Wanting It Both Ways: Senators Critical of Blackwater Want Assurances It Will Continue Serving

Senators who have been critical of Blackwater are now concerned that it might quit the security business in Iraq, and want assurances that the company will continue.

They've been beating the stuffing out of the company, accusing it of all kinds of wrongdoing. But then, when the company's leaders say that the security contracts aren't worth all the heat from Congress and the media, the senators worry that Blackwater might actually leave them high and dry.

They add, with a twist, that recent news reports suggesting that the North Carolina-based company might get out of the diplomatic security business are all the more reason for the State Department not to be so dependent on private contractors.

The Federal Times reports,

Given these intentions, the senators want to know whether State has been assured Blackwater will fulfill its recently renewed multimillion-dollar security contract. They also want to know what the department plans to do to shore up its Diplomatic Security Service and lessen its reliance on private security contractors.

They cite recent news reports that quote State officials as saying the other two private security contractors providing services under State’s Worldwide Personnel Protective Services contract would be unable to take on Blackwater’s work if the company pulled out.

Senators Bob Casey (D-Penn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) co-signed a letter of concerns to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Webb's Office Clouds Issue In Disputing Junket Report

Senator Jim Webb's office is disputing a report in Human Events that he is using Blackwater as an excuse to retaliate against the Pentagon for not giving his wife and child a free trip to Asia.

But Webb only clouds the issue further. His press secretary's response looks like the senator is digging in his heels rather than coming clean.

Webb's press secretary, Kimberly Hunter, told the reporter that while the senator and Defense Secretary Robert Gates did talk about travel plans for family members on military aircraft (why a United States senator would raise this with the Secretary of Defense is beyond me, but that's another matter). The real issue, she says, is an apparent reluctance or slowness on DoD's part to answer questions about Blackwater. The evidence, though, shows otherwise.

Reporter Erick Erickson, who broke the story, writes a piece today containing Hunter's response and adds:

"I appreciate Ms. Hunter’s response and forwarded to my original sources on the Hill as well as several individuals off the Hill. Ms. Hunter notes that 'travel policies relating to dependents' were discussed and that 'Senator Webb will have additional information on that topic.' Additional sources coming forward to me, however, suggest that the hold is related to the family travel issue and that Sen. Webb 'strongly hinted' at that in his conversation with Secretary Gates.

"Ms. Hunter noted that Sen. Webb worked in the Pentagon for five years. As such, multiple Executive Branch sources who saw Ms. Hunter’s response to me, as well as Secretary Gates’s original letter, said that Senator Webb should have picked up, either in Secretary Gates’s letter or their phone call, that Secretary Gates has been more than willing to give Senator Webb a detailed briefing on the matter. In fact, in Secretary Gates’s letter, he wrote, 'I have asked the Department of the Navy to brief you on this particular contract with Blackwater Lodge.'

"Interestingly, individuals in the Executive Branch were not willing to discuss, on or off the record, Sen.Webb’s holds until they saw his press secretary’s response. On background, I was told there has never been a hold placed on any nominee for any comparable reason, especially when the Secretary of Defense is willing to provide written responses and to send over Navy officials so that Sen. Webb can be briefed and pose questions to the experts.

"Both sources on and off the Hill familiar with the situation strongly maintain that the hold is directly related to the Pentagon’s refusal to pay for Sen. Webb’s wife and child’s travel. Sen. Webb has now been told 'no' twice.

"Said one source, 'Ms. Hunter is right and wrong. Secretary Gates did not provide detailed answers to the senator’s questions. Rather, he offered to send over someone who had knowledge of the program and could more readily answer both the questions posed and the questions raised by the answers. It was not a matter of declining, but a matter of trying to help Sen. Webb get a thorough understanding of the matter beyond what could be done in a letter. Sen. Webb just didn’t like the answer to his travel question.'"

Senator Webb Uses Blackwater As Excuse to Get Free Travel for Wife and Kid

Senator Jim Webb says he's holding up the nominations of four Pentagon officials because the Defense Department isn't giving him answers about Blackwater, but the real reason seems to be that he's cranked that DoD won't fly his wife and child to Southeast Asia at taxpayer expense.

Webb's third and current wife is a native of South Vietnam.

The Virginia Democrat's request for their free travel on a Senate junket is in violation of Senate rules and Defense Department policy.

"A Senate Republican aide said, 'Webb is suggesting that he is holding nominations as punishment for not getting answers back from questions relating to Blackwater, but in reality, it is leverage to get the Secretary to let his wife and eighteen month old both accompany him on this trip,'" Erick Erickson writes in Human Events.

"With the Secretary of Defense’s admonition to Senator Webb that 'Senate travel is governed by a memo signed by the Senate leadership dated March 9, 2007, specifically stating that relatives other than spouses are not permitted to travel with Senate delegations' and 'DoD Directive 4515.12 prescribes policy for DoD travel support for members of Congress' in a manner reflecting the Senate policy, Senator Webb has run out of legitimate reasons for his holds," Erickson reports.

Lieberman Highlights Blackwater Need

In his prepared statement to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chairs, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) explained the important role played by the private sector in our nation's security.

Throughout our history, the American military has relied on the private sector in what has been called a “great arsenal of democracy” to provide weapons and supplies for our fighting forces.

Underscoring the inability of the government to meet its own needs, Lieberman told the committee:

Our present military is just not large enough to fulfill the need for the protection of American personnel, convoys, key facilities, and reconstruction projects. So, the use of private security contractors has become necessary in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His praise of many of the nation's private security contractors (PSCs) was glowing:

PSC employees have in fact performed effectively, honorably, and in many instances, heroically. Many of the private security employees are ex-service members. They are patriots deeply dedicated to the U.S. mission and ready every day to risk their lives – and sometimes lose them – protecting American personnel and America’s cause.