By host Tom Ashbrook:
A new national security strategy report out today from the Bush administration makes clear that pre-emption is still very much in the Pentagon’s strategic arsenal. And key to that posture, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made abundantly clear, is America’s elite military commandos: Navy Seals, Rangers, Green Berets and more.
The country’s “Special Ops” forces are quick, highly-trained, and lethal. Now the Pentagon has quietly placed these special ops troops in a growing number of U.S. embassies around the world to gather intelligence, and, when deemed necessary, to strike.
Hear about the uneasy marriage of diplomacy and the new tip of the spear — special ops.
Guests:
David Mack, ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from 1986 to 1989. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 1990 to 1993. He is currently vice president of the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank.
Robert Baer, 20-year veteran of the CIA. He served as Middle East Station Chief . He is author of “See no Evil: the True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism” and “Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude.”;
William Rosenau, political scientist, Rand Corporation. He was senior policy adviser in the State Department’s counter-terrorism office from 2001 to 2002. He served in the office of the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict during George H. W. Bush’s administration.
