Oct 5, 2007 3:17 pm US/Eastern
State Department Orders New Rules For Blackwater
WASHINGTON (CBS News) ―
An internal State Department review ordered by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recommends overhauling U.S. diplomatic security practices in Iraq after the Blackwater USA shooting incident in which 13 Iraqis were killed, a senior U.S. official said Friday.
Rice has ordered the recommendations be followed, including requiring U.S. diplomatic security agents to accompany Blackwater-escorted convoys of U.S. diplomats in Baghdad, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
CBS News has learned that Rice has agreed that the State department will send more diplomatic security agents to Iraq. Each convoy that leaves the green zone will have a diplomatic security agent.
There will be three moving parts to diplomatic security: An advance team, an agent in the actual convoy and a standby team to respond to a specific incident.
All radio transmissions from these convoys will be recorded.
The government security service also will bolster monitoring of the private security escorts by installing video cameras in cars and recording radio traffic between convoys and the U.S. embassy.
"She wants to make sure there is a management feedback loop," McCormack told reporters.
The spokesman would not acknowledge that previous Blackwater and U.S. practices were lacking, but instead noted that under the new orders State will have better management, control and accounting of Blackwater. It's the largest of three private security firms that guard U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
Rice ordered the review of security procedures after the Sept. 16 incident in which Blackwater guards are accused of opening fire on Iraqi civilians while driving through a main square in Baghdad. Blackwater has contended that its guards came under fire first, but the Iraqi government and witnesses have disputed that, saying the private security guards opened fire for no reason.
The United States has not made conclusive findings about the incidents.
Prior to the new orders, diplomatic security agents only accompanied U.S. convoys on an "ad hoc" basis, according to McCormack. Now, at least one agent will be in every convoy, he said.
The State Department has counted 56 shooting incidents involving Blackwater guards in Iraq this year. All were being reviewed as part of the comprehensive inquiry that Rice ordered.
The review is being led by Patrick Kennedy, one of the most senior management experts in the U.S. foreign service. Rice also brought in outside experts, including: retired Gen. George Joulwan, a former NATO commander in Europe, Stapleton Roy, a retired veteran diplomat, and Eric Boswell, a former State Department and intelligence official.
Kennedy quoted Rice as saying she wanted his assessment to "be 360 (degrees), to be serious, and to be really probing."
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