Super-private security firm Blackwater has managed to stay out of the headlines for the last couple of months. But that might be about to change.

House oversight committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) released a memorandum this afternoon to committee  members that Blackwater is evading  tax and employment laws by deceptively labeling its armed guard employees as "independent contractors." In March 2007, the committee found that Blackwater had cost the IRS $50 million by improperly labeling its employees. Today’s report found the following:

- Blackwater has received $1.25 billion in federal contracts since 2000. Despite this haul, they have asked for- and gotten- special privileges for the government as a "small business." The State Dept. has awarded Blackwater $144 million in small business set asides since 2000. The reason is that when armed employees are counted as independent contractors their staff is considered small enough for the designation.

- For six months now, Blackwater has not cooperated with a Department of Labor inquiry into whether they are using discriminatory practices in hiring armed guards. Again, Blackwater has said that they don’t need to follow affirmative actions and anti-discrimination laws because they are hiring contractors not employees.

The next step in these developing scandals could be messy and complicated. But the point Waxman’s memorandum makes is clear: the IRS has determined the armed guards are, in fact, employees. So the latest evidence fuels the suspicion that Blackwater is playing by its own rules and costing the government millions in the process.