Posted on 03/19/2018 6:47:50 AM PDT by billorites
As director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo reportedly set up small teams of commandos to kill suspected terrorists, according to a report by BuzzFeed.
Pompeo, who has said the agency would become more "aggressive" and "vicious," pushed for such lethal operations after he took over the agency in January 2017. The military and the National Security Council were initially resistant to the plan, according to BuzzFeed, but the proposal was eventually approved.
"They are getting people on targeting lists," one of the sources told BuzzFeed. "Small teams are locating and killing bad guys. That's what we are doing."
"It's a small number where it has been kinetic, but it is happening," another source, a former intelligence official with knowledge of the program, told BuzzFeed.
The two sources also told BuzzFeed that Pompeo "pushed for the capabilities and the authorization to launch lethal ground operations."
The operations are being coordinated by the agency's Special Activities Center, which manages the CIA's paramilitary activities. The current head of the SAC, a former aide to both Pompeo and his predecessor, John Brennan, is a former commando who has pushed for more aggressive operations, including the use of the SAC to kill terrorists.
While the Obama administration halted a CIA effort to start a similar program in 2009, it did expand drone strikes, which the CIA continues to use.
The SAC only has about 100 members, but their ranks have grown under President Donald Trump.
The CIA denied that the agency was running such a program, with a spokesman telling BuzzFeed, "Your story is wrong."
Trump has picked Pompeo to take over the State Department, after former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was abruptly fired. Trump said he plans to select CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel as Pompeo's successor.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
So what?
Even more of a reason to approve him.
What’s not to like?
Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, and Mark Greany would likely approve...
KYPD
Trump must be making a list.
Brad Thor’s a pussy based on his behavior during the last election.
> People who pay too much attention to Hollywood sometimes think that real spies are like James Bond.
They also think that a typical firefight will go on for a half hour or more and that when someone shoots, the bullets explode on impact.
Most firefights are 30 seconds or less and impacting bullets don’t blow up, they don’t do much of anything except become part of the landscape.
The most effective spies are the ones who look like nerds and who are quiet and do not draw attention to themselves.
Excellent.
Add that to his fine CV, along with being first in his class at West Point. He’ll be one heck of a steady hand at the helm.
Good.
Are these people retarded? There have always been “Kill Teams’ within the CIA. SAD/SOG does the killing and SAD/PAG fixes the elections. This is news to anyone?
Treadstone 71 1/2.
Just watch the Banks in Zurich for someone with a 000 account and stay off the Guisan Quai!
“Brad Thor’s a pussy based on his behavior during the last election.”
Yep! Had all his books read before then though. The behavior was surprising indeed.
KYPD
They say that like it's a bad thing.
Leftists would support it if the teams were set up to kill Conservatives, but terrorists? No way. What would Leftists do with all those tombstoned entries in their little black books if terrorists were the target?
I wish we had a “kill team” to take out Erdogan.
Sounds good to me. Fight terror with terror (and torture if I was in charge).
Swamp drainer
Obama had a “kill matrix” and used the CIA to take out several terrorists, including a US citizen, Awlaki, and his 16 year old son, killed in a drone strike in Yemen.
Awlaki was a bad guy, but to imply that this CIA program is something new is just a lie.
Yes. We must have Fourth Estate Kill Teams.
Great idea!
If you google "Screwed the Pooch," you'll find Brad Thor's picture....
I want them to remain anynonmous, however can we have a place we can donate money to supply them steaks and beers? Bravo Director Pompeo!
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