Notes From Minneapolis

Jeremy Scahill,

The former CENTCOM member said that what is unfolding in Pakistan is part of the Bush-era philosophy, continued by the Obama administration, of “preparing the battlefield.” He sketches out a pattern wherein “black” operations are followed by “white” operations and then conventional US forces. That “preparing the battlefield” justification was often used by the Bush administration to circumvent Congressional oversight of clandestine military operations, particularly when McChrystal was running JSOC. The CIA is legally required to brief the Intelligence committees on covert operations, while JSOC has traditionally operated outside the purview of Congressional oversight. “This allows the JSOC/Special Mission Units more freedom to expand or absorb traditionally CIA missions,” he says. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Stephen Cambone “embraced this model—so have Obama and [Defense Secretary Robert] Gates—and it persists to this day.”