Pentagon to Rely on Special Operations

2006-05-21

Richard Moore

Original source URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/22/AR2006042201124_pf.html


New Plans Foresee Fighting Terrorism Beyond War Zones
Pentagon to Rely on Special Operations
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 23, 2006; A01

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.

Overall, the plans underscore Rumsfeld's conviction since the September 2001 
terrorist attacks that the U.S. military must expand its mission beyond 
20th-century conventional warfare by infantry, tanks, ships and fighter jets to 
fighting non-state groups that are, above all, difficult to find.

The plans each run more than 100 pages and cover a wide range of overt and 
clandestine military activities -- such as man-hunting and intelligence 
gathering on terrorist networks; attacks on terrorist training camps and 
recruiting efforts; and partnering with foreign militaries to eliminate 
terrorist sanctuaries. Together, they amount to an assignment of 
responsibilities to different military commands to conduct what the Pentagon 
envisions as a "long war" against terrorism.

The main campaign plan sets priorities, allocates resources such as manpower and
funding, and coordinates operations among regional military commands to 
implement the Pentagon's broader National Military Strategic Plan for the War on
Terrorism, published in unclassified form in February. It lays out nine key 
goals, such as targeting terrorist leaders, safe havens, communications and 
other logistical support, and countering extremist ideology.

A second detailed plan is focused specifically on al-Qaeda and associated 
movements, including more than a dozen groups spread across the Middle East, 
Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. Such groups include the Egyptian 
Islamic Jihad and Ansar al-Islam in the Middle East, Jemaah Islamiya in 
Indonesia, and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Saharan Africa.

A third plan sets out how the military can both disrupt and respond to another 
major terrorist strike on the United States. It includes lengthy annexes that 
offer a menu of options for the military to retaliate quickly against specific 
terrorist groups, individuals or state sponsors depending on who is believed to 
be behind an attack. Another attack could create both a justification and an 
opportunity that is lacking today to retaliate against some known targets, 
according to current and former defense officials familiar with the plan.

This plan details "what terrorists or bad guys we would hit if the gloves came 
off. The gloves are not off," said one official, who asked not to be identified 
because of the sensitivity of the subject.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the counterterrorism plans or their 
approval, citing longstanding policy. "We do not discuss contingency plans or 
future operations," said Cmdr. Greg Hicks, a Defense Department spokesman. 
SOCOM's deputy commander, Vice Adm. Eric T. Olson, said earlier this month in 
Senate testimony that the plans had been approved.

Special Operations Command, led by Gen. Doug Brown, has been building up its 
headquarters and writing the plans since 2003, when Rumsfeld first designated it
as the lead command for the war on terrorism. Its budget has grown 60 percent 
since 2003 to $8 billion in fiscal 2007. President Bush empowered the 
53,000-strong command with coordinating the entire military's efforts in 
counterterrorism in 2004.

"SOCOM is, in fact, in charge of the global war on terror," Brown said in 
testimony before the House last month. In this role, SOCOM directs and 
coordinates actions by the military's regional combatant commands. SOCOM, if 
directed, can also command its own counterterrorist operations -- such as when a
threat spans regional boundaries or the mission is highly sensitive -- but it 
has not done so yet, according to Olson, and other officials say that is likely 
to be the exception to the rule.

To extend its reach to more countries, SOCOM is increasing by 13,000 the number 
of Special Operations troops, including Special Forces soldiers skilled in 
language and working with indigenous militaries, and Delta Force operatives and 
Navy SEAL teams that form clandestine "special mission units" engaged in 
reconnaissance, intelligence gathering and man-hunting. Already, SOCOM is seeing
its biggest deployments in history, with 7,000 troops overseas today, but the 
majority have been concentrated in Iraq and Afghanistan, with 85 percent last 
year in the Middle East, Central Asia or the Horn of Africa.

But SOCOM's more robust role -- while adding manpower, specialized skills and 
organization to the fight against terrorism -- has also led to some bureaucratic
tensions, both inside the military with the joint staff and regional commands, 
as well as with the CIA and State Department. Such tensions are one reason 
SOCOM's plan took years.

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?"

State Department officials, meanwhile, said that although, for the most part, 
cooperation with the military teams has been good, they remain concerned over 
continued "gray areas" regarding their status. "Special Ops wants the 
flexibility and speed to go in there. . . . but there's understandably questions
of how you do that and how you have clear lines of authority," one U.S. official
said. There remains "continuing discussion, to put it politely, in terms of how 
this is going to work," the official said. SOCOM says the teams work for the 
regional commanders.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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