CIA's paramilitary force a cross between spies and soldiers

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Somewhere between America's spies and commandos is a small group of men and women like Johnny "Mike" Spann, the CIA paramilitary officer killed by rioting prisoners in Afghanistan.

Part intelligence operative, part combat trooper, these officers were among the first Americans to cross the border into Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 – even before military commandos began reconnaissance missions.

"This is America's secret warfare," said Loch Johnson, a CIA expert at the University of Georgia, of the agency's paramilitary force.

U.S. officials will not say how many are in Afghanistan and the surrounding countries, except that the contingent is much smaller than the hundreds of U.S. military special operations forces.

They are believed to be supplying weapons, training and intelligence to rebels fighting the Taliban. They are gathering information on their own, interrogating prisoners and defectors. Some are working alongside the Army's Green Berets and other special operations forces, while others are on their own.

They come from within the CIA's Directorate of Operations, whose primary mission is to conduct clandestine intelligence-gathering. This includes traditional case officers, who work out of U.S. embassies, trying to make sources out of foreign government officials.

One branch, the Special Activities Division, is home to the CIA's offensive punch. Officers in this division are called upon when the president wants covertly to advance U.S. foreign policy, influencing a foreign government without any signs of U.S. action.

Inside the division are intelligence officers who can create economic and political disruptions in foreign countries. Others write propaganda to influence foreign elections.

The division also contains the Special Operations Group, which is the agency's elite paramilitary cadre.

Similar to the Green Berets, these officers can train and supply local dissident groups and friendly governments. They are capable of more direct action, as well, including breaking into secure buildings to steal information.

Within this group are land, sea and air divisions, whose officers can operate almost any kind of vehicle. They can infiltrate hostile countries and rescue U.S. officers or friendly foreign agents.

"These intelligence officers relish the peril of unmarked air flights behind enemy lines and the command of speedboats in hostile waters," wrote Johnson in "Bombs, Bugs, Drugs and Thugs," a book published last year about the U.S. intelligence community.

They also provide combat training to regular CIA case officers.

Unlike the Green Berets, these officers can operate without uniform or identification as an officer of the U.S. government. If one is caught or killed, the government can plausibly deny their use. Unlike most military special operations forces, there are women among the CIA's paramilitary ranks.

In recent decades, the paramilitary force has seen heavy use in Central America, Angola and Afghanistan. In Nicaragua, they mined the harbors and armed the Contra rebels during the Reagan administration. In Afghanistan, they helped the mujahedeen fight the Soviet invasion. During the Vietnam War, they ran "Air America" – the CIA's covert effort in Laos.

In times of relative peace, the CIA's paramilitary force is kept to a small cadre, but it can quickly surge during a conflict. To fill out the force's ranks, the agency hires contractors – usually U.S. special operations forces troopers recently retired from the military. Active-duty commandos are also detailed to the agency.

Their use for offensive action requires a presidential "finding," such as the wide-ranging finding signed by President Bush authorizing the CIA to make war on al-Qaida following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Such findings lay out what activities are permitted, and senior congressional leaders must be informed of the covert action as well.

Spann, 32, joined the CIA about two years ago and was a paramilitary trooper. He was killed late last month by rioting prisoners at a compound in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, the agency said. Spann was at the compound to interrogate prisoners.

His body was returned to the United States on Sunday.

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