Blackwater's Erik Prince Is 'Graymailing' the CIA

Blackwater founder Erik Prince talks in "remarkable" detail about his work with the CIA in his recent Vanity Fair interview, writes Jeremy Scahill. Why now? Scahill thinks he's using the strategy of "graymail" as an "insurance policy against possible future criminal prosecution." It's a warning shot across the bow to the CIA—come after me, and see what else I can spill.

Note, too, that the article's author is Adam Ciralsky, a CIA lawyer suspended in 1997 on accusations that he had unauthorized contact with possible Israeli intelligence agents, writes Scahill in the Nation. "There is this legal theme being developed in the article and Adam, as a lawyer who had dealt with the CIA, fully understands that," one observer tells Scahill. "I mean, I think he fully understood he was going to do a piece that would help Prince develop his legal defense, and that's what this is." (More Erik Prince stories.)