Pentagon denies news report of new spy unit here we go again, off down that road again. DiRita begins the week by denying there is such a thing as the Strategic Support Branch. This time, since he made such a fool of himself going through these machinations last week, he suggests that parts of the story are accurate, and that there simply isn't such a group. So he gets to deny something that he isn't denying. I guess this beats having the white house release a statement later today suggesting that more of this story may be true, then DiRita calling attention to the vague words he might have used. All this will lead to Cheney making a statement by thursday saying so what, get over it.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon acknowledged Sunday that it is trying to improve its network of spies abroad but denied a published report that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had reinterpreted U.S. law to create an espionage unit under his control. Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said it was "accurate and should not be surprising" that the Pentagon would try to improve its human spying capability, an area that the 9/11 Commission concluded was inadequate. As part of that effort, he said, the Defense Intelligence Agency "has been taking steps to be more focused and task-oriented for the global war on terror." DiRita said the Defense Department "remains in regular consultation" with congressional committees, the CIA and other intelligence agencies. DiRita denied that Rumsfeld controls a secret group of spies. "There is no unit that is directly reportable to the Secretary of Defense for clandestine operations as is described in The Washington Post," he said in a statement. "Further, the Department is not attempting to 'bend' statutes to fit desired activities, as is suggested in this article."
aaaaaahh, there they are. The magic words "taking steps to be more focussed" and not "directly reportable" easily allows the wiggle room for DiRita to say by Wednesday that he didn't say there wasn't a group, just that Rumsfeld had a military commander between the group and him. You also have to love the phrase "not attempting" as in either we did it, or why bother, the statutes already favor what we are doing.
The Post said a new spy unit is called the Strategic Support Branch. In a written order quoted by the newspaper, Rumsfeld expresses frustration after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks over the Pentagon's "near total dependence on CIA" for human intelligence.
Under U.S. law, Pentagon intelligence missions are subject to less rigorous congressional oversight than similar operations carried out by the CIA.<> Rumsfeld fought for months against an intelligence overhaul bill passed by Congress late last year that leaves intact the CIA's control over human intelligence and which puts 15 U.S. intelligence agencies under a newly created national intelligence director. The Defense secretary dropped his objections only after House Republican leaders inserted language that was seen as preserving the Pentagon's autonomy. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on CBS' Face the Nation that he knew nothing of such a Pentagon unit and expected his panel to hold hearings about it. He said that he "would doubt" the unit was illegal.
