Blackwater (company)

Constellis
Company typePrivate
IndustryPrivate security services contractor
Founded1997 (1997)
North Carolina, U.S.
FoundersErik Prince
Al Clark
DefunctJune 2014 (June 2014)
FateMerged with Triple Canopy
Headquarters12018 Sunrise Valley Drive
Suite 140
Reston, Virginia, U.S.[1]
38°56′54″N 77°21′42″W / 38.9484°N 77.3618°W / 38.9484; -77.3618
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Craig Nixon and Allen Schaffer
ProductsLaw enforcement training, logistics, close quarter training, and security services
ServicesSecurity management, full-service risk management consulting
Websitewww.constellis.com

Academi, formerly known as Blackwater, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1996,[2] by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince.[3][4] It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors.[5] In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings.[6][7][8]

Constellis and its predecessors provide contract security services[9] to the United States federal government. Since 2003, it has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency. In 2013, its subsidiary, International Development Solutions, received an approximately $92 million contract for U.S. State Department security guards.[10]

In 2007, Constellis (then Blackwater) received widespread notoriety for the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad, when a group of its employees killed 17 Iraqi civilians and injured 20. Four employees were convicted in the United States and later pardoned on December 22, 2020, by President Donald Trump.[11][12]

  1. ^ "Academi – About Us – Contact Us". Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  2. ^ "North Carolina Secretary of State Business Registration Search". Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  3. ^ Flintoff, Corey (September 25, 2009). "Blackwater's Prince Has GOP, Christian Group Ties". NPR. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
  4. ^ "Ex-Blackwater firm gets a name change, again" Archived October 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. December 12, 2011, The Washington Post
  5. ^ Brannen, Kate. "Blackwater's Descendants Are Doing Just Fine". Foreign Policy. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  6. ^ Risen, James (June 30, 2014). "Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater". The New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  7. ^ "Constellis Holdings, Inc. Acquires Constellis Group, Inc" (Press release). Constellis Holdings. PR Newswire. Archived from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Charges Dismissed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Brannen, Kate (July 1, 2014). "Blackwater's Descendants Are Doing Just Fine". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on July 16, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  10. ^ "U.S. Jury convicts Blackwater guards in 2007 killings of Iraqi civilians" Archived March 30, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian. October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  11. ^ "Ex-Blackwater Guards Sentenced to Prison in 2007 Killings of Iraqi Civilians" Archived June 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times. April 13, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015.

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