U.S. expanding secret intelligence operations in Africa

Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore (R) welcomes Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf upon her arrival at the airport of Ouagadougou on January 16, 2010. / Ahmed Ouabo/AFP/Getty Images

This post originally appeared in The Washington Post and was written by Craig Whitlock

(Washington Post) OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso -- The U.S. military is expanding its secret intelligence operations across Africa, establishing a network of small air bases to spy on terrorist hideouts from the fringes of the Sahara to jungle terrain along the equator, according to documents and people involved in the project.

At the heart of the surveillance operations are small, unarmed turboprop aircraft disguised as private planes. Equipped with hidden sensors that can record full-motion video, track infrared heat patterns, and vacuum up radio and cellphone signals, the planes refuel on isolated airstrips favored by African bush pilots, extending their effective flight range by thousands of miles.

About a dozen air bases have been established in Africa since 2007, according to a former senior U.S. commander involved in setting up the network. Most are small operations run out of secluded hangars at African military bases or civilian airports.

The nature and extent of the missions, as well as many of the bases being used, have not been previously reported but are partially documented in public Defense Department contracts. The operations have intensified in recent months, part of a growing shadow war against al-Qaeda affiliates and other militant groups. The surveillance is overseen by U.S. Special Operations forces but relies heavily on private military contractors and support from African troops.

The surveillance underscores how Special Operations forces, which have played an outsize role in the Obama administration's national security strategy, are working clandestinely all over the globe, not just in war zones. The lightly equipped commando units train foreign security forces and perform aid missions, but they also include teams dedicated to tracking and killing terrorism suspects.

The establishment of the Africa missions also highlights the ways in which Special Operations forces are blurring the lines that govern the secret world of intelligence, moving aggressively into spheres once reserved for the CIA. The CIA has expanded its counterterrorism and intelligence-gathering operations in Africa, but its manpower and resources pale in comparison with those of the military.

U.S. officials said the African surveillance operations are necessary to track terrorist groups that have taken root in failed states on the continent and threaten to destabilize neighboring countries.

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[OKtoDie]

WOW! Now that secret isn't any longer.

Gee thanks mainstream media for the rush to expose anything and everything!

Why don't you hook up with Assange in England...you'd be welcome.

[expatriate2]

And if any African nation had spy ops in the U.S. it would be a national scandl with expulsions. When will the concept of expanionism, whether territorial or in political agendas stop and America learn that it is responsibile only to itself. Its bloody history of inflicting its power on others across the world is sufficiently shameful without continuing its vigilance and bullying into modern times.

[NYY27]

first of all our allies are in this country spying right now!! were ever these terrorist groups and al Qaeda go we follow, thats not imperialism, or expansionism its war!! get a clue

[expatriate2]

al Qaeda my arse! If you fall for that one, you probably were afraid of the Commies during that smear campaign too.

[takacrat]

Who knows what long lost brother or sister one may find!