Plans for fighting terror approved by Rumsfeld

Washington Post:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has approved the military's most ambitious plan yet to fight terrorism around the world and retaliate more rapidly and decisively in the case of another major terrorist attack on the United States, according to defense officials.

The long-awaited campaign plan for the global war on terrorism, as well as two subordinate plans also approved within the past month by Rumsfeld, are considered the Pentagon's highest priority, according to officials familiar with the three documents who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about them publicly.

Details of the plans are secret, but in general they envision a significantly expanded role for the military -- and, in particular, a growing force of elite Special Operations troops -- in continuous operations to combat terrorism outside of war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Developed over about three years by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, the plans reflect a beefing up of the Pentagon's involvement in domains traditionally handled by the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department.

For example, SOCOM has dispatched small teams of Army Green Berets and other Special Operations troops to U.S. embassies in about 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, where they do operational planning and intelligence gathering to enhance the ability to conduct military operations where the United States is not at war.

And in a subtle but important shift contained in a classified order last year, the Pentagon gained the leeway to inform -- rather than gain the approval of -- the U.S. ambassador before conducting military operations in a foreign country, according to several administration officials. "We do not need ambassador-level approval," said one defense official familiar with the order.

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So far there is nothing in this story about how Rumsfeld rode rough shod over the generals. How can that be, after all we have heard from the retired brass the past weeks?

However, as the article points out, Rumsfeld now has the authority to override the stripe pants crowd in the embassies. This is important. During the Vietnam war, the ambassador to Laos effectively overrode needed actionagainst the communist who were exploiting a route through Laos in violation of the Geneva Accords.

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The plans each run more than 100 pages and cover a wide range of overt and clandestine military activities -- such as man-hunting and intelligence gathering on terrorist networks; attacks on terrorist training camps and recruiting efforts; and partnering with foreign militaries to eliminate terrorist sanctuaries. Together, they amount to an assignment of responsibilities to different military commands to conduct what the Pentagon envisions as a "long war" against terrorism.

The main campaign plan sets priorities, allocates resources such as manpower and funding, and coordinates operations among regional military commands to implement the Pentagon's broader National Military Strategic Plan for the War on Terrorism, published in unclassified form in February. It lays out nine key goals, such as targeting terrorist leaders, safe havens, communications and other logistical support, and countering extremist ideology.

A second detailed plan is focused specifically on al-Qaeda and associated movements, including more than a dozen groups spread across the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. Such groups include the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Ansar al-Islam in the Middle East, Jemaah Islamiya in Indonesia, and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Saharan Africa.

A third plan sets out how the military can both disrupt and respond to another major terrorist strike on the United States....

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But SOCOM's more robust role -- while adding manpower, specialized skills and organization to the fight against terrorism -- has also led to some bureaucratic tensions, both inside the military with the joint staff and regional commands, as well as with the CIA and State Department. Such tensions are one reason SOCOM's plan took years.

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So is this what was behind the general's revolt? Note, there were no special forces generals doing the complaining. The way the joint staff works reflects internal turf battles too often when policy is discussed. The regional commands are seen as a way of over riding those turf battles so that a joint operation can be effected. When Tommy Franks first presented his plan for action in Afghanistan, the chiefs all did their parocial thing until Franks fought back and told them in effect that if they did not like the plan that he and his component commanders had come up with they needed to replace their component commanders. With that clarification of the chain of command, which was backed by Rumsfeld, the plan was eventually approved. But, it was not Rumsfeld directly overriding the chiefs. He just stood by the chain of command as established by the Goldwater-Nichols act.

The grumbling by the regional commanders about the new plan, probably has to do with the loss of control of the special forces elements operating in their command area. There may be some concern that the special forces troops will prevoke hostilities that their command will have to respond to. This is a legitimate concern and it will be interesting to see how the plan works to prevent that situation.