[Peace-discuss] Blackwater - U of I tie

[Barbara kessel]

same day, same Tribune, but longer article + more info

CHICAGO TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE
>
> Blackwater - U of I tie
> Tom Dempsey is under scrutiny for a link to military trainers
>
> By E.A. Torriero and Jodi S. Cohen
> Tribune staff reporters
>
> July 31, 2007
>
> http://tinyurl.com/29cgeh
> http://tinyurl.com/222pmh (print format)
>
> The University of Illinois is investigating potential
> conflicts of interest involving the director of the
> school's prestigious police-training institute and
> Blackwater U.S.A., the military contractor.
>
> The institute's director, Tom Dempsey, signed an agreement
> in May allowing the state facility and private contractor
> to exchange staff and students and share facilities.
> The pact could give Blackwater a foothold in training
> candidates for sworn law-enforcement positions in Illinois.
>
> Even as he represented the institute, Dempsey has also
> been working as a Blackwater consultant in his spare
> time, top university officials confirmed Monday in
> response to questions from the Tribune. On July 19,
> two months after Dempsey signed the institute's
> partnership agreement with Blackwater, he submitted
> a written request for time off to consult for Blackwater.
>
> University administrators who were unaware of the
> partnership agreement agreed to the 30-day leave of
> absence, which Dempsey requested so he could travel
> to Afghanistan to work for the North Carolina-based
> company in anti-drug-trafficking and police training
> of Afghan forces, according to university provost Linda Katehi.
>
> Dempsey, 58, a former Marine and director of the
> institute since 2002, did not respond to several
> Tribune requests for comment last week and Monday.
> He is paid $118,178 annually by the university.
>
> Sources at the university, who believe Dempsey is
> currently in Afghanistan, said he has corresponded
> with the university by e-mail in recent days. Officials
> plan to speak with him by phone this week about the
> potential conflict of interest.
>
> The university's conflict policy requires employees
> to disclose whether, through an outside venture, they
> are receiving $10,000 or more from a company doing
> business with the university.
>
> Katehi said that in most cases, if an individual notes
> a potential conflict on disclosure forms, those forms
> are not accepted without a thorough investigation.
>
> She said the university is now trying to find out
> whether Dempsey was employed by Blackwater when he
> signed the partnership, and why any work he is doing
> for Blackwater is not spelled out in the partnership agreement.
>
> The probe comes as Blackwater, a security firm whose
> most-publicized business is providing private
> paramilitary personnel for America's war on terror,
> is already facing controversy surrounding a training
> facility opened last spring in far northwestern Illinois.
>
> The university's institute, located in Champaign, is
> one of the largest in the nation. It trains would-be
> law-enforcement and corrections officers.
>
> By aligning with the institute, Blackwater could then
> receive approval from the Illinois Law Enforcement
> Training and Standards Board to become part of the
> primary training process for law enforcement, state
> officials said, possibly opening up future contracts
> for Blackwater. Only five facilities in Illinois are
> fully certified by the board to train candidates for
> sworn law-enforcement positions.
>
> Board officials said they have not received an
> application from Blackwater to align with the university.
>
> Now university officials say they will evaluate
> whether it is appropriate for the state's largest
> and most visible education facility to be aligned with Blackwater.
>
> "We are trying to reconsider that and get more
> information about what their intention was and to
> make sure there is an alignment between the mission
> of Blackwater and the mission of the campus," Katehi
> said. "We don't want our name associated with a firm
> that is controversial."
>
> A Blackwater spokeswoman said it is against company
> policy to discuss employees in sensitive positions
> overseas. She said the university agreement, however,
> involves only domestic law-enforcement training and
> not military support efforts.
>
> The agreement does not call for money to change
> hands, according to a copy obtained by the Tribune.
> Cooperation would be developed "as deemed beneficial
> by the two parties."
>
> "It's an exchange of services," said Anne Tyrrell,
> the Blackwater spokeswoman.
>
> Thus far, Blackwater has not been involved in training
> at the institute, according to Blackwater and university
> officials. How the two organizations would work together is unclear.
>
> Formed in 1997, Blackwater tumbled into the American
> consciousness when four of its workers were killed and
> their bodies mutilated in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004.
>
> In addition to Blackwater's sprawling 7,000-acre
> North Carolina campus, used for paramilitary and
> law-enforcement training, Blackwater North in
> Mt. Carroll, Ill., has trained some 200 people
> from 40 law-enforcement agencies from as far away
> as New York and California, company officials said.
>
> Since opening last spring 150 miles west of Chicago,
> Blackwater North has endured criticism and questions
> regarding its operation from neighbors and peace
> groups protesting "America's private army."
>
> It is unlikely that any of the training ventures with
> the university would take place at Blackwater North, Tyrrell said.
>
>
> etorriero at tribune.com
> jscohen at tribune.com
>
> Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune
>
>
>
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