Bush Orders Review of Covert Operations

[R.A. Hettinga]

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My Way News

Bush Orders Review of Covert Operations

Nov 23, 1:02 PM (ET)

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has ordered an internal review into
whether the Defense Department should run covert paramilitary operations
traditionally mounted by the CIA, administration officials said on Tuesday.

The presidential directive, signed by Bush last week, asks the CIA and the
Departments of State, Defense and Justice to report back to him in 90 days
on "whether or not the paramilitary operations, currently under the control
of the CIA, should be transferred to the Department of Defense," a senior
administration official said.

The recommendation was first made by the commission that investigated the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as part of a package of reforms to overhaul and
streamline the intelligence community.

Top officials at the CIA and the Pentagon have been cool to the idea of
giving the military's Special Operations forces such a large role in
paramilitary operations.

The CIA's paramilitary units are authorized to carry out the most sensitive
covert operations, like the one launched in Afghanistan soon after the
Sept. 11 attacks.

COMPLEX ISSUE

Personnel in U.S. military Special Operations forces, such as Delta Force
and Navy SEALs, are elite and highly trained troops who perform special
missions, in many cases covert and behind enemy lines.

"Since this is a complex issue, we want to study it closely with the
intelligence community to better understand it," said a Pentagon spokesman,
speaking on condition of anonymity. "We don't have any preordained or
preferred solutions in mind. We are undertaking the study with open minds.

"We have been working formally and informally with the CIA already on this
issue. We have a great deal of common ground and agreement with them," the
spokesman added.

Officials said the interagency review, first reported by The New York
Times, would look at whether paramilitary authorities should be transferred
in their entirety to the Defense Department.

It could also advocate a more collaborative role between Special Operations
forces and the paramilitary units of the intelligence agency. They already
work together in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders.

The leaders of the Sept. 11 commission have been critical of the CIA's
covert paramilitary actions, which before Sept. 11 had used local agents
with little success to attack al Qaeda.

The commission said the joint CIA-military covert operations in Afghanistan
after Sept. 11 were successful but still recommended shifting lead
responsibility for all paramilitary operations to the better-equipped
Pentagon.

In the Iraq war, Special Operations troops again figured prominently, and
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been a big backer of the military's
special forces.

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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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