NEWSWEEK: CIA and Defense Department Have Increased Strikes in Pakistani

Tribal Regions Where Bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri Are Rumored to be Hiding -

January's Predator Strike Was Fourth Since May 2005

U.S. Officials: Agencies Have Put Infighting Behind Them, Are Working

Together in War on Terror; CIA Effectively Has Control in Pakistan

NEW YORK, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest audiotape from Osama bin
Laden surfaced at a time when the CIA and Defense Department have
stepped up missile strikes inside Pakistani tribal regions, where many
experts believe bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are
hiding, report Newsweek's Senior Editor Michael Hirsh, Investigative
Correspondent Mark Hosenball and Special Correspondent Sami Yousafzai
in the January 30 issue (on newsstands Monday, January 23). According
to two former officials, several groups of missile-armed Predators --
some of which are equipped with laser-guided gravity bombs -- are
based in the region. And a Pakistani official privy to intelligence
says the January Predator strike in the village of Damadola was the
fourth inside Pakistan's borders since May 2005 (two more than have
been reported previously). Beginning earlier this month, the military
and CIA have also begun to use the first production models of the
Global Hawk unmanned recon aircraft, which can survey distances of
more than 100 miles from 65,000 feet and direct the lower-flying
Predator to precise targets.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060122/NYSU002 )

U.S. officials express confidence that, after years of infighting back
in Washington, they are finally waging the global war on terror in a
coherent way. Despite media coverage a year ago about a power struggle
between the Pentagon and the CIA, the two agencies are working fairly
well together now in the field, U.S. counterterrorism officials say.
The CIA effectively has control inside Pakistan, where the U.S.
military is not supposed to be operating (and the agency has
"deniability" because it is engaged in covert operations that are
never officially acknowledged). Indeed, the Global Hawk and Predator
systems are so sophisticated that live, high-resolution pictures are
transmitted, via satellite links, to a large command post called the
Global Response Center on the sixth floor of CIA headquarters in
Langley, Va. There, officials can watch the satellite feeds in real
time on large screens while other officials with headsets bark orders
to operatives in the field.

Authority to fire Hellfire missiles from Predators has been delegated
by the White House to CIA officials, according to current and former
counterterrorism officials. If officials conducting surveillance
believe there is a strong chance of civilians' being killed in an
attack, operatives are expected to consult higher-ranking agency
officials before firing. In the case of the Damadola attack, according
to a knowledgeable source, CIA officials made the decision to launch
the attack themselves. But they notified higher- ups in the
administration, including White House officials, who had enough time
to veto the strike if they wanted.

The broad message of the Damadola strike, which flattened three houses
and killed several families, is that tribesmen need to rethink their
code. Those who are supposedly governed by the iron law of Pahstunwali
-- or automatic loyalty to fellow tribesmen or guests -- now have to
recalculate the cost of that, U.S. officials said. "The message to
them is you have to take a new measure now: your families are not safe
if you protect terrorists," says one senior Pentagon official.

Across the border in Afghanistan, meanwhile, U.S. Special Operations
teams are operating day and night, battling Taliban insurgents who
infiltrate from Pakistan. "It's quite a bloody little war down there,"
a U.S. military source said.

(Read the entire article at www.Newsweek.com. Click "Pressroom" for news

releases.) SOURCE Newsweek