Nick Turse: A Secret War In 120 Countries

Without the knowledge of the American public, a secret force within the US Military is undertaking operations in a majority of the world's countries. A new Pentagon "power elite" is waging a global war whose size and scope has never been revealed. Last year, Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post reported that US Special Operations forces were deployed in 75 countries, up from 60 at the end of the Bush presidency. By the end of this year, US Special Operations Command spokesman Colonel Tim Nye told me, that number will most likely reach 120. "We do a lot of traveling, a lot more than Afghanistan or Iraq," he said recently. This global presence, in about 60% of the world's nations, and far larger than previously acknowledged, provides striking new evidence of a rising clandestine Pentagon power elite, waging a secret war in all corners of the world. Born od a failed 1980 raid to rescue American hostages in Iran, in which eight US service members died, US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) was established in 1987. Having spent the post-Vietnam years distrusted and starved for money by the regular military, special operations forces suddenly had a single home, a stable budget, and a four-star commander as their advocate. Since then, SOCOM has grown into a combined force of startling proportions. Made up of units from all the service branches, including the Army's "Green Berets" and Rangers, Navy SEALS, Air Force Air Commandos, and Marine Corps Special Operations teams, in addition to specialized helicopter crews, boat teams, civil affairs personnel, para-rescue-men, and even battlefield air-traffic controllers and special operations weathermen, SOCOM carries out the United States' most specialized and secret missions. These include assassinations, counter-terrorist raids, long-range reconnaissance, intelligence analysis, foreign troop training, and weapons of mass destruction counter-proliferation operations. From a force of about 37,000 in the early 1990's, Special Operations Command personnel have grown to about 60,000 about a third of whom are career members of SOCOM. Growth has been exponential since September 11, 2001, as SOCOM's baseline budget almost tripled from $2.3 billion to $6.3 billion.