PENTAGON -- PUSHING FOR MILITARY OPS, SKIPPING DELIBERATION

progressreport.org
2/24/2005

PENTAGON -- PUSHING FOR MILITARY OPS, SKIPPING DELIBERATION: Against
the wishes of the State Department and the CIA, the Pentagon continues to
pursue its latest revision to global counterterrorism operations: a
"plan that would allow Special Operations forces
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48522-2005Feb23.html)
to enter a foreign country to conduct military operations without
explicit concurrence from the U.S. ambassador there." If the plan were
enacted, such special missions would be conducted in secret, undermining the
"chief of mission" status of U.S. ambassadors as well as CIA station
chiefs worldwide. As "the president's top representative in a foreign
country," the authority of U.S. ambassadors has always been respected;
they have always weighed in with "political and diplomatic considerations"
before granting personnel entry. Need an example of why the State
Department and CIA want to maintain authority over Special Forces acting in
foreign countries? In a situation in Pakistan, the ambassador had to
order Special Forces soldiers out of the country for reckless behavior:
"We had SF [Special Forces] guys in civilian clothes running around a
hotel with grenades in their pockets."