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| Fred's hunter-killer teams finally coming into being? |
| 2006-04-23 |
| Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has approved the military's most ambitious plan yet to fight terrorism around the world and retaliate more rapidly and decisively in the case of another major terrorist attack on the United States, according to defense officials. The long-awaited campaign plan for the global war on terrorism, as well as two subordinate plans also approved within the past month by Rumsfeld, are considered the Pentagon's highest priority, according to officials familiar with the three documents who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about them publicly. Details of the plans are secret, but in general they envision a significantly expanded role for the military -- and, in particular, a growing force of elite Special Operations troops -- in continuous operations to combat terrorism outside of war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Developed over about three years by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, the plans reflect a beefing up of the Pentagon's involvement in domains traditionally handled by the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department. For example, SOCOM has dispatched small teams of Army Green Berets and other Special Operations troops to U.S. embassies in about 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, where they do operational planning and intelligence gathering to enhance the ability to conduct military operations where the United States is not at war. And in a subtle but important shift contained in a classified order last year, the Pentagon gained the leeway to inform -- rather than gain the approval of -- the U.S. ambassador before conducting military operations in a foreign country, according to several administration officials. "We do not need ambassador-level approval," said one defense official familiar with the order. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #15 SW - read Clancy, huh? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-23 17:11 |
| #14 maybe it's time to raise the punishment for leaking this info I'm ready to have them put to death for these leaks putting others lives at risk |
| Posted by: Jan 2006-04-23 16:57 |
| #13 we should be very careful about ensuring that the teams are never used as sacrificial lambs, either politically or out in real life. AGREED. They would be below |
| Posted by: Jan 2006-04-23 16:55 |
| #12 Let's be careful about this: it would be real easy for two problems to come about: 1) the teams slip their rules of engagement, or someone above them changes their RoE, so that we start killing people we shouldn't be killing. 2) there's any number of REMF's who would hang the teams out to dry for a corner office. After the news just in the last couple days about Mary McCarthy, we should be very careful about ensuring that the teams are never used as sacrificial lambs, either politically or out in real life. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-04-23 16:08 |
| #11 Gives "reach out and touch someone" a more 'tangible' aspect, no? Heh! |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2006-04-23 16:00 |
| #10 They could be called Mosque Sanitation Squads. That's where the problems start, so let's sanitize. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-04-23 15:49 |
| #9 I've been advocating it since at least this episode, in October 2003. And I'd mentioned it a time or two before that. By the way, I still stand by everything I said in the article. |
| Posted by: Fred 2006-04-23 13:56 |
| #8 Hola Presidente! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-23 12:23 |
| #7 while I agree that this is a good way to go, I hope they don't have their hands tied by alot of political crap. Any warrior putting his life on the line shouldn't be withheld from completing the job. If they do take anyone alive I hope they keep it from the public so they can interogate them without the politically correct attitude of pencil pushers getting in the way. |
| Posted by: Jan 2006-04-23 12:02 |
| #6 'bout damn time for hunter-killer teams to be setup. Or they could be called headhunting teams. They would go after heads of cells or regional leaders. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-04-23 11:28 |
| #5 The first step is to gain entry into a denied or hostile environment. President Carter castrated the agencies ability to conduct operations of that type many years ago. Their primary focus has been almost entirely centered upon WMD since the Carter years. A culture of pipe smoking, low risk-no risk tweed jacketed, DoD despising, accedemic grey beard thinkers has evolved. "It's Saddam's two mobile WMD trailers secretary Powell, show them the slides, the slides, it's WMD I tell you. I'm the DCID, it's what we do, I know! I know! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-04-23 11:24 |
| #4 Kinda sorta sounds like what the CIA should be doing if they weren't too busy trying to overthrow the American government. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-04-23 09:23 |
| #3 It was .com that used to call for hunter-killer teams. And rightly so. We should givr them back some of that old fashioned terror they love so much. |
| Posted by: Manolo 2006-04-23 07:50 |
| #2 When SOCOM first dispatched military liaison teams abroad starting in 2003, they were called "Operational Control Elements," a term changed last year because "it raised the hackles of regional commanders and ambassadors. It was a bad choice of language," said one defense official, adding: "Who can pick on Military Liaison Elements?" Look, you can issue them calico uniforms and call them "Great Aunt Florence Elements" for all I care, just go whack bad guys already! |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-04-23 07:38 |
| #1 Fred's? Odd, Dan, I don't recall even one instance of Fred openly advocating hunter-killer teams. Not that he doesn't approve of it, but accuracy begs the question. |
| Posted by: Angeresh Elmosing6522 2006-04-23 05:47 |