by starroute » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:25 am
I'm reminded of something interesting I ran into on Google Groups earlier today.<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/alt.conspiracy/browse_thread/thread/1bc08ff69c2a8ef5/72d524ca445ed5f2?lnk=st&q=cheney+ghorbanifar&rnum=282#72d524ca445ed5f2">groups.google.com/group/a...ca445ed5f2</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The following appeared in the "Village Voice", Sept. 10, 1991 issue: <br><br>C I A O U T O F C O N T R O L <br><br>by Russ W. Baker<br><br>In the Post-Soviet Era, Congress Slumbers and the Intelligence Community Creates New Bogeymen to Vanquish <br><br>. . . IN FACT, THE PENTAGON'S ROLE in clandestine operations has been growing by leaps and bounds since Reagan and Bush first took their oaths. As the Soviet threat recedes, Grenada, Panama, and the gulf war conveniently demonstrate that there will always be an enemy. The Pentagon, currently far more popular than the CIA, is ready to play a more active role than its traditional once-a-generation "big war" gig. In postwar appearances before Congress, generals Powell and Schwarzkopf laid the groundwork by complaining about ineffectual CIA intelligence provided during the war.<br><br>Military intelligence, once under the supervision of the CIA, is now itself "totally out of control, like a herd of steer," says Marchetti. "Now, everybody has clandestine services, everybody has covert operations." Already, 80 per cent of the intelligence black budget is controlled by the Pentagon, and is dispensed to a raft of different organizations most Americans have never heard of. The largest, with a budget of $12 billion to $15 billion, is the Air Force's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which collects satellite data. (The government denies its very existence.) Others include The National Security Agency (NSA), which monitors international phone calls, and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which analyzes military information.<br><br>Congress is now recommending that the military be authorized to conduct covert operations without any oversight whatsoever, so long as the actions immediately precede or take place during the execution of a formal, visible military operation. Critics, including CIA veterans of Indochina in the Association of National Security Alumni, fear this would encourage the president to stage fake provocative actions, a la the 1965 Tonkin Gulf "attack" that brought the United States into total, undeclared war in Indochina.<br><br>In fact, since 1980 there has been an explosion of covert military activity involving everything from hostage rescue to sabotage actions. These military operations have evolved into renegade actions that the Pentagon claims little knowledge of or control over, adding yet another dimension to the problem of accountability and control.<br><br>Some believe a battle royal is coming, as Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, who served on the House Intelligence Committee before joining the Bush administration, tries to reorganize military intelligence. He reportedly wants each branch of the military to have its own intelligence structure, with all reporting to an enhanced DIA, which would rival the CIA. Cheney takes a great personal interest in military covert operations: the Special Operations Command is believed to report directly to him, rather than going through the Joint Chiefs according to military intelligence specialists.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br> <p></p><i></i>
