Blackwater firm's embassy dogs not up to speed, audit says

Guard dogs deployed by two private security companies to protect American embassies in Afghanistan and Iraq are not being properly trained to detect bombs, reports The Post's Jeff Stein:

The department's inspector general singled out U.S. Training Center, an affiliate of Xe Services, the firm formerly known as Blackwater, for lapses in its guard dog program in Kabul.

Another firm, the Washington-based RONCO Consulting Corporation, was scored for its guard dog program at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, as well as in Kabul.

The Baghdad program alone costs over $24 million a year, the report said.

The audit "revealed systemic problems that directly affect the safety and security of U.S. Government personnel and installations," the IG said.

The principal weakness of the programs, the IG said, was that the dogs were not regularly served up new explosives to sniff.

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