Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain

[housewolf]

Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain
New Espionage Branch Delving Into CIA Territory

By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 23, 2005; Page A01

The Pentagon, expanding into the CIA's historic bailiwick, has created a new espionage arm and is reinterpreting U.S. law to give Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld broad authority over clandestine operations abroad, according to interviews with participants and documents obtained by The Washington Post.

The previously undisclosed organization, called the Strategic Support Branch, arose from Rumsfeld's written order to end his "near total dependence on CIA" for what is known as human intelligence. 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.

<snip>

The Pentagon has a vast bureaucracy devoted to gathering and analyzing intelligence, often in concert with the CIA, and news reports over more than a year have described Rumsfeld's drive for more and better human intelligence. But 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.

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. Rumsfeld's dissatisfaction with the CIA's operations directorate, and his determination to build what amounts in some respects to a rival service, follows struggles with then-CIA Director George J. Tenet over intelligence collection priorities in Afghanistan and Iraq.

<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29414-2005Jan22.html

[roguevalley]

1. fanged demons, they are all fanged demons.

[gottaB]

2. "directly responsive to tasking from SecDef"--we'll see that phrase again

First by defense attorneys for accused torturers. Then in Rumsfeld's war crimes trials.

The "Secret Army of Northern Virginia"-- Makes me think of TITAN and CACI too. What exactly is meant by that phrase?

Rumsfeld is a destructive force in this government. Is the shredding of Title 50 intended to absolve Bush of responsibility for illegal acts? Or is it an attempt to get around Bush's authority altogether? Or is just a haphazard rampage through what used to be a constitutional democracy? However you slice it, Rumsfeld has gone rogue.

[jfern]

3. Death squads - coming to a country near you

Here's another discussion of it:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/22/235425/978

[gottaB]

5. uh huh, confirming my worst suspicions from last year

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1504237

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1680296

My question of the moment would be "Is there a political mandate for death squads?" I had thought no, mostly. Made that argument at Kos once or twice (under another name). You know, back in the day when Negroponte was playing nudgenudge winkwink with the Dirty thugs who tossed people out of helicopters, it was easy enough to fault the media, to say like "If the American people only knew, they'd be outraged." But that cannot serve as a blanket explanation anymore. It only covers part of the politics of it. On the net I see signs of psychological resistance to owning up to torture and the new death squads. Media play a role in that, I think, especially cable news networks. Is that an affliction, something foisted upon an ignorant populace? Or is it more like a security blanket?

Thanks for the link to the discussion at Kos.

[cincinnati_liberal]

4. Well Well Rommel Gets His Own SS Division

It's like the episode of the Simpsons where Burns got his trained attack dogs. I hope they bite him.

[Moderator]

6. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1175199