The consortium in charge of restructuring the world’s most infamous private security firm just added a new chief in charge of keeping the company on the straight and narrow. Yes, John Ashcroft, the former attorney general, is now an “independent director” of Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater.

Ashcroft will head Xe’s new “subcommittee on governance,” its backers announced early Wednesday in a statement, an entity designed to “maximize governance, compliance and accountability” and “promote the highest degrees of ethics and professionalism within the private security industry.”

Danger Room: Blackwater’s New Ethics Chief: John Ashcroft

The mind boggles. More evidence that as far as corporations are concerned “ethical” just means “legal,” and the best way to make sure things are legal is to hire former regulators to find the loopholes.