Panel wants $7bn elite counter-terror unit

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) - The United States should create an elite 
group of counter-terror operatives to make the war on terrorism pre-
emptive and proactive, duping al Qaida into undertaking operations 
it is not prepared for and thereby exposing its personnel, a Pentagon 
report advocating more than $7 billion in new spending will recommend.  

United Press International has exclusively obtained documents 
summarizing the report of the Defense Science Board, which will 
be publicly released in late October, after it has been presented 
to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.  

The report, which reads in parts like a fantastical "spy vs. spy" 
manual, will also advocate tagging key terrorist figures with special 
chemicals so they can be tracked by laser anywhere on Earth; creating 
a special SWAT team to surreptitiously find and destroy chemical, 
biological and nuclear weapons all over the world; and creating a 
"red team" of particularly diabolical thinkers to plot imaginary 
terror attacks on the United States so the government can plan to 
thwart them.  

These recommendations and many more comprise the report by the DSB, 
a panel of private industry executives that advise the Pentagon on 
technologies, threats and policies. The report outlines billions in 
new spending on counter-terror operations and an expanded new role for 
Joint Forces Command in preparing the military for urban battles. The 
report is entitled "Special Operations and Joint Forces in Countering 
Terrorism."

The counter-terror operations group alone would require 100 people and 
at least $100 million a year. Rather than simply trying to find and foil 
terrorists' plans - the approach that characterizes the current strategy 
- the "Proactive Pre-emptive Operations Group" - known as P2OG - would 
devise ways to stimulate terrorists into responding or moving operations, 
possibly by stealing their money or tricking them with fake communications, 
according to the report.  

The group would be comprised of specialists in information operations, 
psychological operations, computer network attack, covert activities, 
signal intelligence, human intelligence, special operations forces and 
deception operations.  

The Defense Department already maintains a secretive counter-terror 
operations group known as Delta Force that is called in when a crisis 
happens; P2OG would focus its efforts on preventing those crises from 
even occurring in the first place.  

The DSB is recommending the group be headed not by the Pentagon but 
by the White House's national security adviser's staff, a suggestion 
that is meeting some resistance in the Defense Department, according 
to sources close to the matter.  

Rumsfeld has not been briefed on the report yet but many of his 
top generals have, including U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Tommy 
Franks, who is running the war against al Qaida in Afghanistan.  

One of the most costly recommendations is an overhaul of the intelligence 
community's ability to penetrate terrorist cells to collect information. 
The technologies and methods to do so are classified in the report, but 
the price tag is not: $1.7 billion over a 5-year period beginning in 2004.  

The panel also envisions a new breed of chemical and DNA tags to identify 
and track terrorist leaders. Agents could infiltrate terrorist groups and 
swab leaders' clothes with chemicals that would make them "light up" under 
a laser tracker. A DNA database could be created to track the same people 
by collecting samples of biological material from objects and papers 
handled by the targets.  

The DSB would also convene a panel of some 24 creative, highly respected 
analysts - and even people like author Tom Clancy who show a talent for 
dreaming up possible scenarios of destruction - who would plan "as 
terrorists might" ways to attack the U.S. homeland and forces overseas.  

Funded at around $20 million a year, the panel would report their 
detailed plans to the CIA director. They would also report on what 
to look for in someone who is planning such an attack - what materials 
are being purchased, what countries are being visited, and who would 
be contacted.  

The panel would also create a team of specially trained special forces 
soldiers able to search out and take offensive action against suspected 
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons sites, offer force protection 
for U.S. soldiers nearby and "consequence management," like enforcing 
quarantines. That effort would cost about $500 million a year and U.S. 
Special Operations Command would be in charge.  

That team would need a new set of battlefield sensors to determine 
when the weapons are being used, according to the DSB. Currently 
there are no tactical nuclear detectors that operate kilometers 
away from detonation - a safe standoff range; no clandestine chemical 
detectors that operate kilometers away; and no biological agent 
detectors that operate at safe distances.  

"No matter the sensing, 'agent defeat' (destroying or vitiating 
the effect of chemical or biological weapons) is critical and 
requires additional resources," the report states.  

The Defense Science Board advocates $1 billion a year for research and 
development in sensor and "agent defeat" technologies. Special Forces, 
the centerpiece of the war in Afghanistan, would move firmly to the 
center of military operations as the global war on terrorism continues, 
according to the DSB.  

The panel sees Special Forces increasing the number and scope of 
exercises it conducts with conventional forces; increasing its size 
by about 2 percent a year; and dramatically increasing its budget.  

Special operations is also one of the few ways that U.S. allies can 
offer comparable capabilities: Eight countries contributed special 
forces to the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.  

The costs of improving Special Forces' equipment, larger exercises and 
increasing international cooperation are in the "billions," according 
to the report.  

The war on terrorism presents an intelligence challenge unlike anything 
the United States has seen before, and the Defense Science Board responds 
by suggesting the creation of a force of former intelligence retirees 
who could be recalled to duty instantly when a surge capacity of 
intelligence workers is needed. They would be called to active duty at 
least once a year and participate in counter-terror intelligence exercises 
- a total effort that would cost about $100 million a year.   

/CONT/

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