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Erik Prince

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For the English soccer player, see Eric Prince (footballer).
Erik Dean Prince
File:Erik prince blackwater.jpg
Erik D. Prince
Born (1969-06-06) June 6, 1969 (age 55)
Holland, Michigan
NationalityUS
Educationgraduate of Hillsdale College
Occupationprivate military company executive
Known forfounder of Blackwater Worldwide
Titlechairman and CEO of the Prince Group and Blackwater Worldwide
Board member ofChristian Freedom International
Spouse(s)Joan Nicole Prince (deceased in June 2003); Joanna Ruth Prince, neé Houck
Children7; 4 from his first marriage and 3 from his second
Parent(s)Edgar D. Prince and Elsa Prince-Broekhuizen
RelativesBetsy DeVos (sister)

Erik Dean Prince (born June 6, 1969) is the American founder and was the sole owner of the private military company Xe Services LLC, formerly Blackwater Worldwide.[4] Testifying before the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on October 2, 2007, he gave his title as chairman and CEO of the Prince Group and Blackwater Worldwide, then named Blackwater USA.[5] On March 2, 2009, Prince announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Xe. He is currently living abroad in the United Arab Emirates, where he has been contracted to create a mercenary force.[6] In June 2010, he put Xe up for sale.[7] The company was purchased on December 17, 2010 by USTC Holdings, an investment group. Prince will no longer have an equity stake in or involvement in the management or operation of Xe.[8]

Early life and career

Erik Prince was born in Holland, Michigan to Edgar D. Prince and Elsa Broekhuizen. The youngest of four children, Prince has three older sisters.[9] Prince's mother is of Dutch heritage, as was his late father (the family name, Prins, was at some point anglicized to Prince).[citation needed]

As a boy, Prince had a passion for the outdoors. He taught himself to trap and, in his own words, "spent a lot of time with a BB gun and a hatchet."[10]

Prince's father and he had traveled the world together. Together, they went on a tour of Dachau, a divided Berlin, and Normandy. According to his mother, these trips "made a big impression" on the young Prince. [11]

During his time at Hillsdale, Prince also served as a volunteer firefighter and as a diver for the Hillsdale County Sheriff's Department.[12] Prince eventually became an emergency medical technician.[13]

He was an intern in the White House under President George H. W. Bush[14] and subsequently criticized that administration's policies to the Grand Rapids Press, saying: "I saw a lot of things I didn't agree with—homosexual groups being invited in, the budget agreement, the Clean Air Act, those kinds of bills."[9] He also served as an intern to California Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher. While at Hillsdale, Prince campaigned for presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, and also interned at the Family Research Council- an organization which his father and Gary Bauer co-founded.[9]

After college, he earned a commission in the United States Navy after joining in 1992 via Officer Candidate School. He was a Navy SEAL, deployed with SEAL Team 8 to Haiti, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, as well as Bosnia. When his father unexpectedly died in 1995, Prince ended his Navy service prematurely. Prince's mother sold the Prince Corporation for $1.3 billion in cash to Johnson Controls, Inc. Prince moved to Virginia Beach and personally financed the formation of Blackwater Worldwide in 1997.[15] He bought 6,000 acres (24 km2) of the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina and set up a school for special operations.[16] The name "Blackwater" comes from the peat-colored bogs in which the school is located.[17]

Family

Prince's father, Edgar D. Prince, founded the family business in 1965 with a die-cast shop called Prince Machine Corporation, an automobile parts company. In a few years time, the business "exploded" and Prince began to invest some of the profits, through the Prince Group, into shopping malls and other types of car parts, creating an empire worth in excess of a billion dollars in real estate and factories, among other investments.[18] In the early 1970s, Edgar Prince's company patented a sun visor that could light up and sold 5,000 to General Motors. When the company was sold in the 90s, the company produced 20,000 a day.[19]

In 1995, Edgar Prince died of a heart attack at age sixty-three and Erik assumed control of daily operations. Around that time, the family sold part of the automotive business for $1.35 billion.[20]

Prince's father co-founded the Family Research Council with Gary Bauer.[21] Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos, a former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party and wife of former Alticor (Amway) president and Gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos,[15] son of Richard DeVos, Sr. (listed by Forbes in 2009 as one of the world's richest men, with a net worth of $4.2 billion).[22] "[The Princes] are conservative Christians, and they have very strong views on the sanctity of human life and the defense of marriage and the role of faith in the public square," according to Bauer.[23] Despite these beliefs, Prince was unfaithful to his first wife, having a child out of wedlock with their nanny.

Prince has seven children. His first wife, Joan, died in 2003 from cancer.[24] His youngest, Charles Donovan, was named after William "Wild Bill" Donovan.[24]

Business

Prince credits the Rwandan genocide with his decision to start Blackwater. He told an audience in his native Holland, Michigan, "It really bothered me. It made me realize you can't sit back and pontificate. You have to act."[25] Several other versions of the decision to start Blackwater also exist, both from Prince and early founders of Blackwater. One being that Prince, a free-market advocate, believed government-based systems were naturally inferior and needed extra capacity and expertise from the private sector. [26]

Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts to Blackwater and its affiliates.[27]

Despite protests to the contrary,[citation needed] the Barack Obama administration awarded the company a $120 million United States Department of State security contract and about $100 million in new CIA work in 2010.[7]

Since 1997, the firm has won more than $1.6 billion in unclassified federal contracts and an unknown amount of secret work.[28] It became the largest of the State Department's three private security companies, providing 987 guards for embassies and bases abroad.[29]

Prince takes great pride in the work Blackwater has done and points to its successes. According to him, out of 40,000 personal security missions, only 200 involved guards discharging their weapons. "No one under our care was ever killed or injured. We kept them safe, all the while we had 30 of our men killed."[25]

Prince, according to Robert Young Pelton reportedly thinks of Blackwater's relationship to the military as something similar to FedEx's relationship to the U.S. Post Office "an efficient, privatized solution to sclerotic and wasteful government bureaucracy."[30] He credits his father's competitive streak in the automotive business with the inspiration to design a lighter, faster army.[31]

In recent years Blackwater has come under criticism, but Prince believes that much of this criticism stems from politics. "I put myself and my company at the CIA's disposal for some very risky missions," Prince told Vanity Fair for its January 2010 issue. "But when it became politically expedient to do so, someone threw me under the bus."[32]

"Outing" as Part of a Covert CIA Task Force

Prince, according to a spokesman for Xe, was added to al-Qaeda's "Most Wanted" list after members of the House intelligence congressional committee leaked his name as part of a since discontinued covert CIA plan to kill terrorists.[33]

Prince criticized the decision to out him, comparing it to the situation involving Valerie Plame.

“I don’t understand how a program this sensitive leaks. And to ‘out’ me on top of it?”
“The left complained about how [CIA operative] Valerie Plame’s identity was compromised for political reasons. A special prosecutor [was even] appointed. Well, what happened to me was worse. People acting for political reasons disclosed not only the existence of a very sensitive program but my name along with it.”[34]

Humanitarianism

Prince has donated heavily to Christian causes, and has built mosques at his overseas bases and supports a Muslim orphanage in Afghanistan.[32] Prince also supports women's rights. He financed the film The Stoning of Soraya M. [35]

According to a Vanity Fair profile of him, Prince has entertained the idea of building a pre-positioning ship—complete with security personnel, doctors, helicopters, medicine, food, and fuel—and stationing it off the coast of Africa to provide "relief with teeth" to the continent’s trouble spots or to curb piracy off Somalia. He even considered creating a rapidly deployable brigade that could be farmed out, for a fee, to a foreign government.[36]

Political views and donations

Prince describes himself as a "libertarian."[32] He describes his political views thusly:

"I'm a very free market guy. I'm not a huge believer that government provides a whole lot of solutions. Some think that government can solve society's problems. I tend to think provide charities and private organizations are better solutions."[37]

Prince credits his time as a White House intern with some of his free market views. There he confronted some of the great growth in the federal government.

"Having that White House internship responsibility and badges, I walked around some of these other cavernous federal agencies, and you want to talk about depressing? Walk through HHS Health and Human Services or HUD Housing and Urban Development or Commerce, you name it. Leviathan realized."[38]

Prince serves as vice president of the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation. Salon reports that "between July 2003 and July 2006, the foundation gave at least $670,000 to the Family Research Council, which his family founded, and $531,000 to Focus on the Family"[39] headed by James Dobson. The foundation is also a major donor to Calvin College,[40] a Christian institution in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Prince also serves as a board member of Christian Freedom International, a non-profit group with a mission of helping "Christians who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ."

Since 1998, Prince has personally donated over $200,000 to Republican causes.[41][42][43] Prince is a donor, along with others to the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal group.[44] Prince had also contributed money to the Green Party of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, though this has been interpreted as an unsuccessful attempt to help Republican candidate Rick Santorum in his race against Democratic challenger Bob Casey.[45]

Relations with the media

Confidentiality agreements prohibit former Blackwater executives from talking about Prince.[46] He has been described by the press as "reclusive"[47] and "secretive".[48] Prince is noted for disliking having his photo taken and distributed; often using his hands to shield himself from photographers. While attending a technology conference in North Carolina, he was visibly uncomfortable when photographed on stage and officials asked that the images not be published.[41] He also frequently turns down interview requests.[49]

Organizers of the 2010 Tulip Time Festival invited Prince to speak at the festival kick-off luncheon on May 5. Prince requested not be invited to the event the day before his seminar appearance. Festival organizers plan to honor Prince's request.[50]

According to the head of a competing contractor, "Realistically, there's ongoing projects by (terrorist groups) to collect data on private contractors. I appreciate and understand his efforts to protect his family. The guy needs his privacy."[41]

In response to controversy surrounding the September 16, 2007 Blackwater Baghdad shootings and its subsequent FBI investigation, Prince has emerged from media seclusion to grant more on-camera interviews. Some noteworthy appearances where he discusses the incident include:

Blackwater controversies

See also: Blackwater Baghdad shootings and Blackwater Worldwide arms smuggling allegations

Prince's company, Blackwater Worldwide, was involved in several international controversies during 2007, leading to his being asked to testify before the United States Congress. Seventeen Iraqi civilians were killed when a Blackwater private security detail (PSD) escorted a convoy of US State Department vehicles en route to a meeting in western Baghdad with United States Agency for International Development officials on September 16, 2007.[51] On September 22, 2007, Federal prosecutors announced an investigation into whether Blackwater employees illegally smuggled weapons into Iraq that were later possibly transferred to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).[citation needed] This Kurdish nationalist group is designated a terrorist organization by the US, North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.[52][53][54]

Prince strongly disputes how federal authorities handled the investigation as well as the claims that U.S. or Blackwater personnel were to blame for the shootings. During a seven-hour testimony, Prince noted that, "It seems the ballistics analysis was done to prove the guilt of the Americans, not to just try to identify what happened there."[55] Prince has long maintained that the difficulties of investigating the shooting. FBI scientists couldn't match bullets from the square to guns carried by the Blackwater guards and FBI investigators found foreign cartridge cases not used by U.S. or Blackwater personnel. As shootings in the square were not uncommon, it is unclear whether shells were from the shooting in question or from other incidents.[56]

Congressional investigation

On October 2, 2007 Prince was subject to a congressional hearing conducted by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform following the controversy related to Blackwater's conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan.[57] Public relations powerhouse Burson-Marsteller was brought in briefly, but at a critical moment, to help Prince prepare for the hearing.[58]

  • When testifying before Congress on October 2, 2008, about Blackwater Worldwide's activities in Iraq, Prince complained about the lack of remedies his company has to deal with employee misdeeds. When asked why an employee involved in a fatal incident had been "whisked out of the country" he replied, "We can't flog him, we can't incarcerate him." [59]
  • When asked by a member of Congress for financial information about his company, he declined to provide it. "We're a private company, and there's a key word there -- private," Prince answered.[60] Later he stated that the company could provide it at a future date if questions were submitted in writing.[61][62]

Proposed operations

According to a document dump from WikiLeaks, Blackwater proposed outfitting a vessel for anti-piracy operations off the coast of Africa.[64]

Resignation

Prince announced his resignation as CEO of Blackwater (now called Xe) on March 2, 2009. Prince will remain as chairman of the board but will no longer be involved in day-to-day operations. Joseph Yorio was named as the new president, replacing Gary Jackson, who resigned. Yorio also took Prince's place as CEO. Danielle Esposito was named the new chief operating officer and executive vice president.[65] Prince has expressed a desire to become a high school teacher and is severing his ties to Xe.[66][67] It was also reported that he was putting the company up for sale.[68]

After Blackwater

In January 2011, the Associated Press reported that Prince had taken on a new role training a force of 2000 Somalis for anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Arden. The program is reportedly funded by several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates and backed by the United States. Prince's spokesman, Mark Corallo, said that Prince has "no financial role" in the project and declined to answer any questions about Prince's involvement. The Somali force will also reportedly pursue an Islamist supporting warlord.

The Associated Press quotes John Burnett of Maritime Underwater Security Consultants as saying "There are 34 nations with naval assets trying to stop piracy and it can only be stopped on land. With Prince's background and rather illustrious reputation, I think it's quite possible that it might work."[69]

In May 2011, the New York Times reported on efforts to build a rapid reaction brigade of largely Latin American soldiers trained in the United Arab Emirates by a company called Reflex Responses under Erik Prince's direction, funded by the government of the United Arab Emirates.[70]

In the film State of Play, PointCorp., a company based loosely on Blackwater, uses its network of mercenaries for illegal surveillance and murder.[71]

In the television show, 24, Jon Voight plays Jonas Hodges, who is based loosely on Prince.[71]

References

  1. ^ Risen, James (August 17, 2010). "Blackwater's Erik Prince Moves to Abu Dhabi". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Pelton 2006, p. 291
  3. ^ [http://www.truthistreason.net/erik-prince-blackwater-xe-the-new-christian-crusade
  4. ^ Pelton 2006, p. 1
  5. ^ Testimony of Erik D. Prince, Chairman and CEO, Blackwater For The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, October 2, 2007
  6. ^ http://http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/world/middleeast/15prince.html. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ^ a b Strobel, Warren P. (June 28, 2010). "Obama spares Blackwater on Sudan violations". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  8. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101217/ap_on_bi_ge/us_blackwater_sale
  9. ^ a b c Ready for battle by Jim Schaefer, M.L. Elrick and Todd Spangler, The Detroit Free Press, October 7, 2007.
  10. ^ Simons 2009, p. 11 harvnb error: multiple targets (4×): CITEREFSimons2009 (help)
  11. ^ Simons 2009, pp. 11–12 harvnb error: multiple targets (4×): CITEREFSimons2009 (help)
  12. ^ http://www.hillsdale.net/stories/111207/news_20071112013.shtml
  13. ^ Simons 2009, p. 19 harvnb error: multiple targets (4×): CITEREFSimons2009 (help)
  14. ^ White-Collar Mercenary Under Fire by Marc Pitzke, Der Spiegel, October 3, 2007,
  15. ^ a b The Virginian-Pilot, Hampton Roads, "Blackwater's top brass", July 24, 2006. Cite error: The named reference "HamptonRoads_072406_1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  16. ^ The Man Behind Blackwater." Newsweek, October 23, 2007, pages 36–39.
  17. ^ Simons 2009 harvnb error: multiple targets (4×): CITEREFSimons2009 (help)
  18. ^ Pelton 2006, p. 291
  19. ^ Simons, Suzanne (2009). Master of War. Harper Collins. p. 10. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |lastn=, |laydate=, |separator=, |coauthors=, |laysummary=, |editorn-link=, |nopp=, |chapterurl=, |trans_chapter=, |trans_title=, |month=, |editorn-first=, |authorn-link=, |editorn-last=, |authormask=, |lastauthoramp=, and |firstn= (help)
  20. ^ Pelton 2006, p. 291
  21. ^ In the Black(water), Jeremy Scahill, The Nation, May 22, 2006.
  22. ^ Richard DeVos, Forbes, 2009.
  23. ^ Simons, Suzanne (2009). Master of War. Harper Collins. p. 14. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |lastn=, |laydate=, |separator=, |coauthors=, |laysummary=, |editorn-link=, |nopp=, |chapterurl=, |trans_chapter=, |trans_title=, |month=, |editorn-first=, |authorn-link=, |editorn-last=, |authormask=, |lastauthoramp=, and |firstn= (help)
  24. ^ a b Vanity Fair, January 2010.
  25. ^ a b http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/05/protests_outside_cheers_inside.html
  26. ^ Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army
  27. ^ http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlive.com%2Fgrpress%2Ffrontpage%2Fpdfs%2FA1_Saturday.pdf
  28. ^ Strobel, Warren P. (June 28, 2010). "Obama spares Blackwater on Sudan violations". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  29. ^ Sengupta, Kim (June 9, 2010). "Blackwater founder to sell up as criticism takes its toll". The Independent. London.
  30. ^ Pelton 2006, p. 2
  31. ^ Pelton 2006, p. 3
  32. ^ a b c http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/01/blackwater-201001
  33. ^ http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/01/blackwater-201001?currentPage=1
  34. ^ http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/01/blackwater-201001?currentPage=1
  35. ^ Simons, Suzanne (2009). Master of War: Blackwater USA's Erik Prince and the Business of War. New York City: Harper. p. 253. ISBN 9780061651359. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  36. ^ http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/01/blackwater-201001?currentPage=4
  37. ^ Simons, 20
  38. ^ Simons, 20
  39. ^ The Bush administration's ties to Blackwater, by Ben Van Heuvelen, Salon, October 2, 2007.
  40. ^ http://www.calvin.edu/news/2001-02/fallboard.htm
  41. ^ a b c Mike Barker, AP, "Testimony Lifts Veil on Blackwater Boss", October 2, 2007. Cite error: The named reference "AP_090207" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  42. ^ Blackwater's Prince Has GOP, Christian Group Ties, NPR, Corey Flintoff, September 25, 2007.
  43. ^ Grilled Blackwater chairman a major GOP donor by Andrew Malcolm, The Baltimore Sun, October 4, 2007. Puts the figure of Prince's Republican donations at $2,300,000.
  44. ^ Posner, Sarah. "The Legal Muscle Leading the Fight to End the Separation of Church and State" April 1, 2007, Washington Spectator Online
  45. ^ Grilled Blackwater chairman a major GOP donor by Andrew Malcolm, The Baltimore Sun, October 4, 2007
  46. ^ Founder of N.C. security company from prominent GOP family, the Associated Press, May 3, 2004.
  47. ^ Blackwater: Inside America's private army by Joanne Kimberlin and Bill Sizemore, Landmark News Service, August 3, 2006
  48. ^ Iraq security firm denies trigger-happy charge by Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, October 2, 2007
  49. ^ Pelton 2006, p. 1
  50. ^ Media blackout at Blackwater founder Erik Prince’s Tulip Time talk in Holland [1]
  51. ^ "Blackwater killed 17 says Iraq". BBC News. October 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
  52. ^ "Foreign Terrorist Organizations List". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 2007-07-12. Retrieved 2007-08-03. - U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations|USSD Foreign Terrorist Organization
  53. ^ "Terrorism Act 2000". Home Office. Retrieved 2007-08-14. - Terrorism Act 2000
  54. ^ "Council Decision". Council of the European Union. Archived from the original on 2007-07-14. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  55. ^ Associated Press. ""Blackwater Founders Questions Work"". Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  56. ^ Associated Press. ""Blackwater Founders Questions Work"". Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  57. ^ BBC News, "Blackwater boss grilled over Iraq", October 2, 2007.
  58. ^ Blackwater Mounts a Defense With Top Talent
  59. ^ Iraq security firm denies trigger-happy charge by Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, October 3, 2007.
  60. ^ The Man From Blackwater, Shooting From the Lip by Dana Milbank, The Washington Post, October 3, 2007, Page A02.
  61. ^ Rise of the white-collar mercenary, Brian Dickerson, Detroit Free Press, October 3, 2007.
  62. ^ CSPAN video of the quote on Youtube.
  63. ^ Pelton 2006, p. 3
  64. ^ Ahoy Washington, Need Advice: Blackwater Plans Pirate Hunt, Mark Mazzetti, The New York Times, November 30, 2010.
  65. ^ Kravitz, Derek, "Blackwater Founder Steps Aside", Washington Post, March 2, 2009; Baker, Mike, "Blackwater Founder Resigns As Chief Executive", Associated Press, March 3, 2009.
  66. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ixH5l82hbCz1NXqc3wVvpf7xR5WAD9CBEIL00
  67. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/02/erik-prince-blackwater-fo_n_376880.html
  68. ^ http://www.thenation.com/blog/blackwaters-erik-prince-moving-united-arab-emirates
  69. ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hAHZ9HxuT6KA1abfLIClhXK_ajuQ?docId=bdc6713a3eee4b46803879f8d75639dc
  70. ^ "Blackwater Founder Forms Secret Army for Arab State" by Mark Mazzetti and Emily B. Hager, New York Times, May 14, 2011
  71. ^ a b http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/01/blackwater-201001 Vanity Fair January 2010

Further reading

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