Posted on 01/23/2005 4:53:59 PM PST by LurkedLongEnough
It is claimed that the US Secretary of Defense has formed a new intelligence department and is reviewing US law to provide greater authority for the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over espionage activities in foreign countries.
The Washington Post, a prominent US newspaper, published Pentagon documents and interviews and said that a new intelligence department called the "Strategic Support Branch" had been formed by Rumsfeld to end his "near total dependence on CIA".
Don't vent, circumvent.
Wouldn't this be redundant with DIA, or is there something different in its mission?
From what I can tell, the DIA doesn't really run HUMINT or anything like that. Seems like Rummy wants the SSG to be close to the fight, on the ground, like the CIA SHOULD be.
CIA messing with wacko DEM theories the last years, plus rummy pissed because of WMD scandal in Iraq, leads to this.
Outsourcing is going to go the same way.
No, I don't think it is redundant with DIA, although that was my first thought too. My guess is that this "new" unit is equivalent of the operations or "special activities" part of the CIA that was recommended to be handed to DoD by the 9-11 Commission. Handed back, that is.
No a DoD organization like this was actually recommended in the 9-11 Commission report. The CIA & DoD cooperated on "special activities" before. The Commission said the DoD should take sole control. So this is probably the result, pre-empted before any law could be passed by Congress. My guess.
ok
Find the left-wing fascist Traitor who furnished the documents and put him in jail for the rest of his or her life. Enough of this support for the enemies of the United States by people who have a security clearance and are supposed to be defending us against the enemy. They are instead supporting the enemy.
I think you meant your post for this other thread, which is quite a bit more interesting anyway: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1326864/posts
If you were in the military and were depending on intelligence to save your life, would you trust intelligence reports from the CIA or military intelligence?
No. But thanks. The newspaper got the classified documents from someone in the DOD so someone has violated his/her oath and security clearance.
http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch13.pdf
pge 17 of the PDF
Recommendation: Lead responsibility for directing and executing paramilitary operations, whether clandestine or covert, should shift to the Defense Department.There it should be consolidated with the capabilities for training, direction, and execution of such operations already being developed in the Special Operations Command.
Before 9/11, the CIA did not invest in developing a robust capability to conduct paramilitary operations with U.S. personnel. It relied on proxies instead, organized by CIA operatives without the requisite military training.The results were unsatisfactory.
Whether the price is measured in either money or people, the United States cannot afford to build two separate capabilities for carrying out secret military operations, secretly operating standoff missiles, and secretly training foreign military or paramilitary forces. The United States should concentrate responsibility and necessary legal authorities in one entity.
The post-9/11 Afghanistan precedent of using joint CIA-military teams for covert and clandestine operations was a good one.We believe this proposal to be consistent with it. Each agency would concentrate on its comparative advantages in building capabilities for joint missions.The operation itself would be planned in common.
The CIA has a reputation for agility in operations.The military has a reputation for being methodical and cumbersome.We do not know if these stereotypes match current reality; they may also be one more symptom of the civil-military misunderstandings we described in chapter 4. It is a problem to be resolved in policy guidance and agency management, not in the creation of redundant, overlapping capabilities and authorities in such sensitive work.The CIA’s experts should be integrated into the military’s training, exercises, and planning.To quote a CIA official now serving in the field:“One fight, one team.”
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