From key appointments to proposed spending increases, the U.S. military is expanding its role and influence in American intelligence operations that once were the privy of civilian specialists. This mission creep on the part of generals and defense leaders has been embraced not only by the Obama administration but also by Democrats in the House of Representatives.
A review of a defense authorization bill by Walter Pincus at
The Washington Post revealed that the
House Armed Services Committee is supportive of more funding for intelligence programs in the
Department of Defense. Numerous, obscure offices are expected to receive bigger budgets, including $100 million more for the
Irregular Warfare Support Program, which develops “unconventional, creative, and multi-disciplinary (military, cultural, social, ideological, economic, and legal) approaches to counterinsurgency and counterterrorism.”
Then, there is the Obama administration’s penchant for appointing retired generals and career military officers to key national security and diplomatic posts. The White House national security adviser is
James Jones, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general, and the ambassadors to
Afghanistan (
Karl Eikenberry) and
Saudi Arabia (
James Smith) are also former generals.
Even Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton is turning to the military, with the expected appointment of a retired general who was responsible for special operations in Afghanistan as the
State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism, according to Truthout.
-Noel Brinkerhoff