Rice Tightens Oversight of Blackwater

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rice ordered federal agents today to ride with Blackwater USA escorts of American diplomatic convoys in Baghdad to tighten oversight after a shooting in which private guards are accused of killing 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 Ms. Rice is expected to take to boost control of contractors the agency relies on to protect diplomats in Iraq.

They are aimed at "putting in place more robust assets to make sure that the management, reporting and accountability function works as best as it possibly can," a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said.

The measures, which also include recording radio traffic between the embassy and diplomatic convoys and improving communications between those vehicles and American military units in the vicinity, were implemented amid intense criticism of the department's security practices in Iraq and Blackwater's role.

They also come as Iraqis and American lawmakers are clamoring for clarification of the now nebulous jurisdiction and authority under which the State Department's private security guards work.

Yesterday, the House passed legislation that would place all private government contractors in Iraq under American criminal statutes. The Bush administration has expressed concerns about the proposed amendments but has pledged to work with Congress on improvements before the Senate takes up the bill in coming weeks.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. David Price, Democrat of North Carolina, said today that Ms. Rice's move was welcome but overdue.

"It goes without saying that contract personnel who are armed and authorized to use deadly force ought to be closely monitored," he said in a statement. "The secretary still needs to address the essential question of accountability: How will rogue individuals who commit criminal acts be brought to justice?"

In ordering changes, Ms. Rice accepted preliminary recommendations from an internal review board she created after the September 16 incident in which Blackwater guards are accused of opening fire on Iraqi civilians in a main square in Baghdad.

Blackwater contends its employees came under fire first, but the Iraqi government and witnesses have disputed that, saying the guards opened fire without provocation.

Mr. McCormack did not say that previous practices lacked proper safeguards to ensure accountability, but noted that the practices would now be enhanced for all the department's private security contractors, including Blackwater. The company, with about 1,000 employees in Iraq, is the largest of three private firms that guard American diplomats in the country.

The new rules initially will apply only to Blackwater details because the initial recommendations cover just Baghdad where the company operates. This could be expanded to include the other two firms, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, which work in the north and south of Iraq, Mr. McCormack said.