Defense Secretary Robert Gates is considering a plan to curtail the Pentagon's clandestine spying activities, which were expanded by his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, after the 9/11 attacks.
The undercover work allowed military personnel to collect intelligence about terrorists and to recruit spies in foreign countries independently of the CIA and without much congressional oversight.
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This is what got us into Iraq. While one of the main characters in my novels is a CIA operator who works without congressional oversight, it makes for a decent story, the lack of oversight, as we've seen over the past 6 years, is a bad thing.
While this all sounds good, the dismantling of Rummy's clandestine infrastructure, the guys running the operation are still there.
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It's been interesting to see that General Boykin, the architect of the unit along with Stephen Cambone, has not retired as quickly as many expected.
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You remember General Boykin, God's Christian Soldier, don't you?
So it seems Gates still has a use for these operators:
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Sy Hersh recently reported that the secret unit was playing a key role in the Administration's activities in Iran to undermine the government through covert support of certain ethnic groups. Its dissolution or downgrading would signal a change of course with Iran--and this might be just what saves the Squirrels. At the very least, Cambone's resignation is going to make Gate's job at the helm much easier. [my em]
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Now, you might think this is a good thing, but this unit can best be described thusly:
... The unit was supposed to show the guys in the CIA's Clandestine Services what can happen when real men spy, but their few publicly-known escapades have made them look more like snake-eaters in drag--you can shove them in a trench coat and gussy them up with lipstick, but as soon as they take a few telltale steps...
Not much is gonna change under Gates and Bush Inc. still has its collective eye on Iran.
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