New Plans Foresee Fighting Terrorism Beyond War Zones

[SWJED]

23 April Washington Post - New Plans Foresee Fighting Terrorism Beyond War Zones by Ann Scott Tyson.

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...

[Tom Odom]

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...

That is no what I would call "subtle"...it is in fact a bomb waiting to go off. Ambassadors are Presidential representatives and the idea that DoD can operate without their approval has many pitfalls. It will be interesting to see how this plays out...

Tom

[Merv Benson]

One of the frustrations of the military in Vietnam was dealing with enemy forces operating in and through Laos. Many of the covert activities planned against these enemy units were blocked by the ambassador to Laos who seem to think the Geneva Accords applied to the US even if the communist were in blatant violation. This is absurb from a legal point as well as from a practicle point in fighting a war where the enemy does not respect agreements or borders. What is really surprising to me is that the State Department maintained this authority for so long after their disastrous use of the policy in Laos. You can find more on this in Richard Schultz's The Secret War Against Hanoi.

[Martin]

Merv Benson: Were there a lot of covert activities there apart from SOG? I was under the impression that MACV-SOG operated under presidential decree (I hope that is the right word).

M