CIA, Pentagon Reject Recommendation On Paramilitary Operations

Intell Desk ^ | 2-16-2005 | Jonathan S. Landrey

[Pendragon_6]

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - The CIA and the Defense Department have rejected a call by the independent 9-11 commission to consolidate secret U.S. paramilitary operations within the Pentagon, including those in which the U.S. government wants its hand to remain hidden.

The agencies have determined that each of them brings different capabilities to different situations and both should retain an ability to mount paramilitary operations, a participant in the study and U.S. officials familiar with its findings said Wednesday.

Paramilitary operations, which are used to arm rebel organizations, destabilize governments, destroy targets or collect intelligence, are conducted by armed units that do not belong to conventional military formations.

Such operations, such as the use of CIA officers and American special forces to help topple Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers in 2001, are often more physically demanding and require more specialized techniques than regular military operations.

[ProudVet77]

The issue is not ability, the issue is OPSEC. The Pentagon has more leaks than the Titanic. If you want to keep a secret organization don't control it from Washington.

[meema]

Wonder who is doing the leaks in the Pentagon?

[68skylark]

I don't think American Special Forces are known for leaks about their operations, unless you know some examples I'm not aware of.

I've got to agree with you that the CIA is real good at keeping their operations under wraps -- one almost never reads anything about them, either before or after they happen.

[ProudVet77]

SOFs do real well, but remember their operations are not actually run from Washington. They run out of Tampa. They even have their own non Pentagon based supply chain. The chain of command between McDill and SECDEF is small, tight and direct.
Sadly we rarely know when the CIA does something right. The big issue in both institutions are political hacks with their own agenda, or the agenda of a future or past administration.

[Wiz]

Wonder who is doing the leaks in the Pentagon?

I would laugh if it was the food court staff working in the Pentagon.

[Wiz]

The Pentagon has more leaks than the Titanic.

I don't want to admit this but the military community has too many people who just don't keep their mounth shut on secrets and top secrets.

[ProudVet77]

It's hard to take security seriously when nothing is done to a sock stuffer like Sandy Burgler. He should be in jail NOW, awaiting trial.
And then we have that moron that ran the energy department, who did away with color coded security badges because it might hurt peoples feelings!
GRRRR! Most of BJs crew couldn't even pass a security check.
And then that RINO that talked on national TV about our stealth satellite program. GRRRR....
You send someone to SERE where they get beatup, waterboarded, starved and quite a few other fun things to get you to talk, and the only response is Name, Rank and Serial Number. Then the Hyannis Wrong Whale, worries about putting panties on the heads of people who have tried to kill us. GRRRRR....