Secret CIA Units Playing A Central Combat Role
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By Bob Woodward
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 18, 2001; Page A01
The CIA is mounting a hidden
war in Afghanistan with secret paramilitary units on the ground and
Predator surveillance drones in the sky that last week provided key
intelligence for concentrated U.S. airstrikes on al Qaeda leaders,
according to well-placed sources.
The CIA units, whose
existence has not been previously disclosed, are operating in what
amounts to a central combat role in America's unconventional war in
Afghanistan. On Sept. 27, one of these units was the first U.S. force
to enter the country in the current terrorism war, paving the way for
U.S. Special Operations forces. The units also have been providing the
rebel Northern Alliance movement with intelligence on opposing Taliban
and al Qaeda troop concentrations, the sources said.
The
units are part of a highly secret CIA capability, benignly named the
Special Activities Division, that consists of teams of about half a
dozen men who do not wear military uniforms. The division has about 150
fighters, pilots and specialists, and is made up mostly of hardened
veterans who have retired from the U.S. military.
The
division's arsenal includes helicopters and airplanes and the unmanned
aerial Predator drones equipped with high-resolution cameras and
Hellfire antitank missiles. Last week, a CIA-run Predator provided
intelligence resulting in three days of strikes that killed key al
Qaeda leaders. But it was unclear what role CIA information played in
the successful attack on Muhammad Atef, the senior operations
lieutenant for Osama bin Laden whose death was confirmed yesterday by
the Taliban.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has given
almost daily briefings summarizing the course and accomplishments of
the U.S. military action in Afghanistan, which began six weeks ago.
Absent from those briefings are any details or sense of the CIA's
covert role in the battles, a secret war that has until now remained
largely under wraps.
The role of the CIA's paramilitary
units has been particularly important in Afghanistan, several sources
say, because much of the war has turned on intelligence and targeting
information. The CIA warriors also bring an experienced knowledge of
the territory and Northern Alliance factions.
In addition
to its paramilitary units, the CIA's Special Activities Division has
inserted into Afghanistan specialized CIA case officers from the
agency's Near East Division who know the local languages and had
previous covert relationships with the Northern Alliance going back
years.
For the last 18 months, the CIA has been working
with tribes and warlords in southern Afghanistan, and the division's
units have helped create a significant new network in the region of the
Taliban's greatest strength.
One source said that the
Special Activities Division units have directly or indirectly helped
with hundreds of successful military strikes since Oct. 7, when the
U.S. military bombing campaign began. The handling of intelligence for
airstrikes and the use of the Predator has led to some turf friction
and complaints about sharing between the U.S. Air Force and the CIA,
but both military and nonmilitary sources say the relationship is
working and has provided obvious benefits. The CIA's global response
center monitors critical intelligence and video and is in direct
communication with the U.S. Central Command, which runs the war from
its headquarters in Tampa.
In addition to their
war-fighting role, the CIA's covert units designate locations where the
massive U.S. humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan is most needed.
All
of this covert CIA work is a key part of President Bush's strategy,
which one source described as an attempt to "deny the sanctuary of
Afghanistan to bin Laden and his al Qaeda network." Bush in September
signed an intelligence order, called a finding, ordering the CIA to use
all necessary means to destroy bin Laden and al Qaeda. About $1 billion
in new funds have been provided the CIA, most of which is for covert
action.
The CIA work with the Northern Alliance and tribes
in the south is central to that strategy. Operationally, it means that
once the CIA locates opposition groups in Afghanistan that have the
will and capacity to hunt and kill Taliban and al Qaeda members, those
groups will receive covert or overt U.S. support in the form of
weapons, ammunition, food and money.
A unit of the Special
Activities Division was the first to enter Afghanistan after Bush
declared his war on terrorism. The unit established a bridgehead on
Sept. 27 for the regular U.S. Special Forces that followed.
These
CIA paramilitary units have moved in and out of Afghanistan
periodically, and some have established permanent bases. The special
units work "hand in glove with the special forces and notably have
provided a crucial eyes-on-the-ground capability," a well-placed source
said. The Special Activities Division reports to the deputy director
for operations, the clandestine arm of the CIA.
Before last year, the division was called the Military Support Program, or MSP, which had existed in the agency for decades.
Senior
administration officials attribute a significant portion of the speed
and effectiveness of recent Northern Alliance advances in Afghanistan
to the assistance of the CIA units.
Key has been the
precision bombing of Taliban logistics. The sources said coordination
on targeting among the CIA special units, traditional satellite and
signals intelligence and the U.S. military has improved significantly
over the course of the short war, accounting, in part, for the rapid
collapse of Taliban forces. "They can't get food and ammunition," a
source said. "The Taliban communications have been largely severed."
Because
the CIA has focused on bin Laden and al Qaeda for years and gained a
strong foothold among the Northern Alliance opposition, several sources
said the Afghan phase of the war on terrorism may turn out to be easier
than coming phases directed at terrorists in other countries where
there is less of a CIA presence.
In some respects, the war on terrorism in Afghanistan appears, at least so far, to provide some ideal circumstances.
First,
the special units have been going in and out of Afghanistan since 1997,
and have gained immense operational experience and important contacts,
particularly with the Northern Alliance.
Second, the CIA
gained experience during the 1980s covert war in Afghanistan, when the
agency provided massive support and funding to the mujaheddin rebels,
who eventually drove the Soviet army out. The Near East Division has 10
to 20 case officers with Afghan experience, knowledge of the terrain
and languages, and contacts with anti-Taliban groups and tribes. Some
of these case officers have been inserted into Afghanistan with the
help of the CIA's paramilitary units as liaison and support for the
Northern Alliance.
Third, in the mid-1980s, the CIA set up
a counterterrorism center to coordinate intelligence and operations
within the U.S. government. Personnel are assigned from the CIA, the
FBI, other U.S. intelligence agencies, even the Federal Aviation
Administration. Nearly 300 worked in the center before Sept. 11, and
that number has swollen to 900 since the terrorist attacks that killed
more than 4,300.
Nine days after the terrorist strikes at
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bush outlined the plan for the
war on terrorism in a nationally televised speech to a joint session of
Congress. He said the war might include "covert operations, secret even
in success."
2001 The Washington Post Company
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