MILITARY TAKES DOWN CIA WEBSITE FOR JIHADIS
In a particularly unusual tale of espionage and inter-agency warfare, the Pentagon has dismantled a faux jihadist website set up the CIA and Saudi officials to gather intel on Islamist extremists. The site was dismantled by “elite U.S. military computer specialists” when a task force on cyber-operations consisting of representatives from the Defense and Justice, as well as the CIA, NSA, NSC and DNI determined that extremists were using the site to plan attacks on Americans. The military overruled a CIA objection that crippling the site would constitute a loss of valuable intelligence. “Once DoD went to the extent of saying, ‘Soldiers are dying’... its hard for anyone to push back” a former official told the Washington Post. The interagency group also determined that the military would conduct the cyber-attack, forfeiting the need to inform Congress, as would have been required if the operation was “covert action.” Afterwards, CIA officials told the Post the military had “upset an ally and acted outside its authority in conducting a covert operation,” referencing Saudi princes reportedly “furious” at the loss of intelligence. (Washington Post, March 19, 2010)
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