If ever there were a bloody bureaucratic war entailing a high number of paper-cuts, it has been the fight between U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and the other Defense Department regional commands, between SOCOM and the Joint Chiefs, between SOCOM and the CIA, and between SOCOM and the State Department.
The fight is over the powers that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wants to grant special operators to conduct not only their own "covert" operations -- called "special activities" in military parlance.
Traditionally, all special operations take place under the authority of a regional commander. For instance, in Iraq, special operations are controlled by U.S. Central Command. The issue here is independent operations, -- special operations outside of the purview or control of other commands, or even other agencies of the U.S. government (the State Department)...
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