| Troubled contractor gets Afghanistan security deal
Published: June 27, 2010 WASHINGTON -- CIA Director Leon Panetta says the agency has hired Xe (zee) Services _ the company once known as Blackwater _ for a $100 million contract to provide security in Afghanistan. He says Xe underbid others by $26 million and that a CIA review concludes that the contractor has cleaned up its act. Panetta says Moyock, N.C.-based Xe does not engage in actual CIA operations, but instead helps secure agency bases in war zones. Seven CIA employees, including security contractors, were killed in a suicide bombing in Khost, Afghanistan, in December. Blackwater guards allegedly opened fire on unarmed civilians in Baghdad in 2007, killing 17 people. A federal grand jury has indicted five Blackwater officials on conspiracy weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Winston-Salem Journal - JournalNow.com ©2010 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. To subscribe or visit go to: http://www2.journalnow.com
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