NBC: Feds Investigate Blackwater Silencer Smuggling.

TPM:

Time to update the ol' Blackwater investigation tally. NBC reports that federal investigators are probing the company's exportation of "dozens" of silencers to Iraq and elsewhere. It's illegal to do so without permission from the State Department.

NBC reports that a whole bevy of agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the State Department are in on the investigation, which appears to be related to the broader federal criminal investigation for arms smuggling by Blackwater guards led by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C.

Intriguingly, NBC reports that "experts say it is not clear why Blackwater guards would need them for missions such as personal protection of diplomats."

Here are other invesigations into Blackwater:

* The Nisour Square shootings:

An Iraqi investigation concluded that the Blackwater guards were not under attack when they opened fire. As a result, the Iraqis asked the State Department to pull Blackwater out of Iraq.

The FBI is leading the most active American-led investigation of the shootings. The FBI investigation superseded a preliminary State Department investigation which consisted primarily of taking written statements from Blackwater witnesses and hence largely absolved BW of blame.

A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission, with the predominant U.S. component coming from the military, is reportedly having trouble getting any information while the FBI investigation is ongoing.

The United Nations plans to investigate deaths caused by the U.S. military and contractors in Iraq, including the recent Blackwater case in Baghdad.

* Small arms smuggling:

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether employees of the private security firm Blackwater USA illegally smuggled into Iraq weapons that may have been sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, N.C., is handling the investigation with help from Pentagon and State Department auditors, who have concluded there is enough evidence to file charges.

* Tax evasion:

Last week, Waxman's oversight committee charged that Blackwater had hidden "tens of millions of dollars, if not more" in Social Security, Medicare and retirement taxes by classifying its security guards in Iraq as independent contractors. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Barack Obama (D-IL) followed up by writing a letter to the Treasury Department asking for an investigation, and John Kerry (D-MA) called for the Senate Finance Committee to investigate.

* Murder:

After stonewalling a reporter's inquiry about a Christmas Eve 2006 incident, where a drunken Blackwater guard allegedly killed a security guard for Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mehdi, the State Department moved past its own initial administrative review of the incident. Condoleezza Rice told the oversight committee that the case was referred to the Justice Department, but that a lack of evidence had hobbled the investigation.

These are the executives of Blackwater:

• Erik Prince, Chairman of the Board
• Joseph E. Schmitz (former Inspector General, Office of the Secretary of Defense, under Donald Rumsfeld)
• J. Cofer Black, Vice Chairman of the Board (former Coordinator in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State, under Secretary of State Colin Powell)


Here is contractor chain chart which tells you who was the main connecting link to Blackwater: