Top leaders step down at former Blackwater firm

The top leaders of the U.S. security services firm that former Navy SEAL Erik Prince founded as Blackwater in 1997 have resigned, and a new chief executive has been named, the company announced.

Prince, who sold the company in 2010, has recently sought to convince President Donald Trump to turn the Afghanistan war over to an army of private contractors for a fraction of the current cost of the operation.

Taking the helm as the new CEO of the firm now known as Constellis and made up of a family of nine security companies, including Triple Canopy, will be 10-year CIA veteran Tim Reardon. Reardon was most recently president of the defense and intelligence group at fellow Reston-based government services firm Leidos, formerly SAIC, Constellis said in a news release on Wednesday.

The announcement came after chief executive Jason DeYonker emailed employees last Friday saying he and company president Dean Bosacki would be resigning but would retain their ownership stake and would remain special advisers to the Reston, Va.-based company, which provides training, security, logistics and other support for the U.S. government.

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