The CIA enlisted U.S. contractor Blackwater as part of a covert program to hunt and kill senior al-Qaida members, U.S. media reports say.

Quoting current and former government officials, The New York Times said the controversial U.S. private security company helped the CIA with planning, training and surveillance.

The hit squad plan was revealed in June, sparking furor among congressional leaders who said they had never been briefed.

When the news broke, CIA director Leon Panetta informed lawmakers and then pulled the plug on the program. The Central Intelligence Agency maintained that no hit missions had been launched and that no militants had either been located or captured, according to the report.

Still, citing senior intelligence officials, the Times reported that in 2004, during the Bush administration, the CIA went as far as hiring Blackwater for an unknown role in the secret program, designed to take out high-value members of al-Qaida.

About 1,000 Blackwater staff members were used to guard U.S. government personnel in Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, making it among the largest security companies operating in this country.

Its operations for the U.S. government, however, have come under scrutiny and raised questions of accountability.

Blackwater first drew fire on March 31, 2004, when four employees were killed by an angry mob in Fallujah, then a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold.

The bodies were mutilated and strung from a bridge as images of the incident were broadcast worldwide. The gruesome event fanned a monthlong assault on Fallujah, leaving 36 U.S. soldiers, 200 insurgents and 600 civilians dead.

Earlier this year the Iraqi government cancelled Blackwater's operating license for using excessive force on a number of occasions, including the killing of 17 civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007.

In an attempt to shed its negative reputation, the U.S. company, based in North Carolina, has since been renamed Xe.

Controversy spawning from the Times report centered on its revelation that while the CIA held no formal contract with Blackwater it retained individual agreements with top executives in the company.

It remains unclear whether the U.S. spy agency planned to use Blackwater contractors to actually capture and kill militants or just assist in the training and surveillance of the program, the Times reported.

In a related report, a senior State Department official told The Nation that Blackwater was operating in Iraq under the name "U.S. Training Center" and would continue its armed presence in the country until Sept. 3.

"Authorized personnel under that task order are permitted to continue carrying weapons until that time," the magazine quoted a State Department diplomatic security official as saying on condition of anonymity. "The purpose and mission of the Department of State's private security contractors is limited to protection of U.S. diplomats and diplomatic facilities only and is defensive in nature."

Blackwater's remaining contract for diplomatic security in Iraq is an aviation contract, The Nation reported. It said the Obama administration extended that contract on July 31, increasing Blackwater's payment by $20 million and bringing the total paid by the State Department to Blackwater for its "aviation services" in Iraq to $187 million.

The company, whose owner is said to views its role as fighting a Christian crusade to "eliminate" Muslims and Islam globally, is scheduled to be replaced by Triple Canopy for its protective security work in Iraq, The Nation said.

earlier related report

US general 'frustrated' by pace of Iraqi army training

The US general in charge of training Iraqi troops said on Thursday he was "frustrated" by the slow pace of progress in improving the security force's capabilities.

General Frank Helmick's comments came as Baghdad said negligence by its security forces led to 95 people being killed in bombing attacks on Wednesday.

Helmick said the bombings were the result of a "lapse of security" and that such a large-scale attack had not been seen in the country since 2007.

The general, speaking by video link from Iraq, said he was anxious to see more rapid improvement in the Iraqi security forces in a range of areas, including military logistics, air surveillance and police forensics.

"We must continue to develop the capabilities inside the Iraqi military. And we are doing that as fast as we can," he said. "My frustration is I am not doing it fast enough."

The Iraqi security forces, now at 615,000, are due to expand to 646,000 by 2010.

With US troops required to leave the country by the end of 2011 under a security accord with Baghdad, Helmick said it was crucial to move quickly.

"What we have done so far to date is — I don't want to say the easy things, but the less difficult things," he said.

"It's easy to build an infantryman and an infantry unit. It's very, very difficult and it takes time to build an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technician" to analyze surveillance data, he said.

"In the police side of the house, it's easy to build a policeman. It's very, very difficult and it takes time to build forensics labs for the Iraqis, where they have scientists that are trained, where they can secure a site and exploit the evidence on that site to convict someone," he said.

Echoing comments from other US officials, the general said ensuring a fully operational Iraqi air force by the end of 2011 would be a "challenge."

About 131,000 US soldiers remain in Iraq less than two months after the Americans withdrew from towns and cities as part of the security agreement.

Baghdad authorities on Thursday arrested 11 police, army and intelligence chiefs over security failings related to the attacks.

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