have been conducted with contractors,” said the source. “We have contractors that regularly see things that top policy-makers don’t unless they ask.”

more:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091207/scahill

[conscious evolution]

1. Einsatzgruppen SS

I never in my life would have thought that the United States would one day have its very own einsatzgruppen SS.
I weap for what has happened for our nation.

[NightWatcher]

2. contractors provide plausible deniability and do things that bad people want done

You have no idea the things that get done here and abroad by contractors and your head would explode even if you only knew the small percentage that I do. Contractors operate independent of oversight, independent of regulations, independent of morals, independent of the rule of law.....

Independent Operators carry badges that are authentic and that belong to vast law enforcement, military, and business entities, but they do not answer to those entities. They move free and clear past everyone and operate as invisible shadows.

"special access", "code clearance" "project clearance", "sensitive compartmented information"....... all these codes and levels dont mean anything anymore. Orders are no longer given by the top of some command chain and dissolved through the ranks in any order or fashion. An order could come from anyone along the chain and would be carried out by actors responsible to only their handler or faction within a group.


There is no order, respect, or honor anymore and THAT MAKES THINGS MORE DANGEROUS THAN EVER. I got out when I saw the evil anarchy in the system.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Blackwater; an ironic lethal combination containing the worst of both

lose cannons and tapeworms.

Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Barack_America]

4. Should our troops leave before these contractors do?