Bush Ponders Putting Pentagon In Charge Of Covert Ops

The recommendation was first made by the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as part of a package of measures to overhaul and streamline the intelligence community. Top officials at the CIA and the Pentagon have been cool to the idea of giving the military's Special Operations forces such a large role in paramilitary operations. The CIA's paramilitary units are authorized to carry out the most sensitive covert operations, such as the one launched in Afghanistan soon after the Sept. 11 attacks. Personnel in U.S. military Special Operations forces, such as Delta Force and Navy Seals, are elite and highly trained troops who perform special missions, in many cases covert and behind enemy lines. "Since this is a complex issue, we want to study it closely with the intelligence community to better understand it," a Pentagon spokesman said. "We don't have any preordained or preferred solutions in mind. We are undertaking the study with open minds. "We have been working formally and informally with the CIA already on this issue. We have a great deal of common ground and agreement with them," the spokesman added. Officials said the interagency review, first reported by The New York Times, would look at whether paramilitary authorities should be transferred in their entirety to the Defence Department. It could also advocate a more collaborative role between Special Operations forces and the paramilitary units of the intelligence agency. They already work together in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders. The leaders of the Sept. 11 commission have been critical of the CIA's covert actions, which before Sept. 11 had used local agents with little success to attack al-Qaeda. The commission said the joint CIA-military covert operations in Afghanistan after Sept. 11 were successful but still recommended shifting lead responsibility for all paramilitary operations to the better-equipped Pentagon.