Intelligence: Rumsfeld's Dirty Little Secret

The Pentagon Hides Spy Unit from Congress

The Pentagon has secretly been operating a clandestine espionage branch for the past two years after reinterpreting U.S. law to place more power directly in the hands of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. According to an explosive new article in yesterday's Washington Post, the group, called the Strategic Support Branch, is "designed to operate without detection and under the defense secretary's direct control" in collecting human intelligence (or HUMINT, in intelligence-speak). Not only does the group operate outside the public view, Rumsfeld has also hidden it from Congress and is not coordinating with the CIA. Already, it has been operating in places like Iraq and Afghanistan – as well as in unnamed "friendly countries" with which the United States is not at war. The group has been working with the elite U.S. Special Forces, such as Delta Force, as well as recruited outside agents, including "notorious figures" whose "links to the U.S. government would be embarrassing if disclosed." The Defense Department has also engaged in legal tricks, redefining the rules to support its claims that the intelligence group is subject to less stringent oversight than similar operations within the CIA. Here's a look inside the Strategic Support Branch:

PLAYING GAMES WITH THE LAW: Defense Department lawyers are hard at work redefining the rules to give Secretary Rumsfeld more expansive powers and to get around any legal constraints. Take Title 10 of the U.S. code, for example. While the Pentagon is legally required to tell Congress about all "deployment orders," Undersecretary for Intelligence Stephen A. Cambone this month issued new guidelines that state the group is allowed to "conduct clandestine HUMINT operations…before publication" of a deployment order, making the subsequent order meaningless. Title 50 got a friendly freshen-up as well: current law says Congress does not have to be informed about "traditional" military activities and their "routine" support, so the Pentagon's general counsel simply expanded the definition of "traditional" and "routine."

RE-READING HERSH: The Post article fits with the article written last week by Seymour Hersh, which detailed the Pentagon's secret plans to go to war in Iran. Hersh wrote, "[Bush] has signed a series of findings and executive orders authorizing secret commando groups and other Special Forces units to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as ten nations in the Middle East and South Asia… [Bush]'s decision enables Rumsfeld to run the operations off the books—free from legal restrictions imposed on the C.I.A."

WHO IS WALDROUP? The secret intelligence group is headed up by Col. George Waldroup, a man with little intelligence experience. Waldroup, who likes to refer to himself in the third person as "GW," is not a graduate of the Army's Special Warfare Center nor the CIA's Field Tradecraft Course for intelligence officers. He spent much of his professional life as a "midlevel manager" at the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He was embroiled in scandal in the mid-'90s for deceiving a congressional delegation about staffing problems at Miami International Airport. "Waldroup, then assistant district director for external affairs, helped orchestrate a temporary doubling of immigration screeners on the day of the visit, instructed subordinates not to discuss staff shortages and physically confronted a union leader to prevent him from reaching members of Congress." During the investigation, he then "refused to disclose the password to his e-mail files, refused to sign an affidavit summarizing his testimony and, in a subsequent interview, 'stated that he would not answer any questions' because 'he wished to protect himself from exposure to criminal sanctions.'"

A DANGEROUSLY INEXPERIENCED TEAM: The Strategic Support Branch operatives are sent to work directly with the military's elite Special Operations forces. One big problem: Waldroup's team is staffed with members who lack crucial intelligence experience and training. One military Special Forces officer who worked with the team said one of Waldroup's men actually held his team back like an anchor "because of his physical conditioning and his lack of knowledge of our tactics, techniques and procedures. The guy actually put us in danger." Another Special Forces officer in Afghanistan said Waldroup's men were reluctant to leave the base to do their intel: "These guys can't set up networks and run agents and recruit tribal elders."

SHHHH…DON'T TELL CONGRESS: The Strategic Support Branch operated well below congressional radar. The group was set up using funds siphoned off of other Pentagon projects "without explicit congressional authority or appropriation." The Post reported two "longtime members" of the House Intelligence Committee were unaware of any details surrounding the group. And on CBS's Face The Nation, Sen. John McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called yesterday for hearings to examine the group.