Work at the "CIA Counter Terrorism Command Center"

 　　Under Obama's order, the "Predator" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft is being dispatched in record numbers to carry out air clearance missions in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries. The following report is an exclusive interview with a former senior employee of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) by a US media reporter. This person was responsible for reviewing Operation Fatal Clearance.

　　

　　Predator air

　　

　　attack Northern Virginia, USA. In a seemingly ordinary room in an office building, there are multiple computer monitors, various keyboards and maps. In front of the work table, someone is holding a control lever, sitting there monitoring something. John A. Rizzo, the ClA's acting general counsel, wandered the room with several other agency officials. From time to time, they gather together, staring at a screen that shows, somewhere thousands of miles away, a man with his family driving a car down the road. The car stopped slowly, and the man got out of the car alone. In just a few seconds, a huge explosion image filled the screen, and the man was killed instantly. "The operation was very efficient," Rizzo commented. An unmanned reconnaissance drone took out the man, the senior leader of a terrorist organization. His family, wife and children were unharmed as the attack was carried out after he left the car. "The bureau is very cautious about this," Rizzo noted. "They try to minimize harm to other people, especially women and children."

　　The general public has been somewhat aware of the CIA's removal of terrorists over the years - including how to use drones to kill in Pakistan Dead Al Qaeda and Taliban militants. However, what targets should be tracked in the decision-making process for the specific implementation of this operation, "smashed to pieces," in Rizzo's words, has never been reported before. The reporter revealed a multi-level review process through the procedures learned behind the implementation of the operation. This procedure is performed by a team of civilians performing their work professionally. Rizzo also sometimes refers to the fact that he was involved in "murder." These actions are pre-established in the form of provisions, and they are inevitably questioned.

　　More than a year after leaving government, Rizzo, a bearded 63-year-old man with a cuff-buttoned shirt and a pale yellow tie, was tasting red wine and French wine with reporters at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. Steak, talking about his role in the CIA's "Deadly Clearance." Rizzo's narration is sometimes casual. "There is a basic removal list," he said. Then he pointed a finger at the reporter's forehead and pretended to pull the trigger. "The Predator is a weapon of choice, but it's also possible to send someone to put a bullet in your head."

　　Since Obama took office, the majority of such removals have been carried out by the Predator surveillance drones occurred in Pakistan. Such covert operations have become an integral part of the U.S. counterterrorism strategy.

　　Who the CIA officials chose to target is not a fairly complex issue, though its exact content remains unknown. The president doesn't question everyone on the list. Rizzo explained that he was the one who signed the execution. When former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage described the course of a recent incident in Washington, someone mentioned the "target list." In fact, there may not be an official list of which the CIA is scheduled to clear. "I've never seen the list," said a State Department official involved in discussions of the purge. Due to the nature of the topic, it did not disclose its department. CIA officials select targets by "incapacitating" them, he explained. "We search for some personal targets, and we believe that pre-emptive strikes can eliminate the threat."

　　

　　Would rather choose to kill directly

　　

　　Military departments and the CIA often track the same type of targets—such as bin Laden—but operate in different areas. Sometimes, they cooperate with each other and even exchange jobs. Former CIA officer Henry A. Crumpton was sent to Afghanistan, where he worked closely with General Staley McChrystal, the former commander of Special Joint Operations (a secret military unit), and their The same goes for subordinates. “I knew some people who worked for me as well as the general — and vice versa,” recalls Crumpton. Some counterterrorism experts point out that President Obama and his advisers advocated the aggressive approach because it seemed more practical—administrators would rather kill terrorists than capture them. “Since the political and legal situation in the United States makes harsh interrogation methods questionable, it is difficult to argue that it is more advantageous to hold terrorists in prison than to kill them,” Professor Kenneth Anderson of Amerlcan University said in his statement. Articles written on terrorism issues. The article was read by multiple White House officials. "If someone is inclined to end their life outright, the motivation is undoubtedly an apathetic stance, because that removes some of the potentially thorny problems of what to do with the surrender."

　　Among the tactics used against die-hard terrorists , U.S. government officials believe that aerial clearance operations by drones are killing al-Qaeda elements and reducing the chance of another terrorist attack. They are also careful to convince the public that such attacks are legitimate. When Newsweek reached out to government sources for comment, an unidentified official said of the sensitive topic: "These counterterrorism operations were conducted in strict accordance with U.S. law and in accordance with the Department of Justice's guidelines. Legal guidance.”

　　Former CIA official Bruce Riddle explained: “We are no longer in the naive stage in this regard. We have been following a well-designed protocol since 2001.”

　　

　　Incidentally Opportunity to enter CIA

　　

　　An article in the Los Angeles Times described John Rizzo as "the most influential professional lawyer in CIA history," and he probably understood the legal aspects of the CIA's deadly purges better than anyone else in the administration. But his entry into the world of espionage was almost accidental. Rizzo, a graduate of George Washington University Law School, lived in Washington, D.C., in the 1970s. When a church committee published a report on the CIA's attempted assassination of a foreign leader, he sensed an opportunity: "As things went on, they needed a lawyer." Soon, he was hired by the CIA.

　　Over the decades, Rizzo found himself at the center of the conflict as the number of CIA interrogations and deadly removals surged in the wake of 9/11. Bush's intensified interrogation programs in so-called shady locations, secret prisons (in Afghanistan and other countries), "keep me busy," in Rizzo's own words. Justice Department attorney John G. Yoo wrote a notorious "torture memo" in August 2002 when Rizzo demanded clarification on some technical issues that applied to prisoners. Rizzo had hoped to become ClA's general counsel at one point, but some members of the Senate Intelligence Committee opposed it because of his mandated role in the interrogation. Rizzo retired in 2009.

　　Today, Rizzo can't help but boast a bit when he talks about it. "How many law professors have signed a life and death warrant?" he asked. He then stressed that preparations were done in a wise and prudent manner. In the CIA's office, he can watch the footage of the killing of some senior leaders of terrorist organizations. "My concern is whether the cleanest possible approach has been taken in the implementation process," he explained.

　　It's neat and tidy, but it always involves moral complexities. Rizzo sometimes finds himself sitting in his office on the seventh floor of the CIA headquarters building with a cable TV set showing an image of a terrorist in front of him, and he wonders how his Irish-Italian parents would feel if they knew. new task accepted.

　　

　　The Role

　　

　　of Since Bush Jr. authorized the CIA to arrest al Qaeda members after 9/11, "American lawyers have been deeply involved, but in fact,

They're good -- competent and helpful," Crumpton said. "They help us understand international law and cross-border issues, and they interpret specific meanings of presidential directives. "

　　According to another order from Bush a few years later, a large number of people operating in the terrorist camps, that is, not only the well-known leaders, were also selected as targets; therefore, the candidates who need to be reviewed by CIA lawyers There was a steep increase. No matter how high the level of secrecy these directives were, it became clear what they covered. “These directives from the president have often been conclusive and irreversible since the CIA’s inception,” Syracuse University William G. Banks, director of the National Security and Counterterrorism Institute, told a House committee that the command post for the lethal removal operation is located at the CIA Counterterrorism Center. Rizzo noted that the center would produce a cable identifying an individual who constitutes a threat to the United States of America. The CIA's telegram instructions set out sufficient arguments and legal basis, often as long as five pages of text. Michael Schuyur, who was in charge of the CIA's Bin Laden Action Team, described a "data compilation," or " A two-page document," he explained, "with an alphabetical index of relevant intelligence material if anyone wants to read the whole thing. "This compilation of materials" will be presented to the lawyers, who will make a decision. These lawyers are a very picky bunch,” Schuyler said, adding that sometimes the hurdle is too high to cross, “and often lose opportunities. The idea that some people have to get rid of it sometimes stems from a reviewer's gut feeling - I just hope it's true. If it were true, there would be far more bad guys killed. Sometimes ,

　　Rizzo recalls, the evidence gathered about a particular terrorist was insufficient, and lawyers in higher positions would inform their subordinates: “The material you submitted was not well-founded. "Sometimes, whether to take action against the person is brought up to the huddle meeting," Rizzo explained. "The vocals are too loud to be consistent." "So the material kicked back downstairs.

　　As Rizzo put it, the drafted message was marked "ready for prime time". At the end is printed the following words: "Therefore we require approval for lethal removal operations." The words "Agree" are printed below, and there is space for the General Counsel to sign. Rizzo said he reads about one telegram a month. At any given stage, about 30 terrorists are selected. Many of them were taken out, but not all: "Number one and number two on the list are still at large," Rizzo said. "You know who it is, and it's Ayman al-Zawahiri," another top al Qaeda leader.

　　

　　Are they "illegal warfighters"?

　　

　　Some commentators have pointed out that it takes a government law enforcement agent to gain approval if they want to intercept someone's phone within the United States than it would take to get approval for a removal action against someone abroad. The procedure is more cumbersome. Rizzo appears to have resented the criticism he and other CIA officials received for authorizing torture interrogations during Bush's tenure, while the fast-paced deadly purges they carried out under Obama received little criticism (according to the New America Fund). From 2004 to 2008, Bush authorized 42 drone strikes; during the Obama era, that number has more than quadrupled so far—to 180).

　　Rizzo noted that in the past, incarcerated terrorists largely survived; today, high-ranking terrorists often suffer.

　　Unlike the bureaucrats' assessment, however, the real-world situation just doesn't match their views. In December 2010, some people in Pakistan took to the streets of Islamabad to protest such airstrikes, expressing sympathy for a resident of Waziristan district named Karim Khal. The man's son and brother were killed in an airstrike in 2009. The family has sued the U.S. government, accusing a CIA agent of being responsible for the civilian deaths.

　　Officials in the current administration insist that the deadly target removal has a solid legal basis, but many scholars disagree. Gary Solis, a Georgetown University professor and author of "The Law in Armed Conflict," pointed out that the group of people working at the CIA guiding the unmanned aerial vehicles were non-military personnel who were directly engaged in acts of war -- leading them to become "Illegal combatants" could be prosecuted.

　　These days, John Rizzo is writing a memoir. He doesn't talk about the ethics of what he's doing -- he's not that kind of character -- but he's trying to assess the consequences of his mission to put people to death, which is currently in the Virginia building There are still people in the office building executing.