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Pentagon Moves Into Espionage

It's no secret that Donald Rumsfeld has been determined to end the CIA's monopoly on spying. What is news, however, is that acccording to the Washington Post, Rumsfeld put the plan into action two years ago by creating a separate entity within the Pentagon called the "Strategic Support Branch."

Designed to operate without detection and under the defense secretary's direct control, the Strategic Support Branch deploys small teams of case officers, linguists, interrogators and technical specialists alongside newly empowered special operations forces.

Military and civilian participants said in interviews that the new unit has been operating in secret for two years -- in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places they declined to name.

According to an early planning memorandum to Rumsfeld from Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the focus of the intelligence initiative is on "emerging target countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia, Philippines and Georgia." Myers and his staff declined to be interviewed.

This is big news because until now, Rumsfeld kept it a secret.

....the creation of the espionage branch, the scope of its clandestine operations and the breadth of Rumsfeld's asserted legal authority have not been detailed publicly before. Two longtime members of the House Intelligence Committee, a Democrat and a Republican, said they knew no details before being interviewed for this article.

There's more:

...Pentagon officials said they established the Strategic Support Branch using "reprogrammed" funds, without explicit congressional authority or appropriation. Defense intelligence missions, they said, are subject to less stringent congressional oversight than comparable operations by the CIA.

A recurring phrase in internal Pentagon documents is the requirement for a human intelligence branch "directly responsive to tasking from SecDef," or Rumsfeld.

Also, Rumsfeld is planning on expanding the branch:

Among the proposals circulating are the establishment of a Pentagon-controlled espionage school, largely duplicating the CIA's Field Tradecraft Course at Camp Perry, Va., and of intelligence operations commands for every region overseas.

What restrictions imposed on the CIA doesn't Rumsfeld like? Those pertaining to interrogation of foreign prisoners? Does this let him operate without oversight and give him the ability to suspend rules like the Geneva Convention protocols? If you connect the dots it might:

"Many of the restrictions imposed on the Defense Department were imposed by tradition, by legislation, and by interpretations of various leaders and legal advisors," O'Connell said in a written reply to follow-up questions. "The interpretations take on the force of law and may preclude activities that are legal. In my view, many of the authorities inherent to [the Defense Department] . . . were winnowed away over the years."

After reversing the restrictions, Boykin said, Rumsfeld's next question "was, 'Okay, do I have the capability?' And the answer was, 'No you don't have the capability. . . . And then it became a matter of, 'I want to build a capability to be able to do this.' "

Stay tuned. I would expect that some members of Congress will consider this a complete usurption of power by the Executive Branch.

< Rudy and Judy in Palm Beach and Washington | Secret Commandos Doing Domestic Spying >
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  • Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#1)
    by Darryl Pearce on Sat Jan 22, 2005 at 09:26:47 PM EST
    Is there any way to get a leash on the gov't again? ...usurping the executive branch? ...no congressional authority, appropriation or oversight? I think they've been watching "Hellboy" too much, or "Wrong is Right" or "Brazil."

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 22, 2005 at 10:05:38 PM EST
    I guess it's just a coincidence that this is the SS Branch. I wonder what their uniforms look like (black, death's heads anyone?)

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 22, 2005 at 10:24:59 PM EST
    We are in a rogue state.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 22, 2005 at 10:32:05 PM EST
    Where's Frank Church when you need him?

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 22, 2005 at 10:36:02 PM EST
    I guess when the Pentagon and WH wanted the CIA to provide intelligence that Iraq had WMD, the CIA proved not to be up to the task. Never mind that the CIA analyses were correct, they were not was needed for policies that had already been decided. The CIA is just too independent, too liberal. They don't understand that the world changed on September 11th and that it's hard work now. The facts are inaccurate as Jim would have it. Probably more like inconvenient in fact.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#6)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Jan 22, 2005 at 11:00:21 PM EST
    LMFAO. It's pretty bad when we call the CIA too liberal.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 12:44:06 AM EST
    More spy guys? and how many do you need at 175,000 per yr? and to darryl pearce, no, because the government has a leash on us all and within 30 years we all will be working for some low life, in some business.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 02:51:59 AM EST
    Hopefully they are gathering the type of accurate information the CIA was unable to provide a couple years ago in Iraq.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 08:08:30 AM EST
    Not too rain on this parade or downplay the seriousness of yet another intelligence branch being formed in an already overcrowded field, but the headline on this item is totally misleading. The Pentagon has been involved in intelligence since at least WWII. Each branch of the military has its own intelligence service, complete with spies, satellites, and analysts. What Rumsfeld has done is to create yet another agency; he hasn't broken any new ground. One might also note that even the State Department has an intelligence service all its own.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#10)
    by wishful on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 08:14:27 AM EST
    What a grand and lovely experiment this democrcy was. We are actors in a monumental historic event, but as always it is difficult to see the forest for the trees when one is in the thick of events. Democracy is no more in the U.S. Sure, it takes time to dismantle such a grand and nearly successful undertaking. It took 200+ yrs to build, and I estimate that it will take about a quarter of that to demolish. This relatively slow pace of demolition is because the razing must of necessity be covert to be successful. It is necessary that the citizens have sufficient reason to believe that changes, though undemocratic, are in their best interest. It is necessary that most citizens conflate the good of the government with their own good. This conflation is true of a democracy, but we are in the death throes of democracy. We desperately want to believe. Ironically, this very belief assures our demise. Only an objective reading of reality can save us, and that is highly unlikely. By the time we see the true nature of our leaders' goals, it will be too late. Rumsfeld's Strategic Support Branch is yet another bit of objective evidence of the "government's" anti-democratic usurpation of power not within their rightful purview.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 08:15:56 AM EST
    What happen, to the Army Intelligence service? and yes all government agencies have some kind of intelligence service, but what is the real agenda?

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#12)
    by Che's Lounge on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 08:23:40 AM EST
    POWER

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 08:25:37 AM EST
    What Che said.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#14)
    by Dadler on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 08:35:07 AM EST
    well, if rumsfeld has anything to do with it, we can rest assured it will be a monumental, imcompetent failure, like the man himself.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#15)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 08:53:04 AM EST
    Wile said..."Hopefully they are gathering the type of accurate information the CIA was unable to provide a couple years ago in Iraq." The article implies that they were in Iraq two years ago. So much for that idea.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 09:30:04 AM EST
    et al - The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Really, don't you folks get tired of getting up every morning just knowing that the world is coming to an end...And then finding it still there at the end of the day? justpaul is correct, and Wile E makes a most inconvenient point, inconvenient for the naysayers, that is. dstein - Where is Frank Church? I would guess dead, but as the Baird said, the good men do lies interred with their bones, while the evil they do lives on. If you know any history you must recall that it was the Church Committee, assisted by the MSM, that started the process of tying the hands of our human intelligence gathering agents because they dealt with bad people who somethimes did bad things. Guess what. Spies and traitors are not nice people. Our sources disappeared. But not to fear! Electronic Surveillance would save the day! The eye in the sky and radio intercepts would tell us all. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out as well as advertised when it became absolutely necessary to be 100% correct. Read the words that foretold our failures in Iraq and other places. That paved the roads that led to WTCI, the USS Cole, 9/11 and a host of others: "In its consideration of covert action, the Committee was struck by the basic tension--if not incompatibility--of covert operations and the demands of a constitutional system. Secrecy is essential to covert operations; secrecy can, however, become a source of power, a barrier to serious policy debate within the government, and a means of circumventing the established checks and procedures of government. The Committee found that secrecy and compartmentation contributed to a temptation on the part of the Executive to resort to covert operations in order to avoid bureaucratic, congressional, and public debate." The Church Committee -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The nation must to a degree take it on faith that we too are honorable men, devoted to her service." Richard Helms, then DCI April, 1971" Full Report Read and enjoy the aroggance, the self rightgeousous of those who could see no further than their noses. Who just knew that everyone is reasonable and all we have to do is just negotiate and accomodate, because after all, evil doesn't exist and those who died were merely victims of misunderstandings. To paraphrase a statement from who I do not know: Good men sleep safely in their beds tonight because better men do hard things in their defense.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#17)
    by soccerdad on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 09:53:50 AM EST
    PPJ ignores the inconvient facts that the CIA basically got it right, but Tenet was being the good lap dog. PPJ also forgets that since the CIA was not providing the intelligence they wanted they set up the OSP in the penegon under feith to funnel all the bad intel brought in by the Iraqi exiles directly to the WH without have ing to go through the CIA. PPJ also forgets that this war was going to happen no matter what, they were just trying to justify it. They knew from Saddam's son-in-law that the stocks of weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed, a fact confirmed by the inspectors on the ground. This about the defense department being able to justify its own actions by using their own resources and not having to worry about another agency interfering with conflicting intel. This will also be used as a cover for more covert actions the purpose of which will not be to gather intel.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 10:47:48 AM EST
    soccerdad - And you ignore all of the failures that led up to 9/11. Casue and effect, old boy. Cause and effect.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#19)
    by soccerdad on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 12:00:11 PM EST
    PPJ changes the subject

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#20)
    by wishful on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 12:26:21 PM EST
    So how exactly is this little project funded? I don't suppose Congress approved the funding for a program they didn't know existed?

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#21)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 12:41:07 PM EST
    PPJ also forgets that the CIA gave untold millions of dollars and arms to Bin Laden and company back in the '80s. And that is what bit us in the ass on 9/11 and that is what the Church Committee was trying to prevent.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#22)
    by jondee on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 01:14:09 PM EST
    The problem is the C.I.A did alot of bad things to alot of good people whose "interests" happened to collide with the interests of the U.S ruling class and thier Ivy-League attack-dogs. PPJ,on the Church commitee - tough titty. Find a better cause to follow unquestioningly.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#23)
    by jondee on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 02:28:59 PM EST
    "The evil men do lives on." And people have a right to know about it - hence the Church Committee - part of something called justice or karma,if you like.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#24)
    by jondee on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 02:34:34 PM EST
    "The evil men do lives on." Hence people hear about it - hence the Church Committee. No one,no matter how unlimited thier budget,(and how off the books it is),keeps a monopoly on truth - deal with it.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#25)
    by Avedon on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 04:32:40 PM EST
    Poker Player, thanks for that quick recap of the right-wing spin points. A quick google will tell you it's all long since been debunked. And the main thing that led to 9/11 was that Bush ignored the perfectly good intelligence he had on hand. The first rule is that you have to pay attention.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#26)
    by Avedon on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 04:34:09 PM EST
    Ernesto Del Mundo, I think the point is that the CIA were supplying good intelligence, and Bush wanted the other kind.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 05:23:01 PM EST
    Avedon - Problem is, they are facts, not talking points. The committee did gut the CIA, followed by Carter, eta al, we lost the ability to do human intelligence because it was too nasty a game. And if you don't know that you are either too young to have seen it or you weren't paying attention. BTW - Your point re Bush and OBL makes my point. Probably came from electronic intercepts. Globally correct and operationally useless.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 05:25:26 PM EST
    jondee - Okay, but quit complaining about the failures. SD - The failures are the subject, and why they are looking for a better way. Quit whining.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 05:40:59 PM EST
    Re: funding, I assume it comes out of the Pentagon's budget.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#30)
    by Adept Havelock on Sun Jan 23, 2005 at 08:08:23 PM EST
    There is a real world need for espionage, and allowing the military an increased role to me seems logical. The analogy (while I admit a bit simplistic) I consider is that it would be difficult to aim a rifle at a target if someone else was looking through the scope at the bullseye, and trying to tell you how to hit it. However, given both the records of Civilian and Military covert ops, strong bipartisan Congressional oversight is essential. In reply to Mr. Helms quote from 1971: "Trust is earned. Not given."

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 07:33:45 AM EST
    "Strategic Support Branch deploys small teams of case officers, linguists, interrogators and technical specialists alongside newly empowered special operations forces" We've always done this. We deployed teams of this nature to Somalia, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia under Clinton, and El Salvador under Reagan and Bush. I'm familiar with these because I worked with or was a part of these groups. This is nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary. Someone either had a deadline to file a story or was exteremely naive about there beat.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 12:00:06 PM EST
    sounds like a good way to battle Islamo-Fascism. this could be a good opportunity to start a thread of how we could do a better job killing Islamo-Fascism. This would be the best way in my opinion to take back the White House in 2008. Democrats need a clear plan how to kill Islamo -Fascists instead of all this country hating or fence sitting.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 12:19:14 PM EST
    You people are all forgetting the obvious. The UN Inspectors documented hoards of WMDs in Iraq back in 91'/92'. Those WMDs dissappeared. Perhaps they are still in Iraq or some where else in the Middle East. However, until those weapons are located or their disposition can be positively ascertained, then we need more and better spies. Christ, turn every third human being in the region into expensive spies, if it keeps or stops someone from detenonating a biological/chemical/nuclear device in one of our cities.

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#34)
    by soccerdad on Mon Jan 24, 2005 at 12:28:58 PM EST
    Dagma, The large stockpiles have been most likely destroyed. When Saddam's son in law defected in 95 he told the CIA and MI6 that he had given the order to destroy the weapons (He was in charge). Of course this fact is not widely circulated by the admin for obvious reasons

    Re: Pentagon Moves Into Espionage (none / 0) (#35)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jan 26, 2005 at 04:44:27 AM EST
    "This would be the best way in my opinion to take back the White House in 2008. Democrats need a clear plan how to kill Islamo -Fascists instead of all this country hating or fence sitting." Oh, sure...lots of 'country' hating going on. Bush joins Hitler in thinking he IS the state. Lied into war is not a valid method of fighting terrorism. And that terminology is hilarious racism. What corporations does Bin Laden work for (aside from Arbusto) in the Axis of Enron? Dead or Alive isn't coming up like it was promised. He said he doesn't think about him, that he is 'hiding.' The reason why Bush is in office is that they stole the election. We know this; we caught them doing it. So none of this 'change of strategy' to win in 2008. The change of strategy is impeachment at the first opportunity. And total reform of our voting system.