Sale of Controversial Security Firm Xe Securities Imminent from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

Erik D. Prince, founder of private security firm Xe Services — formerly Blackwater Worldwide — has reached a deal to sell his company to a small group of investors in California. Blackwater became the center of a debate about using private security firms in foreign wars after an alleged skirmish between insurgents and Blackwater personnel in 2007 left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. In the wake of the controversy, the company lost a large State Department contract to protect the U.S. embassy in Iraq, but formed over 30 separate "shell companies" in order to continue to receive millions of dollars in other government contracts. What's next for the private security firm? We're joined by Allison Stanger, author of "One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy." Stanger tells us more about Xe Services, past and future.

Download that podcast here.