New rules for embassy convoys after Blackwater shootout

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has ordered government agents to ride with the Blackwater escorts of diplomatic convoys in Baghdad after a shooting in which private guards were accused of killing 13 Iraqi civilians.

She also ordered video cameras to be installed in Blackwater vehicles.

The steps will require the US State Department to deploy dozens of additional in-house Diplomatic Security agents to accompany Blackwater guards and are the first in a series of moves Rice is expected to take to boost control of contractors the agency depends on to protect its diplomats in Iraq.

They are aimed at “putting in place more robust assets to make sure that the management, reporting and accountability function works as best as it possibly can”, state department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The measures, which also include recording radio traffic between the embassy and diplomatic convoys and improving communications between those vehicles and US military units in their vicinity, were put in place amid intense criticism of the department’s security practices in Iraq and Blackwater’s role.

They also come as Iraqis and US politicians are clamouring for clarification of the now nebulous jurisdiction and authority under which the State Department’s private security guards work.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed laws that would place all private government contractors in Iraq under US criminal statutes.

The Bush administration has expressed concerns about the proposed amendments to existing law, but has pledged to work with Congress on improvements before the Senate takes up the Bill in the coming weeks.

In ordering changes, Rice accepted preliminary recommendations from an internal review board she created after the September 16 incident in which Blackwater guards were accused of opening fire on Iraqi civilians in a main square in Baghdad.

Blackwater said its employees came under fire first, but the Iraqi government and witnesses said the guards opened fire without provocation.

McCormack did not say that previous practices lacked proper safeguards to ensure accountability, but said the practices could be improved for all the department’s private security contractors, including Blackwater.

The company, with about 1,000 employees in Iraq, is the largest of three private firms that guard US diplomats in the country.

The new rules will initially apply only to Blackwater details because the initial recommendations cover just Baghdad where the company operates. But this could be expanded to include the other two firms, Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, which worked in the north and south of Iraq, McCormack said.

The US has not made conclusive findings about the Blackwater incident, though there are multiple investigations to determine what happened.

The orders issued on Friday were recommended by a separate commission that Rice set up to look into the Baghdad embassy’s overall security practices.