UNIFICATION SOUGHT FOR ELITE UNITS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470023-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: December 8, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470023-4
WASHINGTON POST
8 December 1985
Unification
Sought for
Elite Units
Hill, Pentagon Move
To Improve Forces
For Antiterrorism
Rep. Dan Daniel (D-Va.), chair-
man of the readiness subcommittee,
confirmed his panel has under "se-
rious consideration" legislation to
combine the elite combat forces
under the Defense Special Opera-
tions Agency, patterned after the
National Security Agency. The
NSA "deploys teams around the
world? as ; part of its electronic
eave@dropping effort and earmarks
money within the budgets of the
various services to finance its ac-
tivities.
The new organization would have
a civilian director and a military
deputy and .would coordinate the
training and deployment of about
10,000 men in the various special
forces units of the armed services.
The director would report to the
secretary of defense.
The, new agency would finance
special forces, many of which wou d
work in forward areas o e wor
under a theater commander, My-T5
control crises swiftly by keeping
s ial forcesand their aircraft and
w4pna on bases in easy s ri ng
distance of the likeliest trouble
spots; and training exercises
to rehearse the kind of assaults the
intelligence community and military
leaders consf ed r mos rf- evaa t to
pressing problems, such as turmoil
in t e i i Ines.
Daniel, w o has long sought an
overhaul of special forces, formed a
panel within his subcommittee to
conduct hearings and recommend
changes.
"The big problem has been com-
mand and control," he said of recent
operations in the "twilight zones"
where special forces outfits oper-
ate.
He said the the Iranian rescue
operation and Grenadian invasion
suffered from a fractured command
structure because the Pentagon
allowed each service to carve out a
piece of the action. In Grenada, he
said, the services could not talk to
each because they had different
kinds of radios. And an Army unit,
for lack of centralized command,
landed at the airport in daylight
rather in darkness as
ple got killed who shouldn't have
gotten killed" because of the foulups
in command and control at Grenada,
Daniel said, but he called the oper-
ation a "success" because the Amer-
ican students on the island were
rescued.
The United States must organize
for such "low-intensity warfare,"
Daniel said, "and soon. We cannot
wait for reorganization of the joint
Chiefs of Staff and reform of the
Defense Department."
He said too often the special
forces-the Army's Delta counter-
terrorism team, Green Berets,
Rangers, Navy Seals and both Army
and Air Force special aviation
units-have lost out in Pentagon
budget as the admirals and generals
spend most of their budgets to pre-
pare for big wars.
"We cannot leave it to the luck of
the draw as to who is the chief of
staff in a given service at a given
time," Daniel said. Defense Secr6-
tary Caspar W. Weinberger, Daniel
said, "has been completely cooper-
ative" with the subcommittee in the
search for a better way to run the
special forces, although he has en-
dorsed no specific plan.
The proposal to establish a De-
fense Special Operations Agency
will be introduced early next year,
Daniel said, if it continues to pass
muster during the closed hearings
by his subcommittee.
A group of military officers who
have participated in special oper-
ations around the world are sched-
uled to list their needs at a hearing
Wednesday.
The Delta force responded to the
recent hijacking of an Egyptian air-
liner but got no farther than Si-
gonella, Sicily, on its way to Malta
because of problems of receiving
clearance to land in Malta. Navy
Seals had an elaborate plan-and
were in position to execute it from
the Marine helicopter ship Guam-
for wresting the Italian passenger
liner Achille Lauro from hijackers
but did not go into action.
By George C. Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
A House subcommittee, hoping
to streamline U.S. antiterrorist
forces and to avoid foulups, such as
those that marred the Iranian res-?
cue mission and the Grenada inva-
sion, is preparing legislation to uni-
fy the Army Green Berets and Del-
ta force, Navy Seals'and other spe-
cial forces under a single civilian
command.
The readiness subcommittee of
the House Armed Services Commit-
tee is aiming to set up a Defense
Special Operations Agency that
would take over control of the elite
forces from the individual services,
although they would retain their
service identities.
At the same time, the Air Force
Military Airlift Command, is com-
pleting a proposal calling for basing
long-range aircraft and helicopters
at bases abroad so they could more.
quickly rush the specialized outfits
to the scene of a hijacking or other
terrorist action.
The initiatives are part of the
most sweeping effort in 20 years to
gear up the U.S. military to counter
terrorism, to fight "low-intensity"
wars like the one in Grenada and to
prepare to go behind enemy lines in
the first days of a major war to dis-
rupt transportation and organize
resistance.
The Senate Armed Services
Committee also is calling for reor-
ganization of the special forces ac-
tivities of the military. And the
House Appropriations subcommit-
tee on defense has dispatched a spe-
cial team, including former combat
pilots and FBI agents, to study spe-
cial forces worldwide and submit a
report to shape the Pentagon's bud-
get going to Congress next month.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470023-4