WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is considering withdrawing military support to the CIA, including the potential withdrawal of much of the CIA-operated drone fleet, according to current and former officials. The postponement could severely limit the agency’s counter-terrorism efforts, which expanded significantly after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The government is considering several options that could go into effect as early as January 5th. One would reduce the number of Pentagon personnel posted to the agency – many of them special forces forces who work in the CIA’s paramilitary division. However, other changes that are being considered would be far broader and more consistent, making it difficult for the agency to operate from military bases, use the Department of Defense’s medical evacuation capabilities, or conduct covert drone strikes against terrorists at hot spots around the world.
Former officials warned President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. can reverse changes immediately as soon as he takes office next month. However, depending on how quickly the Pentagon makes such decisions, it might be more difficult for the new administration to reverse them quickly.
It wasn’t clear why the Trump administration was pushing its review as Mr Biden could easily turn it back. Some former agency officials viewed the move as a final attempt by President Trump, who has long berated intelligence services for their assessment that Russia intervened to support its 2016 presidential campaign and downsize the CIA
The Pentagon is currently reviewing a 15-year-old memorandum of understanding with the CIA to move some staff from supporting the agency to other posts, a senior administration official said. Some in the Pentagon believe the CIA has received too many military assets, and the Department of Defense wants a greater say in their allocation.
Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who was appointed assistant secretary of defense for intelligence last month and seen among some career officials as a highly ideological Trump loyalist, pushed the effort forward, current and former officials said. Christopher C. Miller, the acting Secretary of Defense and longtime Army Green Beret, supports it as long overdue and part of the business as usual for the Pentagon, which, according to a senior American official, has to constantly review how it is using its assets.
“The Pentagon has tried to better use its resources to focus more on the so-called great power competition with China,” Air Force Lt. Col. Uriah L. Orland replied to a request for comment when asked for comment.
“Much has changed in the first two decades of this century, and DOD is only working with the CIA to ensure that both DOD and CIA are able to work together to address United States national security challenges,” he said.
While the CIA refused to discuss the deliberations, Nicole de Haay, a spokeswoman for the agency, said she was confident that close cooperation with the Department of Defense would continue “for years to come.”
“There is no stronger relationship and no better partnership,” she said. “This partnership has resulted in achievements that have greatly improved US national security.”
The review includes the assignment of counter-terrorism military experts, which the Pentagon referred to the CIA, but the changes could be more extensive, according to those briefed on the effort.
One version of the plan could reduce the number of military bases the Pentagon makes available to the CIA and even reduce the number of places in the world where the Department of Defense provides medical evacuation and treatment to officials and contractors.
“That would be a setback for US national security,” said Michael P. Mulroy, former Pentagon chief Middle East policy officer and former CIA paramilitary officer, in an email about the proposed changes. “As a team, this relationship resulted in some of the greatest successes in Afghanistan, Iraq and the global war on terrorism.”
Defense One covered the Pentagon Review earlier.
Since the 9/11 attacks, the CIA has replenished its small number of unmanned armed drones with assets and pilots on loan from the Pentagon. According to former officials, around two-thirds to three-quarters of the CIA’s drone fleet is now owned and loaned to the agency by the Air Force.
The CIA’s strikes are undercover and are not recognized by the agency. During the Bush and Obama administrations, the CIA used military drones to carry out increasingly deadly air strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. The CIA, not the military, has carried out some of the government’s airstrikes in recent decades because some host countries prevented the American military from operating on their territory. The CIA can also act faster, argued former officials.
“The CIA’s process of authorizing lethal strikes against individuals is faster than the military’s more bureaucratic procedures,” said Kevin Carroll, a former CIA officer. “In this way, decaying, time-critical counter-terrorism goals could be missed.”
CIA drone strikes have decreased in recent years, and the agency has pulled back from strikes in some countries, such as Pakistan, that were once the focus of its operations, according to former officials.
Last year, the Trump administration began curtailing the nation’s counter-terrorism efforts to shift the focus of intelligence agencies to China. That year, Richard Grenell, then acting director of the National Intelligence Service, ordered a review of the National Counter-Terrorism Center, which resulted in its size being reduced.
Human rights groups are likely to welcome a further reduction in CIA air strikes. You have long spoken out against the targeted murder of terrorist suspects by the government, but you were particularly frustrated with the secret nature of the CIA program.
“The CIA shouldn’t be responsible for targeted murders because it can’t naturally meet international transparency standards,” said Andrea J. Prasow, Washington deputy director at Human Rights Watch.
The Pentagon has told Biden interim officials that it is reviewing its agreement to assist the CIA in the effort to shift resources from the counter-terrorism mission to the Chinese threat.
Most administrations withhold important decisions in the final days of a president’s term with profound consequences. Former officials say the revision of the operating agreement between the CIA and the Pentagon is exactly that kind of change with global implications that should be left to the Biden administration.
However, the deal could make it difficult for the CIA to conduct some of its operations in Afghanistan next month as the Pentagon tries to reduce the number of soldiers there. However, people who have been briefed on the matter say the military continues to support the CIA despite the drawdown orders.
The close ties between the CIA and special military operations personnel were underscored last month when a CIA paramilitary officer was killed in Somalia. General Mark A Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, publicly announced the official’s death in a comment last week to a think tank. General Milley noted that the officer had previously served in the military as a member of the Navy SEALs.
The Pentagon announced last week that virtually all of Somalia’s 700 or so troops – most of the special forces that have conducted training and counter-terrorism missions – will leave by January 15, five days before Mr Biden’s inauguration.
Military officials said the Pentagon will continue to conduct counter-terrorism operations from neighboring Djibouti and Kenya, but the withdrawal of American forces is likely to complicate the role of CIA paramilitary officers remaining in Somalia.
Over the past two decades, the military-CIA partnership has halted “numerous terrorist attacks,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA officer who has spent much of his career fighting terrorism.
“The fight against terrorism is not over yet, even if we turn to competition from China and Russia,” he said. “This reported move also puts CIA staff at considerable risk. At a time when a CIA officer was recently killed in Somalia, it is hard to imagine why the Department of Defense would pull the necessary Medevac platforms for our officers at the tip of the spear. “
