Erik Prince’s Followers (34)

Erik Prince

Born

in Holland, The United States

June 06, 1969

Genre

Nonfiction

edit data

Erik Dean Prince (born June 6, 1969) is an American businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL, best known for founding the world’s largest private military company, Blackwater USA, in 1997. He served as its CEO until 2009 and later as chairman until Blackwater Worldwide was sold in 2010 to a group of investors. Prince currently lives in the United Arab Emirates.

Prince was born on June 6, 1969, in Holland, Michigan, to Edgar D. Prince and Elsa Broekhuizen, the youngest of four children. Both his parents share Dutch heritage (the family name, Prins, was at some point anglicized to Prince). He graduated from Holland Christian High School.

Prince was accepted into the United States Naval Academy and attended it for three semesters before leaving, ci Erik Dean Prince (born June 6, 1969) is an American businessman and former U.S. Navy SEAL, best known for founding the world’s largest private military company, Blackwater USA, in 1997. He served as its CEO until 2009 and later as chairman until Blackwater Worldwide was sold in 2010 to a group of investors. Prince currently lives in the United Arab Emirates.

Prince was born on June 6, 1969, in Holland, Michigan, to Edgar D. Prince and Elsa Broekhuizen, the youngest of four children. Both his parents share Dutch heritage (the family name, Prins, was at some point anglicized to Prince). He graduated from Holland Christian High School.

Prince was accepted into the United States Naval Academy and attended it for three semesters before leaving, citing that he loved the Navy but disliked the Academy. He went on to receive his B.A. in economics from Hillsdale College in 1992. During his time at Hillsdale, Prince served as a volunteer firefighter and as a cold-water diver for the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department. Prince eventually became an emergency medical technician.

After college, Prince was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy via Officer Candidate School in 1992. He went on to become a Navy SEAL and deployed with SEAL Team 8 to Haiti, the Middle East, and the Balkans. He credits the SEALs for being an outlet for his entrepreneurial spirit. In his autobiography he states that it was during the Yugoslav Wars of the early 1990s that he realized the need for private training facilities for special operations.

Prince ended his U.S. Navy service prematurely in 1995 when his father died. Prince’s mother sold the Prince Corporation for $1.3 billion in cash to Johnson Controls. Prince moved to Virginia Beach and personally financed the formation of Blackwater Worldwide in 1997. He bought 6,000 acres (24 square kilometers) of the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina and set up a school for special operations. The name “Blackwater” comes from the peat-colored bogs in which the school is located.

From 1997 to 2010, Blackwater was awarded $2 billion in government security contracts, more than $1.6 billion of which were unclassified federal contracts and an unknown amount of classified work. From 2001 to 2010, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts to Blackwater and its affiliates. It became the largest of the State Department's three private security companies, providing 987 guards for embassies and bases abroad. Prince built a shooting range on his rural Virginia land to serve as a nearby training facility to CIA headquarters in Langsley, VA. In his memoir, Prince says that he provided the CIA with links to Afghan warlords, who helped topple the Taliban and drive al Qaeda into hiding."

After Blackwater faced mounting legal problems in the United States, Prince was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and moved to Abu Dhabi in 2010. His task was to assemble an 800-member troupe of foreign troops for the U.A.E., which was planned months before the Arab Spring revolts [28] He helped the UAE found a new company Reflex Responses, or R2, with 51 percent local ownership, carefully avoiding his name on corporate documents. He worked to oversee the effort and recruit troops, among others from Executive Outcomes, a former South African mercenary firm hired by several African governments during the 1990s to put down rebellions and protect oil and diamond reserves. The battalion was to engage in intelligence gathering, urban combat, special operations “to destroy enemy personnel and equipment, crowd-control operations, response to terrorist attacks, to put down uprisings inside labor camps, and to secure nuclear and radioactive materials in planned nuclear power plants. The force, made up largely of former Colombian soldiers, failed.

In January 2011, the Associated Press reported that Prince was training a force of 2000 Somalis for antipiracy operations in the ...more

Combine Editions
Erik Prince’s books

Average rating: 4.01 · 1,821 ratings · 176 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror 4.01 avg rating — 1,818 ratings — published 2013 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Inside Blackwater: The True Story of the World's Most Controversial Company by the Man Who Founded It 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Untitled on Blackwater 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thesis book 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bill Moyers Journal: Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater by Bill Moyers (Primary Contributor), Erik Prince (Actor), Jeremy Scahill (Actor) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Erik Prince…

Quotes by Erik Prince (?)

“ultimately flowed to them from the Pentagon. Article”
― Erik Prince, Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror

0 likes

“rescinds”
― Erik Prince, Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror

0 likes

“We will provide aviation, construction, and logistics services first throughout Africa and then throughout the rest of the world.”
― Erik Prince, Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror

0 likes

See all Erik Prince's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Wanderlust Challe...: Happy & Safe Summer Bingo	73	53	Apr 17, 2025 10:11AM
Crazy Challenge C...: Most Spoken Languages Spell with a Twist!	222	84	Apr 18, 2025 08:12PM
Hooked on Books : Richard's Famous Tropes	43	17	Jun 04, 2025 10:34AM
Wanderlust Challe...: The Largest National Parks	76	38	Jul 06, 2025 08:03AM
Crazy Challenge C...: 2024-25 Knock Out Those Vowels!	46	74	Sep 08, 2025 06:51PM
Hooked on Books : Richard's 2025 Challenge Tracker	395	117	Sep 30, 2025 10:02AM

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Erik to Goodreads.

Erik Prince’s Followers (34)

Erik Prince

Combine EditionsErik Prince’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Erik Prince’s books