CIA hired Blackwater to kill Qaeda figures: report

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 2004 hired contractors from the private security firm Blackwater as part of a secret program to track and assassinate senior al-Qaeda members, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Blackwater helped with planning, training and surveillance in a program on which the CIA spent several million dollars without capturing or killing any militants, the newspaper reported, quoting former and current American officials.

The Times said it was not clear whether the CIA had planned to use Blackwater executives to capture or kill al-Qaeda operatives or limit the contractors to help with training and surveillance.

The North Carolina-based contractor, which recently changed its name to Xe Services, was enmeshed in controversy in Iraq in 2007 when Blackwater employees hired to guard U.S. diplomats were accused of using excessive force in a Baghdad shooting in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed.

The CIA's use of an outside company for a covert program prompted the intelligence agency's director, Leon Panetta, to inform Congress in June that the agency had withheld details of the program for seven years, the Times said.

Citing government officials, the Times said the CIA had separate agreements with top Blackwater executives for the outsourcing, as opposed to a formal contract with the whole firm.

The State Department cut ties with Blackwater following ongoing allegations of abuse in Iraq.

Operational responsibility

Blackwater had been given "operational responsibility" for the targeting program, according to the Washington Post, which noted the covert effort was canceled before any missions were conducted.

Before the program was cut, however, the private security firm had already been awarded "millions of dollars for training and weaponry," according to the Post.

"Outsourcing gave the agency more protection in case something went wrong," said an unnamed intelligence official close to program, quoted by daily.

Lawmakers from the majority Democratic Party have accused former vice president Dick Cheney of abusing his power by ordering the CIA to withhold information from Congress about the program.

Outsourcing gave the agency more protection in case something went wrong

Unnamed intelligence official

Panetta told members of Congress that Cheney ordered the agency not to share details of the program with legislators, according to Senate Intelligence Committee head Dianne Feinstein, who in July described the program as being "outside the law."

Blackwater protected U.S. government personnel in Iraq since the 2003 invasion and has had around 1,000 staff in the violence-wracked country, making it among the largest security firms operating there.

It first came under scrutiny on March 31, 2004, when four of its employees were killed by an angry mob in Fallujah, then a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold.

The crowd mutilated their bodies and strung them from a bridge, shocking images that were broadcast worldwide and led to a month-long assault on Fallujah that left 36 U.S. soldiers, 200 insurgents and 600 civilians dead.

The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee is investigating why lawmakers were never informed about the program, the report said.