Blackwater tightens security.

• Position: Eastern - Blackwater USA - Company overview

Camden County doesn't make a splash on world maps. But changes on the world scene--not to mention domestic politics--could fuel one of its biggest economic-development engines. Blackwater Worldwide LLC, which is already the county's largest employer--700 workers--has expansion plans, and executives say it's on track to gross $1 billion a year. But little, if any, of that growth will come from the controversial business that has brought it worldwide attention--private security contractors in Iraq and elsewhere. Instead, Blackwater expects to expand aviation, logistics and training of law-enforcement personnel. "That's where we see areas of growth, simply because we don't see the security market growing," spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell says.

The company (cover story, June 2007) has landed about $1 billion in federal contracts--mostly for security contractors--since it was founded in 1997. "There's no leaving that business," Tyrrell says. But Iraq, where the company has had up to 1,400 guards, is cooling off, and analysts say a Democratic president this fall could chill demand for private security forces. As that business plateaus and others grow, security could account for a smaller percentage of Blackwater's bottom line.

The emphasis on logistics and aviation--Blackwater has a 2,500-foot runway and a new...