Erik Prince
Encyclopedia
Erik Dean Prince is the founder and formerly the sole owner of the private military company
Xe Services LLC
, formerly Blackwater Worldwide. 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 is creating a private military contractor force and writing his memoirs. Prince is no longer involved in the management or operation of Xe.
to Edgar D. Prince and Elsa Broekhuizen. Prince is the youngest of four children. Both his parents share Dutch heritage (the family name, Prins, was at some point anglicized to Prince).
Prince and his father toured the world together, visiting Dachau
, a divided Berlin
, and Normandy
. According to his mother, these trips "made a big impression" on the young Prince.
Prince received a B.A. from Hillsdale College
. During his time at Hillsdale, Prince served as a volunteer firefighter and as a cold-water diver for the Hillsdale County Sheriff's Department. Prince eventually became an emergency medical technician.
He was also an intern in the White House
under President George H. W. Bush
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." He also served as an intern to California Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher
, who recalled Prince as "a bright, driven young man."
After Hillsdale College, Prince was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy
via Officer Candidate School
in 1992. He went on to become a Navy SEAL and deployed with SEAL Team 8 to Haiti, the Middle East, and the Balkans. He credits the SEALS for being an outlet for his entrepreneurial spirit.
Prince ended his Navy service prematurely in 1995 when his father died. Prince's mother sold the Prince Corporation for $1.3 billion in cash to Johnson Controls
. He moved to Virginia Beach
and personally financed the formation of Blackwater Worldwide
in 1997. He bought 6000 acres (24.3 km²) of the Great Dismal Swamp
of North Carolina and set up a school for special operations
. The name "Blackwater" comes from the peat-colored bogs in which the school is located.
On March 2, 1995, Edgar Prince suffered and died of a heart attack at age sixty-three. Erik assumed control of daily operations, which was eventually sold for $1.35 billion in 1996.
Prince's father co-founded the Family Research Council with Gary Bauer
. 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
, 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).
Prince has seven children. His first wife, Joan, died in 2003 from cancer. His youngest, Charles Donovan, was named after William "Wild Bill" Donovan
.
Author Suzanne Simons describes the family as "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.
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. He also reportedly told George Clooney
that he could take care of Darfur
and other hotspots.
Prince left an internship with President George H.W. Bush to search for a mass grave in Nicaragua to expose Marxist-turned-president Daniel Ortega
as a killer.
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."
Since 1997, the firm has won more than $1.6 billion in unclassified federal contracts and an unknown amount of secret work. It became the largest of the State Department's three private security companies, providing 987 guards for embassies and bases abroad.
Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) has awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts to Blackwater and its affiliates.
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.
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."
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." He credits his father's competitive streak in the automotive business with the inspiration to design a lighter, faster army.
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."
Prince has expressed a desire to become a high school teacher and is severing his ties to Xe. It was also reported that he was putting the company up for sale.
Prince compared the situation to the one involving Valerie Plame
.
When in Afghanistan, Prince takes extraordinary measures to protect his life. According to a recent article in Vanity Fair
, when arriving at the Kabul airport, "Prince is immediately shuffled into a waiting car and driven 50 yards to a second vehicle, a beat-up minivan that is native to the core: animal pelts on the dashboard, prayer card dangling from the rearview mirror. Blackwater’s special-projects team is responsible for Prince’s security in-country, and except for their language its men appear indistinguishable from Afghans. They have full beards, headscarves, and traditional knee-length shirts over baggy trousers. They remove Prince’s sunglasses, fit him out with body armor, and have him change into Afghan garb. Prince is issued a homing beacon that will track his movements, and a cell phone with its speed dial programmed for Blackwater’s tactical-operations center."
. He describes his political views as follows:
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.
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
" headed by James Dobson
. The foundation is also a major donor to Calvin College
, 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 "Christian
s who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ."
Since 1998, Prince has personally donated over $200,000 to Republican
causes. Prince is a donor, along with others to the Alliance Defense Fund
, a conservative Christian legal group. 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
.
Prince has also been an advocate of a leaner, more efficient military. He suggests several ways to make the military more efficient without compromising security. His suggestions are: greater accountability of costs, using appropriate equipment for each job, reduction of overhead, and operational and procurement reform.
and other terrorist organizations.
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."
Organizers of the 2010 Tulip Time Festival invited Prince to speak at the festival kick-off luncheon on May 5 at the DeVos Fieldhouse
in his hometown. Prince requested the media not be invited to the event the day before his seminar appearance. Festival organizers settled on allowing the media who had already purchased tickets, but disallowing audio and video recordings at Prince's insistence. Amid several dozen peaceful protesters outside the venue, Prince delivered the speech to an 800-table sold-out crowd.
Earlier in 2008, Prince spoke at the Economic Club of Grand Rapids to a sold-out crowd, where his sister Betsy DeVos
was on the organization's board. Prince had also banned all video and still cameras from the event.
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.
reported that Prince had taken on a new role training a force of 2000 Somalis for anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. 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."
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 (also called R2) under Erik Prince's direction, funded by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE responded to the story in Bloomberg News. General Juma Khalaf al-Hamiri, head of administration and human resources for the Armed Forces, answered a question from a reporter as follows:
On May 15, 2011, an article published in the New York Times incorrectly stated that Prince owned and ran the company Reflex Responses, which has been contracted by the U.A.E. to train troops. On June 6, 2011, the Times printed a correction, noting that Prince oversaw the effort to recruit and train troops.
Reflex Responses has denied all ties to Prince.
Private military company
A private military company or provides military and security services. These combatants are commonly known as mercenaries, though modern-day PMCs refer to their staff as security contractors, private military contractors or private security contractors, and refer to themselves as private military...
Xe Services LLC
Blackwater Worldwide
Xe Services LLC, better known by its former names, Blackwater USA and Blackwater Worldwide, is a private military company founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark.. Xe is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors...
, formerly Blackwater Worldwide. 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
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
, where he is creating a private military contractor force and writing his memoirs. Prince is no longer involved in the management or operation of Xe.
Early life and career
Erik Prince was born in Holland, MichiganHolland, Michigan
Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River ....
to Edgar D. Prince and Elsa Broekhuizen. Prince is the youngest of four children. Both his parents share Dutch heritage (the family name, Prins, was at some point anglicized to Prince).
Prince and his father toured the world together, visiting Dachau
Dachau
Dachau is a town in Upper Bavaria, in the southern part of Germany. It is a major district town—a Große Kreisstadt—of the administrative region of Upper Bavaria, about 20 km north-west of Munich. It is now a popular residential area for people working in Munich with roughly 40,000 inhabitants...
, a divided Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
. According to his mother, these trips "made a big impression" on the young Prince.
Prince received a B.A. from Hillsdale College
Hillsdale College
Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, United States, is a co-educational liberal arts college known for being the first American college to prohibit in its charter all discrimination based on race, religion, or sex; its refusal of government funding; and its monthly publication, Imprimis...
. During his time at Hillsdale, Prince served as a volunteer firefighter and as a cold-water diver for the Hillsdale County Sheriff's Department. Prince eventually became an emergency medical technician.
He was also an intern in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
under President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and subsequently criticized that administration's policies to the Grand Rapids Press
Grand Rapids Press
The Grand Rapids Press is a daily newspaper published in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is the largest of the eight Booth newspapers. It is sold for $.75 daily and $2.00 on Sunday.AccuWeather provides weather content 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." He also served as an intern to California Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Tyron Rohrabacher is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party...
, who recalled Prince as "a bright, driven young man."
After Hillsdale College, Prince was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
via Officer Candidate School
Officer Candidate School (U.S. Navy)
The United States Navy's Officer Candidate School, currently located at Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, provides training to become a commissioned officer. Attendance is one possible way for civilian college graduates with no military experience to earn a commission as a U.S. Navy officer...
in 1992. He went on to become a Navy SEAL and deployed with SEAL Team 8 to Haiti, the Middle East, and the Balkans. He credits the SEALS for being an outlet for his entrepreneurial spirit.
Prince ended his Navy service prematurely in 1995 when his father died. Prince's mother sold the Prince Corporation for $1.3 billion in cash to Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls, Inc. is a company, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded in 1885 by professor Warren S. Johnson, inventor of the first electric room thermostat....
. He moved to Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
and personally financed the formation of Blackwater Worldwide
Blackwater Worldwide
Xe Services LLC, better known by its former names, Blackwater USA and Blackwater Worldwide, is a private military company founded in 1997 by Erik Prince and Al Clark.. Xe is currently the largest of the U.S. State Department's three private security contractors...
in 1997. He bought 6000 acres (24.3 km²) of the Great Dismal Swamp
Great Dismal Swamp
The Great Dismal Swamp is a marshy area on the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina in the United States. It is located in parts of southern Chesapeake and Suffolk in Virginia, as well as northern...
of North Carolina and set up a school for special operations
Special operations
Special operations are military operations that are considered "special" .Special operations are typically performed independently or in conjunction with conventional military operations. The primary goal is to achieve a political or military objective where a conventional force requirement does...
. The name "Blackwater" comes from the peat-colored bogs in which the school is located.
Family
Prince's father, Edgar D. Prince, began Prince Machine Corporation, an automobile supply company, in 1965. 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 a network of companies and real estate worth a billion dollars. 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.On March 2, 1995, Edgar Prince suffered and died of a heart attack at age sixty-three. Erik assumed control of daily operations, which was eventually sold for $1.35 billion in 1996.
Prince's father co-founded the Family Research Council with Gary Bauer
Gary Bauer
Gary Lee Bauer is an American politician notable for his ties to several evangelical Christian groups and campaigns.-Biography:...
. Prince is the brother of Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos
Elisabeth "Betsy" DeVos is an American politician and school choice activist from the state of Michigan. She is a former chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party.-Family background and education:...
, a former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party
Michigan Republican Party
The Michigan Republican Party is the state affiliate of the national Republican Party in Michigan. It is sometimes referred to as MIGOP, which simply means Michigan Grand Old Party....
and wife of former Alticor
Alticor
Alticor is a privately held corporation, owned and run by members of the DeVos and Van Andel families. It was established in 1999 to serve as the parent company for a handful of business ventures, most notably the direct selling company Amway and Quixtar and a manufacturing and distribution...
(Amway
Amway
Amway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that uses network marketing to sell a variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty, and home care markets. Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos...
) president and Gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos
Dick DeVos
Dick DeVos is a businessman and Republican politician from Michigan. The son of billionaire Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, he served as CEO of the multi-level marketing consumer goods distribution company from 1993–2002...
, son of Richard DeVos
Richard DeVos
Richard DeVos, Sr. is an American businessman, co-founder of Amway along with Jay Van Andel , and owner of the Orlando Magic NBA basketball team...
, Sr. (listed by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
in 2009 as one of the world's richest men, with a net worth of $4.2 billion).
Prince has seven children. His first wife, Joan, died in 2003 from cancer. His youngest, Charles Donovan, was named after William "Wild Bill" Donovan
William Joseph Donovan
William Joseph Donovan was a United States soldier, lawyer and intelligence officer, best remembered as the wartime head of the Office of Strategic Services...
.
Author Suzanne Simons describes the family as "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.
Humanitarianism
Prince has a history of philanthropy. He has donated heavily to both Christian and Islamic causes, building mosques at his overseas bases and supports a Muslim orphanage in Afghanistan.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. He also reportedly told George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
that he could take care of Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
and other hotspots.
Prince left an internship with President George H.W. Bush to search for a mass grave in Nicaragua to expose Marxist-turned-president Daniel Ortega
Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra is a Nicaraguan politician and revolutionary, currently serving as the 83rd President of Nicaragua, a position that he has held since 2007. He previously served as the 79th President, between 1985 and 1990, and for much of his life, has been a leader in the Sandinista...
as a killer.
Business
Prince credits the Rwandan genocideRwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
with his decision to start Blackwater. He told an audience in his native Holland, Michigan
Holland, Michigan
Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River ....
, "It really bothered me. It made me realize you can't sit back and pontificate. You have to act."
Since 1997, the firm has won more than $1.6 billion in unclassified federal contracts and an unknown amount of secret work. It became the largest of the State Department's three private security companies, providing 987 guards for embassies and bases abroad.
Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) has awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts to Blackwater and its affiliates.
The Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
administration awarded the company a $120 million United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
security contract and about $100 million in new CIA work in 2010.
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."
Prince, according to Robert Young Pelton
Robert Young Pelton
Robert Young Pelton , is an author, journalist and documentary filmmaker. Pelton is considered an adventurer and a "witness" to conflict. Pelton is known for overcoming extraordinary obstacles in his search for the truth...
reportedly thinks of Blackwater's relationship to the military as something similar to FedEx
FedEx
FedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
's relationship to the U.S. Post Office
U.S. Post Office
U.S. Post Office may refer to the United States Post Office Department or to the United States Postal Service . The term may also refer to individual buildings, many of which have historical or architectural significance. Some noted examples of U.S...
"an efficient, privatized solution to sclerotic and wasteful government bureaucracy." He credits his father's competitive streak in the automotive business with the inspiration to design a lighter, faster army.
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."
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.Prince has expressed a desire to become a high school teacher and is severing his ties to Xe. It was also reported that he was putting the company up for sale.
"Outing" as part of a covert CIA task force
Prince is on Al-Qaeda's "Most Wanted" and frequently targeted for death threats. Prince was identified by Al-Qaeda after members of the House intelligence congressional committee leaked his name as part of a CIA plan to kill terrorists.Prince compared the situation to the one involving Valerie Plame
Valerie Plame
Valerie Elise Plame Wilson , known as Valerie Plame, Valerie E. Wilson, and Valerie Plame Wilson, is a former United States CIA Operations Officer and the author of a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA.-Early life :Valerie Elise Plame was born on...
.
“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.”
Assassination attempts and terrorist threats
Erik Prince flies coach internationally to not draw undue attention to himself. He considers himself a marked man and believes that the diplomats and dignitaries Blackwater protects as “Al Jazeera–worthy,” meaning that, in his view, “bin Laden and his acolytes would love to kill them in a spectacular fashion and have it broadcast on televisions worldwide.”When in Afghanistan, Prince takes extraordinary measures to protect his life. According to a recent article in Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, when arriving at the Kabul airport, "Prince is immediately shuffled into a waiting car and driven 50 yards to a second vehicle, a beat-up minivan that is native to the core: animal pelts on the dashboard, prayer card dangling from the rearview mirror. Blackwater’s special-projects team is responsible for Prince’s security in-country, and except for their language its men appear indistinguishable from Afghans. They have full beards, headscarves, and traditional knee-length shirts over baggy trousers. They remove Prince’s sunglasses, fit him out with body armor, and have him change into Afghan garb. Prince is issued a homing beacon that will track his movements, and a cell phone with its speed dial programmed for Blackwater’s tactical-operations center."
Political views and donations
Prince describes himself as a "libertarian", majoring in Austrian Economics at Hillsdale CollegeHillsdale College
Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, United States, is a co-educational liberal arts college known for being the first American college to prohibit in its charter all discrimination based on race, religion, or sex; its refusal of government funding; and its monthly publication, Imprimis...
. He describes his political views as follows:
"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 private charities and private organizations are better solutions."
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."
Prince serves as vice president of the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation. Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
reports that "between July 2003 and July 2006, the foundation gave at least $670,000 to the Family Research Council
Family Research Council
The Family Research Council is a conservative or right-wing Christian group and lobbying organization formed in the United States in 1981 by James Dobson. It was fully incorporated in 1983...
, which his family founded, and $531,000 to Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family
Focus on the Family is an American evangelical Christian tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 1977 by psychologist James Dobson, and is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Focus on the Family is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s...
" headed by James Dobson
James Dobson
James Clayton "Jim" Dobson, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder in 1977 of Focus on the Family , which he led until 2003. In the 1980s he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesman for conservative social positions in American public life...
. The foundation is also a major donor to Calvin College
Calvin College
Calvin College is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1876, Calvin College is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reformed tradition of Protestantism...
, a Christian institution in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Prince also serves as a board member of Christian Freedom International
Christian Freedom International
Christian Freedom International is an American human rights organization based in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, whose stated mission is to "help those who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ." CFI operates as a 501 nonprofit organization and relies on voluntary, private support from...
, a non-profit group with a mission of helping "Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ."
Since 1998, Prince has personally donated over $200,000 to Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
causes. Prince is a donor, along with others to the Alliance Defense Fund
Alliance Defense Fund
The Alliance Defense Fund is a conservative Christian nonprofit organization with the stated goal of "defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation." ADF was founded in 1994 by the late Bill Bright , the late Larry Burkett , James Dobson The...
, a conservative Christian legal group. Prince had also contributed money to the Green Party
Green Party (United States)
The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
- Demographics :As of the 2010 census, the county was 90.7% White, 3.4% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 3.3% were of some other race, and 1.5% were two or more races. 6.7% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino ancestry...
, though this has been interpreted as an unsuccessful attempt to help Republican candidate Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum
Richard John "Rick" Santorum is a lawyer and a former United States Senator from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Santorum was the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference -making him the third-ranking Senate Republican from 2001 until his leave in 2007. Santorum is considered both a social...
in his race against Democratic challenger Bob Casey
Bob Casey, Jr.
Robert Patrick "Bob" Casey, Jr. is the senior U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served as Pennsylvania Treasurer, and Pennsylvania Auditor General. He is the son of former Governor Bob Casey, Sr..He is the first Democrat elected to a full term in...
.
Prince has also been an advocate of a leaner, more efficient military. He suggests several ways to make the military more efficient without compromising security. His suggestions are: greater accountability of costs, using appropriate equipment for each job, reduction of overhead, and operational and procurement reform.
Relations with the media
Prince grants few interviews and is reluctant to have his photo taken publicly because he is frequently targeted for death threats by Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
and other terrorist organizations.
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."
Organizers of the 2010 Tulip Time Festival invited Prince to speak at the festival kick-off luncheon on May 5 at the DeVos Fieldhouse
DeVos Fieldhouse
DeVos Fieldhouse is a 3,400-seat indoor arena in Holland, Michigan. It was built in 2005 at a cost of $22 million. It is home to the Hope College Flying Dutchmen and Holland Christian High School basketball teams. It is also home to Hope College volleyball....
in his hometown. Prince requested the media not be invited to the event the day before his seminar appearance. Festival organizers settled on allowing the media who had already purchased tickets, but disallowing audio and video recordings at Prince's insistence. Amid several dozen peaceful protesters outside the venue, Prince delivered the speech to an 800-table sold-out crowd.
Earlier in 2008, Prince spoke at the Economic Club of Grand Rapids to a sold-out crowd, where his sister Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos
Elisabeth "Betsy" DeVos is an American politician and school choice activist from the state of Michigan. She is a former chairperson of the Michigan Republican Party.-Family background and education:...
was on the organization's board. Prince had also banned all video and still cameras from the event.
In response to controversy surrounding the September 16, 2007 Blackwater Baghdad shootings
Blackwater Baghdad shootings
On September 16, 2007, Blackwater military contractors allegedly shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square, Baghdad. The fatalities occurred while a Blackwater Personal Security Detail was clearing the way for a convoy of US State Department vehicles en route to a meeting in western...
and its subsequent FBI investigation, Prince has emerged from media seclusion to grant more on-camera interviews.
After Blackwater
In January 2011, the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported that Prince had taken on a new role training a force of 2000 Somalis for anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden. The program is reportedly funded by several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
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
John Burnett
John Burnett may refer to:* John Burnett , American judge on the Oregon Supreme Court*John Burnett , Aberdeen merchant*John Burnett , Scottish advocate and judge...
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."
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 (also called R2) under Erik Prince's direction, funded by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE responded to the story in Bloomberg News. General Juma Khalaf al-Hamiri, head of administration and human resources for the Armed Forces, answered a question from a reporter as follows:
“The U.A.E. armed forces currently engage with a number of third parties, such as Spectre, which delivers academy training capabilities; Horizon, a pilot training partner and R2 which provides operational, planning and training support. All engagements of commercial entities by the U.A.E. Armed Forces are compliant with international Law and relevant conventions.”
On May 15, 2011, an article published in the New York Times incorrectly stated that Prince owned and ran the company Reflex Responses, which has been contracted by the U.A.E. to train troops. On June 6, 2011, the Times printed a correction, noting that Prince oversaw the effort to recruit and train troops.
Reflex Responses has denied all ties to Prince.
Further reading
.- An American Commando In Exile' by Robert Young PeltonRobert Young PeltonRobert Young Pelton , is an author, journalist and documentary filmmaker. Pelton is considered an adventurer and a "witness" to conflict. Pelton is known for overcoming extraordinary obstacles in his search for the truth...
, November 2010 Men's Journal. Prince spends his last two days in America with Pelton - Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy ScahillJeremy ScahillJeremy Scahill is an American investigative journalist and author whose work focuses on the use of private military companies. He is the author of the best-selling book Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, winner of a George Polk Book Award. He also serves as a...
, 2007