July 23, 2009 -- While the legal authorities governing military and intelligence activities continue to blur in this era of irregular and asymmetric warfare, there is no pressing need to create a new statute to address that crossover, a top Defense Department official said today.
With both communities becoming increasingly intertwined in ongoing counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations, the focus should be on balancing the “suite” of existing authorities, instead of implementing new ones, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Low-Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities Michael Vickers said today.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code provides the legal guidance for all U.S. military activities. Title 50 is the governing statute that sets legal parameters for the intelligence community.
“You would not go with a purely blended [approach] where there is a case that Title 10 ought to dominate, or if there is a case where Title 50 would dominate,” Vickers said during a breakfast in Washington. “It is really more the suite of the three that is important for the range of challenges that we have.”
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said he supported the creation of “Title 60” legislation, which would create a hybrid set of authorities that would fall between Titles 10 and 60, during his confirmation hearing in January.
“I really think we need a Title [60]. I think we need to get rid of this artificial division in this global campaign against terrorists when the tools that are available in the Department of Defense and the intelligence agency are both applicable and both need to be put together to get the job done,” Blair said at the time.
Ensuring and strengthening the operational relationship between the two communities, “is central to the environment in which we find ourselves, and we think we will continue to find ourselves,” Vickers said.
However, he maintained that the relationship between the military and the intelligence community “has never been closer” and that the operational realities of the global war on terror have already attuned intelligence and military officials on how to work within the current rules.
“That integration, whatever one calls it, about sharing capabilities and knowing that there is a purpose for Title 10 and there is a purpose for Title 50 and there is some blending,” he added. “That really is an important concept and it is part of our reality today and has been for some time.”
When asked if new legal authorities, akin to a Title 60-type mandate, would help reinforce those ties between the intelligence agencies and DOD, he replied: “There is always more you can do.”
That said, Vickers reiterated the need to maintain independence between the two authorities, while recognizing the “need for blended” activities will be a persistent hallmark of all current and future counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations. -- Carlo Muñoz
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