http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... _2005jan22
The Pentagon , expanding into the CIA's historic bailiwick, has created a new espionage arm and is reinterpreting U.S. law to give Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld broad authority over clandestine operations abroad, according to interviews with participants and documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Forget the fact that they did it in secret:
Pentagon officials said they established the Strategic Support Branch using "reprogrammed" funds, without explicit congressional authority or appropriation.
Forget the fact that they did it without oversight:
Two longtime members of the House Intelligence Committee, a Democrat and a Republican, said they knew no details before being interviewed for this article.
Forget the fact that they're doing it almost entirely to avoid comprehensive oversight:
Defense intelligence missions, they said, are subject to less stringent congressional oversight than comparable operations by the CIA.
Heck, you can even forget that the same Pentagon that can't put armor on Humvees wants to divert MORE money to this scheme.
The Defense Department is planning for further growth. Among the proposals circulating are the establishment of a Pentagon-controlled espionage school, largely duplicating the CIA's Field Tradecraft Course at Camp Perry, Va., and of intelligence operations commands for every region overseas.
Yes, folks, you now have a secret group that doesn't have oversight by Congress, answerable to no one besides the Secretary of Defense, that can run covert mission anywhere they want, whenever they want. Legality?
One scenario in which Pentagon operatives might play a role, O'Connell said, is this: "A hostile country close to our borders suddenly changes leadership. . . . We would want to make sure the successor is not hostile."
I'd bet their first two missions in the Western Hemisphere are to remove Chavez and Castro.