According to a report in the Washington Post this morning, Pentagon officials want to revive pre-Ukraine war orders that would allow them to insert commandos in the form of “control teams” to direct Ukrainian operatives to counter Russian disinformation and monitor troops movements on the ground.
Report: Pentagon wants to revive top secret commando program in Ukraine
Tag: commandos
Why Congress Can’t Stop the CIA From Working With Forces That Commit Abuses
The Leahy Law prohibits the U.S. military from providing training and equipment to foreign security forces that commit human rights abuses, but it does not apply to U.S. intelligence agencies. Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy said it should.
Why Congress Can’t Stop the CIA From Working With Forces That Commit Abuses
Royal Marines deployed on ‘high-risk covert operations’ in Ukraine
The Royal Marines have taken part in covert operations in Ukraine, a senior general has admitted for the first time.
Royal Marines deployed on ‘high-risk covert operations’ in Ukraine
NATO bombing of Libya ‘exceeded UN mandate’
A new book by the UN’s top man on the ground in Libya during the anti-Gaddafi uprising argues Nato indulged in “mission creep” and gave “unconvincing” arguments for promoting regime change in the name of protecting civilians.
NATO bombing of Libya ‘exceeded UN mandate’
As U.S. Funnels Money & Arms to Ukraine, Independent Media Faces Pressure to Parrot Official Narrative
How Biden’s “forever war” in Ukraine was prepared + Ukraine gets [another] $1.7B grant from U.S.
How The Pentagon Uses A Secretive Program To Wage Proxy Wars
Nick Turse, Alice Speri, The Intercept, Jul 1 2022
Small teams of US SOF are involved in a low-profile proxy war program on a far greater scale than previously known, according to exclusive documents and interviews with more than a dozen current and former government officials. While The Intercept and other outlets have previously reported on the Pentagon’s use of the secretive 127e authority in multiple African countries, a new document obtained through the FoIA offers the first official confirmation that at least 14 127e programs were also active in the greater Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region as recently as 2020. In total, between 2017 and 2020, US commandos conducted at least 23 separate 127e programs across the world. Separately, Joseph Votel, a retired four-star Army general who headed both SOCOM & CENTCOM, which oversees US military efforts in the Middle East, confirmed the existence of previously unrevealed 127e “counter-terrorism” efforts in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
How The Pentagon Uses A Secretive Program To Wage Proxy Wars
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Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say
Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say
As Russian troops press ahead with a grinding campaign to seize eastern Ukraine, the nation’s ability to resist the onslaught depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies — including a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training, according to U.S. and European officials.
Much of this work happens outside Ukraine, at bases in Germany, France and Britain, for example. But even as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.
At the same time, a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine. The United States withdrew its own 150 military instructors before the war began in February, but commandos from these allies either remained or have gone in and out of the country since then, training and advising Ukrainian troops and providing an on-the-ground conduit for weapons and other aid, three U.S. officials said.
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But the agency’s [CIA] expertise in training is in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations*, former intelligence officials say. What Ukrainians need right now is classic military training in how to use rocket artillery, like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and other sophisticated weaponry, said Douglas H. Wise, a former deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and retired senior C.I.A. officer.
H/T: Western Officials Admit Ukraine Is Crawling With CIA Personnel
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