Washington: The notorious US security firm, Xe Services, which was formerly known as Blackwater and was barred from Iraq over a deadly 2007 shooting, renamed itself a second time Monday.
USTC Holdings, the investor consortium that acquired ex-Blackwater, Xe Services in December 2010, announced ACADEMI as the new name and brand for Xe Services, the AFP news agency reported.
“We have had a year of extraordinary changes that have resulted in a new, better company,” ACADEMI president and chief executive Ted Wright said in a statement.
“I know that everyone at ACADEMI shares in this commitment to promote the highest standards of ethical conduct, compliance and integrity in all of our activities. We are already the best operationally. We are going to become the best at governance,” Wright said, adding “we still have much work to do.”
ACADEMI said it had trained more than 50,000 personnel and had conducted more than 60,000 protective security missions around the globe during the last seven years.
The agency claimed notoriety after s a deadly 2007 incident involving the US security firm then known as Blackwater. Blackwater renamed itself Xe after Iraq announced in January 2009 that it would not renew its operating licence due to a September 16, 2007 incident in which guards protecting a US diplomatic convoy opened fire in Baghdad’s busy Nisur Square, killing at least 14 civilians.
There are report that the agency was also operating in Pakistan, where it has been often accused of being involved in spying and underground illegal activities.
