Special Analysis Follow-up: Blackwater USA and a Controversial Former Pentagon IG

Readers may recall that in the recent article, Let Slip the Mercenaries to Our Shores, presented here at The Dark Wraith Forums, a point of passing mention was made about a former Pentagon Inspector General, a gentleman named Joseph E. Schmitz:

Blackwater USA contracts with the United States government to provide security forces that primarily protect personnel and shipments moving across regions where conflict is anticipated or on-going. Generally speaking, its personnel have military backgrounds, and the company is but one of many thousands that offer employment to former employees of the Pentagon, creating what has come to be derisively known as a "revolving door" relationship between the military public sector and private sector companies seeking government contracts. Illustrative of this is the recent resignation of Defense Department Inspector General Joseph E. Schmitz under a barrage of accusations that he had actively blocked two investigations of criminal activity by senior Bush Administration officials: Mr. Schmitz has taken a position with the parent company of Blackwater USA, the private defense contractor that has now secured security work in New Orleans.

Confirming and extending the overall controversy surrounding Blackwater USA in general, and its appointment of Mr. Schmitz in particular, the LA Times reports on September 25, 2005, that Mr. Schmitz "...is now the target of a congressional inquiry and a review by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, the oversight body responsible for investigating inspectors general, according to the documents and interviews."

For those readers who would care for some further insight that definitely qualifies as side meat but is nonetheless about as juicy as it gets comes the following passage from that LA Times article:

Schmitz comes from a family that is no stranger to controversy. His father was the ultraconservative Orange County congressman John G. Schmitz, who once ran for president but whose political career ended after he admitted having an affair with a German immigrant suspected of child abuse. Schmitz's sister is Mary Kay Letourneau, the Washington state teacher who served more than seven years in prison after a 1997 conviction for rape after having sex with a sixth-grade pupil with whom she had two children. After Letourneau's release from prison, she and the former pupil, now an adult, married each other.

No word has yet come from Blackwater field personnel regarding reaction to the character and quality of new additions to leadership of the paramilitary organization.


The Dark Wraith has herewith delivered follow-up information and context for concerned citizens to consider.