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Pentagon runs clandestine intelligence-gathering infrastructure
Summary from United States, from articles in English
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The official said the role of the Strategic Support Branch described first in Sunday's Washington Post "is to provide an intelligence capability for field operation units" including the U.S. military's secretive special forces unit. (article 1)
The Strategic Support Branch (SSB) got its name in 2004 after operating under a different, undisclosed name before then, said the official, who confirmed the unit's existence and mission to CNN. (article 1)
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold hearings on a Washington Post report that the Defense Department is reinterpreting U.S. law to give the secretary broad authority over clandestine operations abroad. (article 4)
In addition, DiRita said, " the Department is not attempting to bend statutes to fit desired activities, as is suggested in this article. (article 4)
Designed to operate without detection and under the defense secretary's direct control, the Strategic Support Branch deploys small teams of case officers, linguists, interrogators, and technical specialists alongside special operations forces. (article 2)
The previously undisclosed organization, called the Strategic Support Branch, arose from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's written order to end his "near total dependence on CIA" for what is known as human intelligence. (article 3)
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Event tracking:
Story keywords
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Intelligence, Rumsfeld, Pentagon, CIA, Operations |
Source articles
- Pentagon runs clandestine intelligence-gathering infrastructure (CNN, 01/24/2005, 1029 words)
- Pentagon adds secret intelligence unit (boston.com, 01/23/2005, 460 words)
- Secret unit expands Rumsfeld's domain (msnbc.msn.com, 01/22/2005, 2087 words)
- McCain Expects Hearings On Defense Intelligence Unit (washingtonpost.com) (Washington Post, 01/24/2005, 302 words)
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blaster@cs.columbia.edu
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