From e-mail
Subject: Embassies restrict spy missions (Wash. Times)
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The State Department is restricting the roles of some special operations
troops who have been assigned secretly to U.S. embassies to gather
intelligence on al Qaeda and other Islamist terror groups, defense
sources say.
The Pentagon has been placing Green Berets and other special
operations forces in embassies, under diplomatic cover, to enhance the
United States' ability to locate al Qaeda cells and prepare to attack
them. The undercover troops are referred to as operational command
elements (OCE).
The mission is generally called "operational preparation of the
battle space." It is basic spy work - setting up a network of sources
and identifying safe houses and landing zones.
But according to the two defense sources in the special operations
community, State Department embassy personnel, in some instances, are
placing restrictions on what the undercover commandos can do. In one
case, said a source, a Green Beret is not allowed to work outside the
embassy.
The source declined to specify the embassy. But another source said
the OCE program has run into problems in Africa, where al Qaeda is
striving to set up cells and overthrow secular governments.
"There are certain ambassadors who don't want them there," this
second source said. The officials described a culture within the State
Department's Foreign Service that is opposed to non-State officials
working out of embassies.
"It's the 'you're not one of us' kind of thing," the official said.
Traditionally, American ambassadors have a big say in what types of
Pentagon operations are allowed in their country.
The restrictions on commando operations has angered senior Pentagon
officials, who complain the rules have bogged down their plans in the
global war on terrorism. The two sources say the issue has been raised
at interagency meetings between State and Pentagon policy-makers.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment for this story.
A State Department official provided The Washington Times with a
statement.
"As a matter of policy, the State Department does not comment on
intelligence matters. That said, each U.S. ambassador has, as his top
priority, keeping the United States safe from terrorists. All our
ambassadors are dedicated to doing everything in their power to achieve
that end.
"The State Department here in Washington and our embassies overseas
have tirelessly supported the Department of Defense as it plays its
important role in the fight against terrorism."
The insertion of commandos into embassies is part of an aggressive
agenda set by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for U.S. Special
Operations Command (SoCom) in Tampa, Fla.
On July 22, 2002, Mr. Rumsfeld signed a memo stamped "secret" that
greatly empowered SoCom to conduct manhunts against al Qaeda.
"The objective is to capture terrorists for interrogation or, if
necessary, to kill them, not simply to arrest them in a law-enforcement
exercise," the signed memo said.
SoCom, Mr. Rumsfeld decreed, "will be responsible for conducting
operational preparation of the battle space required in this aspect of
the war against terrorism."
It was after this authorization that SoCom began dispatching
commandos to embassies overseas.
The defense secretary's goal is to develop the kind of "actionable
intelligence" that has led to the killing or capturing of significant al
Qaeda figures and of Saddam Hussein and his two sons.
In January 2003, Mr. Rumsfeld announced that he had elevated SoCom
from being a "supporting" command to a "supported" command - meaning it
can plan and execute its own war plans. |
