Congressman says fired Blackwater guard found work with defense contractor

WASHINGTON -- The State Department might have withheld critical information from the Pentagon about a fired Blackwater USA guard, a misstep that let the man find work in the Middle East two months after he allegedly killed an Iraqi security worker, a senior House Democrat said Friday.

In a letter Friday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., also questioned the accuracy of statements by Blackwater's top executive and State Department representatives at a hearing Tuesday by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Waxman.

According to Waxman's letter, he and other committee members were told Andrew Moonen, of Seattle, was fired by Blackwater after the Dec. 24 fatal shooting and had his security clearance canceled.

As a result, his employment prospects, especially with a defense company, should have been dim. He was drunk when he allegedly shot the Iraqi vice president's bodyguard.

But two months after Moonen was whisked out of Baghdad, he got a job with Combat Support Associates, a Defense Department contractor based in Orange, Calif., that provides logistics support to U.S. troops at bases in Kuwait, said Waxman, who cited a CNN report. The job ended in August.

Waxman also cited a Feb. 13 e-mail from an Army criminal investigator who reported seeing Moonen in Baghdad, Waxman said.

Gary Lewi, a spokesman for Combat Support Associates, confirmed that Moonen worked for the company. A "due-diligence" review required of all prospective employees found nothing "untoward," he said.

Lewi declined to say what job Moonen performed or whether a security clearance was required.

Moonen, 27, has not been charged in connection with the shooting.

His attorney, Stewart Riley, said Waxman's claim that Moonen was in Iraq in February is "totally false."

He added, "The last time that Mr. Moonen was in Iraq was Dec. 26, 2006."

Riley would not confirm whether Moonen was in Kuwait earlier this year. "It seems that everyone has convicted my client when he hasn't even been charged with anything," Riley said.

"Being drunk, yeah, maybe that's the basis for being fired. But I don't think it's necessarily inappropriate for another defense contractor to hire somebody because they happen to be drunk once in their life with some serious consequences."

At Tuesday's hearing, Richard Griffin, head of the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said his office maintains records of fired guards to ensure they don't return to work with another security company with a State Department contract.

In a related development, Rice ordered federal agents Friday to ride with Blackwater escorts of U.S. diplomatic convoys in Baghdad to tighten oversight after a September shooting in which private guards are accused of killing at least 13 Iraqi civilians.

She also ordered video cameras installed in Blackwater vehicles.

The steps will require the State Department to deploy dozens of additional in-house Diplomatic Security agents to accompany Blackwater guards and are the first in a series of moves Rice is expected to take to boost control of contractors the agency relies on to protect diplomats in Iraq.

The measures were implemented amid intense criticism of the department's security practices in Iraq and Blackwater's role.

Seattle Times reporter Brian Alexander contributed to this report.