Blackwater (company)

Constellis
Company typePrivate
IndustryPrivate security services contractor
Founded1997; 27 years ago (1997)
North Carolina, U.S.
FoundersErik Prince
Al Clark
DefunctJune 2014; 10 years ago (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 and Blackwater Worldwide, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1997,[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 2007, 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.[10][11]

  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. ^ "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.
  10. ^ "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.