“If the old Blackwater team were still together, I have high confidence that a multi-brigade-size unit of veteran American contractors or a multi-national force could be rapidly assembled and deployed to be that necessary ground combat team,” Prince wrote earlier this month in a column on his new company’s website.

“The longer ISIS festers, the more chances it has for recruitment and the danger of the eventual return of radical jihadists to their western homelands. If the Administration cannot rally the political nerve or funding to send adequate active duty ground forces to answer the call, let the private sector finish the job,” he concluded.

The “old Blackwater team” disbanded long ago — and now, with this ruling, is even more maligned. But is there any chance that the U.S. government will call on private security to help fight its battles abroad?

American security agencies had no qualms with giving hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to Blackwater in the wake of the 2007 debacle, and private security agencies have only rebranded and relaunched since then. In the wake of the 2007 shootings, Prince changed Blackwater’s name to ‘Xe Services’ in 2009. As Xe Services, the company received a contract worth around $100 million from the CIA. After Prince sold the company in 2010, investors changed the name to ACADEMI. As ACADEMI, the firm has continued to contract with the Department of Defense. And earlier this year, the firm merged with a competitor under the new name ‘Constellis Holdings.’

But the breakaway companies have tried to keep their distance from Blackwater’s image — even if their work is largely the same.

ACADEMI, for instance, has made a deliberate effort to distance themselves from Prince and Blackwater. One FAQ on its website bluntly poses the question, “Is ACADEMI associated with Erik Prince or the Former Blackwater?”

The answer begins with an unequivocal, “No,” and continues, “Erik Prince took both the Blackwater name and legacy with him when he sold the facility.”

The Blackwater name is no more, but where, exactly, has Prince taken his legacy? To the Frontier Services Group, a private equity group which offers security services along with “end-to-end expeditionary solutions” in the fields of construction, aviation, and even humanitarian efforts.

Does Prince’s op-ed mean he wants to get back into the fight on the government dime?

He doesn’t have to, according to Robert Young Pelton. “It doesn’t matter who has the contract, they’re all the same people,” Pelton told Foreign Policy’s Kate Brannen in July. “Constellis represents a clean slate until they f*** up and get thrown under the bus.”

Pelton would know. He was hired by Prince to help write his memoir. He then sued for not getting paid the amount the former Blackwater head agreed to pay him. His sense is that all of the new companies are just fronts with the same mission as Blackwater.

“The government has a bizarre love-hate relationship with these companies,” Brannen wrote, in summary of what Pelton told her. “On the one hand, they’re reliant on them to outsource political risk and on the other, eager to slap them in public whenever scandal happens.”

In total, the claimants estimate that the damages caused to the government by DynCorp or Northrop equal about $50 million. The U.S. government has yet to intervene in the case, but does reserve the right to do so under federal law.

The False Claims Act, first enacted in 1863, covers liability issues when government contractors are accused of engaging in fraudulent activity. In addition to penalties imposed on individuals and organizations committing this fraud, the law also provides rewards and protections to whistleblowers who expose the wrongdoing. In fact, these individuals could receive as much as 15 to 20 percent of the total damages awarded if the lawsuit against the alleged fraudsters is successful.

Although this lawsuit is likely far from being resolved, it’s clear that the two employees made full use of the protections offered to them through federal whistleblower law.