Elite Troops Get Expanded Role on Intelligence

NYT ^ | 3-8-06 | THOM SHANKER

[SevenMinusOne]

Elite Troops Get Expanded Role on Intelligence By THOM SHANKER and SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON, March 7 — The military is placing small teams of Special Operations troops in a growing number of American embassies to gather intelligence on terrorists in unstable parts of the world and to prepare for potential missions to disrupt, capture or kill them.

Senior Pentagon officials and military officers say the effort is part of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's two-year drive to give the military a more active intelligence role in the campaign against terrorism. But it has drawn opposition from traditional intelligence agencies like the C.I.A., where some officials have viewed it as a provocative expansion into what has been their turf.

Officials said small groups of Special Operations personnel, sometimes just one or two at a time, have been sent to more than a dozen embassies in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. These are regions where terrorists are thought to be operating, planning attacks, raising money or seeking safe haven.

Their assignment is to gather information to assist in planning counterterrorism missions, and to help local militaries conduct counterterrorism missions of their own, officials said.

The new mission could become a major responsibility for the military's fast-growing Special Operations Command, which was authorized by President Bush in March 2004 to take the lead in military operations against terrorists. Its new task could give the command considerable clout in organizing the nation's overall intelligence efforts.

[SevenMinusOne]

Excellent - This will only further reduce our OODA loop in hunting down terrorists.

[SevenMinusOne]

Many current and former C.I.A. officials view the plans by the Special Operations Command, or Socom, as overreaching.

Just another clear sign about how much sense this makes.

[jveritas]

This is just f***ing unbelievable. The New York Times must be tried for treason and sedition, they must pay the price not just in their failing circulation but some people in this awful hate Bush and hate America newspaper must go to jail .

[jveritas]

Here you go.

[SevenMinusOne]

"The military is great at fixing enemies, and finishing them off, and exploiting any base of operations that we take," said one Special Operations commander on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. "But the 'find' part remains a primitive art. Socom can't kill or capture the bad guys unless the intel people can find them, and this is just not happening."

This is exactly right. Exactly why Socom should take the lead in the Intel role -

[operation clinton cleanup]

Many current and former C.I.A. officials view the plans by the Special Operations Command, or Socom, as overreaching.

Perhaps many current and former CIA officials need to be taken out of the loop..

[SDGOP]

OODA?

[Marine_Uncle]

OODA Observe, Orient, Decide, Act

[SevenMinusOne]

The OODA Loop is a concept originated by military strategist Col. John Boyd (USAF). Its main outline consists of four overlapping and interacting processes: Observe, Orient, Decision, Action -

This shorter you can make this loop...the quicker we can go from Intel to kicking down doors.

Zarqawi in Iraq (for example) has managed to work within our OODA loop....thus staying alive.

Putting Socom in charge of Intel on potential strikes / targets will only help to reduce our OODA loop.

[fooman]

freepers got it right again. slimes staff should be sent to gitmo.

[Billthedrill]

The "decision" part has always been the bottleneck. The closer to the field that takes place the greater the likelihood of success. I have a mental image of McNamara and LBJ sticking bomb-target pins in a map of Vietnam here. That didn't work.

[Marine_Uncle]

Whoever leaked the damn detail level the NYT printed should be taken out. There was no reason to go into details as they did. It really served no purpose. Why broadcast how we are putting small teams into place, and pitting the CIA against Socom.
It bothers me. The person(s) indicated they where permitted via. official release to discuss what was printed. They should not have yielded. Sure we like to read this stuff, but why does every pee brain have to be informed.

[SevenMinusOne]

The "decision" part has always been the bottleneck.

Without question this is the case - Think JAGs, "war-gammers" and weak-kneed types -

[Marine_Uncle]

Well I have it on good authority old LBJ was found to be laughting his ass off, as he exclaimed, shoot, they can't hit the side of a shit house without us knowing it! Damn fools.

[Phlap]

It is something that I was sure was on going and I'm eternally grateful to the New York Times for confirming. But the news makes my heart sing because the faster we can kill them the better.

[mortal19440]

Concur! These scum bags don't give two shi*s about this country. The real problem is the worthless jerks in the government who are violating their oath's and their responsibility for guarding the info gained by having their clearances. For violating these two trusts they should be brought to trial and receive the maximum punishment allowed for Treason in wartime.

[Marine_Uncle]

Of course we know this won't happen. Fundelmental changes seem to actually happened in the past ten years or so. It has become rampant as we all recognize. No one is held accountable. The Clintoon mind set is now upon us. Anything goes and damn if I won't get away with it.

[One_who_hopes_to_know]

One official who was briefed on the events, but was not authorized to discuss them, said the soldiers were not operating out of the embassy, but out of a hotel.

Obvious breach of the intelligence act. This official who was not authorized to talk ... did so anyway. Both the reporter who listened and the official need to be prosecuted.

[PzLdr]

And now we know where the leak came from.

[PzLdr]

They can find them at the NYT. Once they do, fix 'em, and finish them. We can ID MoDo by her hooker pumps, and Pinch, the editors and Krugman by the empty brain pans, noodle like spines, and undescended cajones.