CIA officer is killed in Somalia
WASHINGTON — A veteran CIA officer was killed in combat in Somalia in recent days, according to current and former U.S. officials, a deathlikely to reignite debate over U.S. counterterrorism operations in Africa.
Theofficerwas amemberof the CIA’S paramilitary division, the Special Activities Center, and was a former member of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6.
The officer’s identity remained classified, and the circumstances of the killing were ambiguous. It was unclear whether the officer was killed in a counterterrorism raid or was the victim of an enemy attack, former U.S. officials said. The CIA declined to comment. The death will lead to another star being added to the wall in the CIA’S lobby, where it memorializes its fallen. The past 20 years have placed a heavy burden on the agency, with dozens of stars bringing the total to 135.
Compared with the U.S. military, CIA officers rarely die in combat. Still, paramilitary work is the most dangerous task at the agency, and members of the Special Activities Center carry out missions as risky as those of Delta Force or SEAL Team 6.
The death of the CIA paramilitary officer comes as a draft order is circulating at the Pentagon under which virtually all of the more than 700U.S. military forces in Somalia conducting training and counterterrorism missions would depart by the time President Donald Trumpleaves office in January.
Al-shabab, the al-qaida-affiliated terror group based in Somalia, remains a deadly threat and claimed responsibility this week for killing a group of U.s.-trained Somali soldiers. No Americans were killed in that attack, a military official said.
Inside the CIA, Somalia long has been considered aparticularly dangerous war zone.
Senior intelligence officials have debated whether counterterrorism operations there are worth the risk to American lives. Somein the agency believe that al-shabab is at worst a regional threat to Africa and to U.S. interests there but not beyond the region.
Decisions about whether to alter U.S. counterterrorism operations in Somalia will be an early national security challenge for President-elect Joe Biden as he reviews Trump’s policies.
Still, Biden may find his options more limited as Trump considers major changes in his last weeks in office.
Thetrumpadministration plan under discussion wouldn’t apply to U.S. troops stationed in nearby Kenya and Djibouti, where U.S. drones that carry out airstrikes in Somalia are based.
Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller announced plans last week to reduce troop levels in both Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 by January, butpentagonofficials said this week that they still were working out details of the drawdown in Somalia.
Critics said Trump’s plan to leave Somalia comes at a precarious time for the strife-weary nation in the Horn of Africa.
Somalia is gearing up for parliamentary elections next month and a presidential election scheduled for early February. The removal of U.S. troops could complicate any ability to keep election rallies and voting safe from Shabab attackers.
Political turmoil also has erupted in neighboring Ethiopia, whose army has battled al-shabab.
Security inside Somalia is increasingly dire despite a sustained flurry of U.S. drone strikes and U.s.-backed ground raids against Shabab fighters, according to a report issued Wednesday by the inspectors general of the Defense and State departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“Despite many years of sustained Somali, U.S. and international counterterrorism pressure, the terrorist threat in East Africa is not degraded,” the assessment concluded. “Shabab retains freedom of movement in many parts of southern Somalia and has demonstrated an ability and intent to attack outside of the country, including targeting U.S. interests.”