# Erik Prince Founder of Blackwater (now Academi), the private military company that became synonymous with the privatization of warfare during the [[Iraq War]] era. Brother of [[Betsy DeVos]] (Trump's Secretary of Education) and a core operator of the [[DeVos Family Ecosystem]] — representing the family's defense / mercenary theater, structurally separate from but ideologically fused with the Reformed Christian-nationalist worldview that animates the DeVos-family giving architecture. ## Crusader Ideology Prince converted to Catholicism in 1992 and infused Blackwater with religious mission. Former employees testified under oath that Prince "viewed himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe." Contractors reportedly used **call signs based on the Knights Templar**. He supported the Legion of Christ and other conservative Catholic organizations. His family (the DeVos/Prince dynasty) is one of the largest funders of evangelical and conservative causes in America. Prince represents the original [[Crusader Complex]] — private military force as Christian mission. [[Pete Hegseth]] is his spiritual successor, now wielding state military power with the same framing. ## Defense Tech Relevance Prince represents the older model of defense privatization — mercenary forces and private security — that preceded today's software-driven defense tech wave. His companies used to be the controversial face of military outsourcing; now [[Anduril]] and [[Palantir]] fill a similar structural role but with autonomous systems and data analytics instead of human operators. In 2025, Prince joined Ukrainian drone company **Swarmer** as non-executive chairman ahead of its NASDAQ IPO — bringing the crusader into the defense tech era. He called Ukraine "the leading battle laboratory in the world." ## Key Controversy Blackwater's Nisour Square massacre (2007) — contractors killed 17 Iraqi civilians — became a defining scandal of military privatization. Widely regarded as running domestic spying operations targeting progressive organizations. ## Connection to Current Landscape Prince has been linked to Trump's inner circle and various back-channel diplomatic efforts. His model of private military contracting laid the groundwork for the acceptance of private-sector defense companies that today's defense tech startups build upon. ## "Off Leash": The Private Group Chat In May 2024, investigative reporter Ken Silverstein revealed in *The New Republic* that Prince had built and run a private, invitation-only [[WhatsApp]] group chat called **"Off Leash"** (the same name as his podcast). Started in December 2023, Prince invited roughly **650** of his contacts in the U.S. and abroad — a network Silverstein described as a "menagerie of right-wing government officials, intelligence operatives, arms traffickers, and journalists." Reported members included former Interior Secretary [[Ryan Zinke]], Representative Mark Green, [[Tucker Carlson]], and [[Michael Flynn]]. The leaked chat is significant as a rare window into the informal, transnational coordination layer of the hard right: a single private network linking sitting and former officials, spies, mercenaries, and media figures, convened and curated by a private military entrepreneur. It underscores Prince's role not just as a contractor but as a **connector** — a hub wiring together the defense, intelligence, and media nodes of the movement outside any formal institution. ## Notable Quotes - [[Erik Prince - put the imperial hat back on]] — "Off Leash" podcast, Feb 2024: countries "incapable of governing themselves" should be recolonized; "absolutely, yes" on colonialism. ## See Also - [[DeVos Family Ecosystem]] - [[Betsy DeVos]] - [[Palantir]] - [[Pete Hegseth]] - [[Crusader Complex]] - [[The Unholy Alliance]] - [[PayPal Mafia to Pentagon Pipeline]]