December
2, 2006: Blackwater USA, a major provider of civilian security personnel in
Iraq, and to clients world-wide, is building another, 80 acre, training area in
Illinois. It already has a 7,000 acre facility in North Carolina, a much
smaller training center in California and a jungle survival skills center in
the Philippines. Founded in 1997 by former U.S. Navy SEALs, Blackwater is
privately owned. The company originally concentrated on corporate security and
law enforcement training. But the war on terror, and especially the war in
Iraq, brought it a lot more government work. Apparently Blackwater managers
realize that the war on terror operations will end eventually, and the company
is continuing to concentrate on corporate security and law enforcement
training.