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. Xe provided diplomatic security services in Iraq to the United States federal government on a contractual basis. Xe Services also has a research and development wing that was responsible for developing the Grizzly APC along with other military technology. The company's headquarters is located in Arlington, VA.
The Obama administration awarded Xe Services a quarter of a billion dollar contract to work for the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan.