Clocking in several weeks late and after Mayor Sanders secured re-election, San Diego's internal audit of Blackwater's permit process "found no evidence that the contractor misrepresented itself in its permit applications."

This is not an encouraging development, heading off the best opportunity for the city to intervene and block Blackwater's new facility. It's hardly the end- just a detour- as the fight continues. Nevertheless, Blackwater has moved into its facility in Otay Mesa and training has already begun. Moving forward, it will be vitally important (while keeping up the heat to close the facility outright) to keep a close eye on Blackwater's own claim that the facility will only be used for Navy training. Via Blackwater's own press release:

Critics of the project have used blatant fabrications -- claiming that the facility will be used for border security or immigration purposes -- to build support for their opposition of the facility. The proposed facility will be used for training alone...

So when the inevitable grab for exactly those sorts of functions arrives, we'll have to be ready to fight back.

But in the meantime, this proves to reinforce the necessity of federal action to put companies like Blackwater out of business. Localities can keep up this fight but ultimately the fix must come from DC. Already, presumptive presidential nominee Barack Obama has led the party to reject lobbyist and PAC money. If we can stop taking dirty money, we can stop paying money out to dirty contractors and murderers. In the meantime, Rep. Shakowsky's Stop Outsourcing Security Act is a bill whose time is past due. Blackwater relies on being indispensable to military operations, largely because Pentagon leadership gamed the system to create such failings. It's vital to start now on the road to fixing our military system and Blocking Blackwater.