Chapter 12: Rumsfeld Falls for JSOC

1 Less than … “going to be.” Andrews.… preferred to work through … A JSOC staff officer.

2 In his September … defeated. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/bushrecord/documents/Selected_Speeches_George_W_Bush.pdf.

3 The day after … “eight years.” A VTC participant.

4 Rumsfeld wanted … defense for policy. War and Decision, p. 112.

5 … more than 5,000 flight hours … more than 100 combat missions … Holland’s official Air Force résumé, accessed at: http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5834.

6 But those who worked … very uncomfortable. A senior member of the Joint Staff; Andrews; another OSD source; a Joint Staff officer; a special operations officer who attended Pentagon meetings with Holland during the post-9/11 period; a retired special operations officer.

7 Dailey soon … the Pentagon. An OSD source.

8 … JSOC XXI … A senior JSOC officer.

9 On a warm … “‘effort.’” Andrews; another OSD source; Hall; a Delta source; Kill bin Laden, pp. 66–69.

10 But despite … militias. Andrews; another OSD source; a Joint Staff officer; a JSOC staff officer; Known and Unknown, p. 654.

11 In the late … exited. A source in the briefing.… most senior military and civilian officials … Among those present were Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Myers, Marine General Pete Pace, who was the new vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Army Lieutenant General John Abizaid, who was the director of the Joint Staff, and Marine Lieutenant General Greg Newbold, the Joint Staff’s director of operations.

12 Rumsfeld had gotten … “times over.” Unless otherwise attributed in the text, this material comes from a Joint Staff officer; Andrews; two JSOC staff officers.… led by Special Forces Colonel David Schroer … Colonel Ron Russell was the first CTCSG commander for a very brief period before he left to command Delta. After retirement David Schroer became Diane Schroer.

13 An episode … mass destruction. A senior Joint Staff officer; Between Threats and War: U.S. Discrete Military Operations in the Post–Cold War World, by Micah Zenko (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), pp. 91–100.

14 For reasons that … “six C-17s?” A special operations officer; Between Threats and War, p. 100. (Zenko suggests that Bush vetoed an attack on the camp in summer 2002 because it might have threatened the planned invasion of Iraq.)

15 While any … JSOC operators. Between Threats and War, p. 94; a senior Joint Staff officer.

16 Dailey’s … closer. A field grade JSOC staff officer; a Joint Staff officer; a retired special operations officer; Scales.

17 Indeed … mass destruction. A Joint Staff officer.

18 On August 15 … ordered. A source in the briefing.… code name for JSOC’s domestic mission … “Commandos Get Duty on U.S. Soil,” by Eric Schmitt, The New York Times, January 23, 2005, accessed at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/23/national/nationalspecial3/23code.html; a JSOC staff officer. There was “a nuclear component” to Power Geyser, the JSOC staff officer said.

19 Team 6 was … “next week.” An officer in the room.

20 The secret unit had … commanders-in-chief. Andrews; a Joint Staff officer; two JSOC staff officers; a retired special operations officer.

21 A debate … fourth option. A senior JSOC officer; Andrews; a Joint Staff officer; a retired special operations officer.

22 However … shift. A special mission unit officer.

23 It was mid-January … didn’t know it. Two sources in the briefing.