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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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May 9th,
2006 - Experts See a Strategy Behind CIA Shuffle |
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Experts See a Strategy
Behind CIA Shuffle General May Help Intelligence Chief Rein In Rumsfeld and His Military
Spy Plans By Dana Priest Washington Post Tuesday, May 9, 2006; A09 Gen. Michael V. Hayden isn't
the first active-duty military officer tapped to lead the CIA - he is in fact
the fifth - but many intelligence experts and officers have bemoaned the idea
of a general leading the agency at a time when the Pentagon is expanding its
ability to engage in global spying and man-hunting, traditional realms of the
CIA. Despite such qualms,
intelligence specialists say Hayden's appointment may turn out to be a clever
move by intelligence czar John D. Negroponte to help him assert authority
over Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his burgeoning intelligence
bureaucracy. Negroponte, who by law oversees all 16 U.S. intelligence
agencies, has expressed frustration that he has not made more progress in
managing the agencies under the Defense Department's jurisdiction. Negroponte was mindful of
the issue yesterday as Hayden was officially nominated. "To those who
raise a question about the fact that Mike Hayden wears the uniform,"
Negroponte said in announcing his nomination, "I think they can also be
assured that Mike Hayden is a very, very independent-minded person,
blunt-spoken. ... I don't think [he] will have any difficulty whatsoever
staking out positions that are independent." The intelligence overhaul
that installed Negroponte as the first director of national intelligence also
assigned the CIA the role of managing all "human intelligence" - or
spying - including the collection done by the Defense Department, which many
experts believe is trying to break out on its own in this arena. "The concern about
Hayden is not really about Hayden, it's about Rumsfeld and Cheney," said
one former senior intelligence officer, referring to Vice President Cheney's
strained relationship with the CIA and allegations that he used
Pentagon-gathered information on Iraq's weapons because it comported with his
personal view on Iraq. "Hayden seems to be one
of those guys who will, without hesitation, stand up to anyone with whom he
disagrees," said Mackubin T. Owens, professor of national security
studies at the Naval War College. "He's out of Rumsfeld's reach." The CIA establishment views
the encroachment of the Pentagon into such sensitive areas as covert
operations and human intelligence as a misguided effort that does not
recognize the inherent difficulties in understanding, much less penetrating,
terrorist networks. "If the military's
calling the shots, you're not going to get the focus on Manchester, England
[where the London bombers came from], or the Montreal axis," a reference
to the crossroads for a group of al-Qaeda figures, the former intelligence
official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the
sensitive nature of the upcoming debate on Hayden's nomination. But the military's
frustration with the CIA - including not having enough terrorist targets
identified for attack in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere - is at least in
part behind Rumsfeld's expansion of military intelligence capabilities.
Rumsfeld has moved hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of troops
into clandestine intelligence collection and analysis. With little public
discussion and a wall of secrecy, the military is poised to launch its own
intelligence-gathering and man-hunting operations independent of the CIA or
other authorities. "When you're not
getting what you want, the bureaucratic response is to create your own
[bureaucracy], not because you want different answers, but because you want
answers," said Owens. Managed by Army Lt. Gen.
William G. "Jerry" Boykin, a legendary special operations officer
who now holds the title of deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence
and warfighting support, the Pentagon is demanding that the CIA share its
most sensitive databases, that small teams of undercover soldiers be allowed
to secretly collect information in friendly countries, and that clandestine
teams of military man-hunters be allowed to sneak into countries with which
the United States is not at war to kill or capture terrorism suspects. But Hayden, an Air Force
four-star general, has already taken steps and positions aimed at enhancing
the CIA's leadership in human intelligence. Although he comes from the
world of high-tech signals intelligence, Hayden was an early proponent of
scaling back the CIA's responsibilities so it could concentrate on human
intelligence. As Negroponte's deputy, he helped reshape the CIA's directorate
of operations into the National Clandestine Service, an effort that many CIA
officers applauded. Hayden's expected
appointment of Stephen R. Kappes for a leadership role was seen as another
indication that Negroponte and Hayden believe that experienced spies are the
key to strengthening the CIA's ability to track down terrorists and go after
other difficult targets. Kappes headed the CIA's operations branch until he
resigned in a dispute with then-Director Porter J. Goss's chief of staff. Former and current
intelligence officers say Goss never had a strategic plan for improving
spying on terrorist networks. Kappes, on the other hand, had slowly begun to
put his ideas, gained through 23 years of experience around the world, into
action. Part of that plan called for deepening ties with foreign intelligence
services. As director of the National
Security Agency, Hayden sought to enhance relations with foreign intelligence
services. The CIA, with the help of
its foreign partners, has been responsible for capturing or killing nearly
all the key al-Qaeda figures since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050801616.html |