[Mb-civic] New Plans Foresee Fighting Terrorism Beyond War Zones - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

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.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/22/AR2006042201124.html?nav=hcmodule
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