WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The Central Intelligence Agency hired the private security firm Blackwater USA in 2004 to work on a covert program aimed at targeting and potentially killing top al Qaeda leaders , according to a source familiar with the program . CIA Director Leon Panetta canceled the covert program this year when he learned of its full scope . The existence of the program , which began in 2001 , came to light earlier this year when CIA Director Leon Panetta canceled the effort , but it is only now that Blackwater 's involvement has become known . That development was first reported Thursday in The New York Times . The program was part of a broader effort inside the CIA to develop the capacity to conduct training , surveillance and possible covert operations overseas , according to the source . The program was outsourced to contractors to `` put some distance '' between the effort and the U.S. government . By mid-2006 , Blackwater 's involvement in the program had ended , according to a U.S. official . Other contractors were brought in for other parts of the program , another source said . The total program cost `` millions , '' a U.S. official said . It is not known how much Blackwater was paid . The company -- now known as Xe -- did not return CNN 's calls seeking comment . `` The program ebbed and flowed . There were different phases to it . There may have been different folks involved , '' the source said . U.S. officials have previously acknowledged that Panetta canceled the entire program this year when he learned of its full scope . At the time of the cancellation , officials said , renewal of the program was being considered . At that point , it had been brought to the new CIA director 's attention . Panetta canceled the effort in part because Congress had not been notified about it , officials said . Also , some in the intelligence community were worried there could be a diplomatic disaster if contractors were caught performing such work in foreign countries . Former CIA Director Michael Hayden , who ran the agency from 2006 to 2009 , downplayed the program during a speaking engagement in Washington . `` This was not a very prominent thing during my time as director , '' Hayden said . `` What you had were three separate efforts under three different directors to deal with an issue that everyone understood was a problem in a capacity that everyone agreed we should have . '' A spokesman for the CIA would not comment on the details of the still-classified program . `` Director Panetta thought this effort should be briefed to Congress , and he did so , '' spokesman George Little said . `` He also knew it had n't been successful , so he ended it . Neither decision was difficult . This was clear and straightforward . `` Director Panetta did not tell the committees that the agency had misled the Congress or had broken the law . He decided that the time had come to brief Congress on a counterterrorism effort . '' Blackwater 's extensive involvement in U.S. operations overseas , particularly in Iraq , has been controversial . The Iraqi government says that in a shooting in September 2007 , Blackwater security guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians . Blackwater says its employees were returning fire after they were attacked by armed insurgents , but an Iraqi investigation concluded that the guards randomly fired at civilians without provocation . The incident led to the Iraqi government 's refusal to renew the firm 's operating license in the country when it expired in May . Although it lost the Iraq contract , the company , which changed its name to Xe earlier this year , continued to get multimillion-dollar contracts from the U.S. government for work in Afghanistan .