Blackwater (company)
Academi, formerly known as Blackwater, is an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1996, by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. 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. In 2014, Academi merged with Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings.
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Private security services contractor |
| Founded | 1997 North Carolina, U.S. |
| Founders | Erik Prince Al Clark |
| Defunct | June 2014 |
| Fate | Merged with Triple Canopy |
| Headquarters | 12018 Sunrise Valley Drive Suite 140 Reston, Virginia, U.S. 38.9484°N 77.3618°W |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Craig Nixon and Allen Schaffer |
| Products | Law enforcement training, logistics, close quarter training, and security services |
| Services | Security management, full-service risk management consulting |
| Website | www |
Constellis and its predecessors provide contract security services to the United States federal government. Since 2003, it has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency. In 2013, its subsidiary, International Development Solutions, received an approximately $92 million contract for U.S. State Department security guards.
In 2007, Constellis (then 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.