Hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform - Blackwater USA; Private Security Contracting in Iraq & Afghanistan

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Hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform - Blackwater USA; Private Security Contracting in Iraq & Afghanistan

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REP. CHRISTOPHER MURPHY (D-CT): Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Let me just follow up on Mr. Welch's questions. I mean, certainly, as the CEO of the company, you can tell us what your profit has been in the past several years as a company.

MR. PRINCE: I can give approximate numbers, but we're a private company. And I'm sure it's the Congress's main interest in maintaining healthy competition amongst government vendors. So we're a private company and there's a key word there -- private.

REP. MURPHY: And so you will not disclose to us what the annual profit over the last --

MR. PRINCE: No. That's not what I just said. We gave you an example of what the profitability of a WPPS contract looks like, but I'm not going to go into our full financials.

REP. MURPHY: And I guess -- you know, I'm a new member of Congress, but as a representative of my constituents that pay 90 percent of your salary, pay 90 percent of the salaries of your employees, I think it's a little difficult for us to fathom how that information isn't relevant to this committee or this Congress.

MR. : Mr. Chairman, may I have a minute with the witness, please?

REP. WAXMAN: Yes.

(Off mike commentary.)

MR. PRINCE: Sorry. Go head.

REP. WAXMAN: Mr. Murphy has four minutes left. The hearing will resume.

REP. MURPHY: Thank you. And I want to wrap up so Mr. Lynch can ask some questions before we break.

So let me ask the question again, after your consultation with your colleague: It's your position that you don't believe that it's in the best interest of your company or this committee to have discussions with the United States Congress about the profit that you make off of U.S. government contracts?

MR. PRINCE: We can have that discussion, but I'm not fully prepared here sitting today to answer each and every one of your questions down to that level of detail.

REP. MURPHY: I'm not asking for a level of detail. I'm asking for an approximation of your annual profit, based on the fact that you make 90 percent of your money from U.S. taxpayers.

MR. PRINCE: Again, we'll come back to you. If you have written questions, we'll give you written answers after the hearing is done.

REP. MURPHY: Because you testified today that you are not sure of that number -- you don't have that number.

MR. PRINCE: I'm not sure of that number. How can I calculate in depreciation on assets when our helicopters parked around -- near the embassy in Baghdad get hit by rockets all the time, that they get fragged, that three of them have been shot down. There is a whole host of variability to our profitability depending on when an asset is expended or destroyed.

REP. MURPHY: You know, -- and Mr. Prince, I'm not a businessman, but I find it pretty hard to believe that the CEO of a major company in this country -- whether it be privately financed or publicly financed -- can't give an approximation of your annual profit on a year-to-year basis.

MR. PRINCE: I think when the committee meets with any of my finance folks, they will tell you I'm not a financially driven guy.

REP. MURPHY: Let me just ask one other quick question before I yield back.

You made a comment before that you had a handful of third-country nationals working for you. And not to disparage the need to have third-country nationals working for the company, but I just want to get a better handle on what a handful means.

The memo that we have before us -- and I understand you draw issue with some of those numbers, so I want to get it straight -- suggest that of the 161 Blackwater personnel in Iraq today, 243 of them are third-country nationals. Does that sound right?

MR. PRINCE: Your best bet is drawing off these -- page one of what we submitted to the committee where it says, "USTCN or HCN."

REP. MURPHY: What percentage of those serving in Iraq under Blackwater are third-country nationals? By your numbers -- because by our numbers it's just less than one-third, which doesn't sound like a handful -- that sounds like one-third of all your personnel are not U.S. citizens.

MR. PRINCE: I'm looking at one here that shows 576 U.S., 129 TCN and 16 locals.

REP. MURPHY: Again, you're talking about --

MR. PRINCE: So divide 129 by 576 and you'll get your percentage.

REP. MURPHY: Okay. It sounds like a little bit more than a handful, but I appreciate your testimony.

I yield back.

REP. WAXMAN: The gentleman yields back his time.

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