Strategic Support Branch of the Defense Intelligence Agency

According to a report published in Sunday's Washington Post, the DoD has set up a special operations unit that reports directly to the SecDef for conducting clandestine human intelligence-gathering operations and special covert operations. Many inside the defense establishment see this move as an attempt by Donald Rumsfeld to set up a competing organization within the DoD similar to the CIA's Directorate of Operations.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon by the DoD press secretary, Lawrence DiRita, "There is no unit that is directly reportable to the Secretary of Defense for clandestine operations as is described in the Washington Post article of January 23, 2005" and the DoD "is not attempting to 'bend' [federal] statutes to fit desired activities." The further assertion by the Post was that the DoD's covert operations would not be reported to Congressional leaders because they would not fall under the same category as operations by the CIA.

This reportage echoed a New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh (more to come about this) that asserts the United States not only has this capability, but that DoD special ops have been sent into Iran, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Iraq in the last few months. This also follows the report I mentioned last week regarding 'death squads' similar to those used in El Salvador in the 1980s. Additionally, the New York Times today asserts similar arguments and facts about the Strategic Support Branch as those found in the Post article on Sunday.

Additional reporting today from both the NYTimes and the WashPost indicate that Congress and the Senate may be interested in investigating the accuracy of the recent media reports. If the SSB is tasked to perform 'covert' operations, then it would likely fall under the same categorization as CIA Directorate of Operations activities. If Congress determines that this is indeed the case, then the DoD may face some serious repercussions for failing to report the covert actions to Congressional leadership, as required by federal law.

I have a feeling that much more about this story will be showing up in major media outlets in the coming days. Keep your eyes peeled, and keep this thought in mind, "How likely will it be that Rumsfeld will be forced out if this story goes south for the Bush administration?"