Improvement from Iraq contractors needed, report says

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Improvement from Iraq contractors needed, report says
Posted: 08:00 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) - A State Department report on the use of contractors in the wake of last year’s Blackwater scandal found some progress but said more improvements are needed, senior department officials told CNN.

The recently completed report reviewed the status of the 18 recommendations by a high-level panel appointed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice ordered a review of the use of contractors in Iraq after a September 2007 incident in which 17 Iraqis were killed by Blackwater guards.

Blackwater claims its employees were returning fire after they were attacked by armed insurgents, but an Iraqi investigation concluded that the guards randomly fired at civilians without provocation.

The panel was led by Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy and included retired Gen. George Joulwan, Ambassador Stapleton Roy and Ambassador Eric Boswell.

Some initial steps of the panel’s recommendations were implemented immediately to improve contractor accountability, a State Department official who had read the report told CNN. Those steps included more electronic surveillance in convoys and more government-employed diplomatic security guards working alongside contractors.