Hired guns bolstering CIA effort on terror
WASHINGTON - The recent deaths of two paramilitary operatives tracking terrorists in Afghanistan opened a small window into one of the CIA's secret methods in fighting the war on terror: using guns-for-hire.
The agency has turned more frequently to contractors, often retired Green Berets or Navy SEALs, as it has worked to rapidly expand its covert paramilitary force, boosted by a big increase in funding in the two years since the Sept. 11 attacks.
William Carlson and Christopher Glenn Mueller were retired military commandos hired by the CIA as contractors to hunt Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters near Shkin, in eastern Afghanistan. They were killed in an ambush Oct. 25 while taking part in a larger military offensive in the area.
It appears they were hired by the CIA during the rapid growth of the agency's covert paramilitary force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They were among an undisclosed number of former special operators hired to augment the CIA's own employees.
Johnny ``Mike'' Spann, the first American killed in combat in Afghanistan, in November 2001, was one such CIA employee. The size of the agency's paramilitary force remains classified.
The CIA acknowledged Carlson and Mueller's deaths and their ties to the agency in a statement three days after the shooting. Carlson, 43, and Mueller, 32, ``were no strangers to the hardships of service to country,'' said CIA Director George J. Tenet. Carlson was retired from Army special operations and Mueller from Navy special operations. The CIA offered few details about the shooting or the men's activities in Afghanistan.
The CIA's current heavy use of contractors is probably a product of the large, one-time cash infusion the agency is receiving from Congress to fight the war on terrorism, said Steven Aftergood, an intelligence specialist with the watchdog Federation of American Scientists in Washington. ``All indications are that reliance on contractors is growing,'' Aftergood said. ``What do you do if somebody drops hundreds of millions of dollars in your lap? You hire contractors on a short-term basis. ''
The CIA's paramilitary arm, a unit called the Special Operations Group, is called upon when the president authorizes covert action in a secret ``finding'' that is reported to senior congressional leaders. One such finding, signed by President Clinton and expanded by President George W. Bush, governs the covert war on the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
Some analysts wonder whether the CIA contractors are subject to proper oversight from the CIA and Congress. ``It's important for the oversight committees [in the House and Senate] to keep track of what the paramilitary people are doing,'' said Loch Johnson, a University of Georgia professor and CIA specialist.
