WASHINGTON POST

Wednesday, 15 July 1998


                Special Forces Training Review Sought
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        By Dana Priest


The House and Senate defense committees plan to require Defense Secretary
William S. Cohen to play a greater role in deciding whether and how U.S.
special operations forces train foreign militaries in sensitive countries,
according to congressional staff members.

The committees in particular want Cohen to review and approve training in
countries where the military's human rights record is poor, such as
Indonesia, and in countries where there is an active conflict, such as
Colombia.

The measure is a reaction to problems identified with the Joint Combined
Exchange Training program, which is funded by a 1991 law that says U.S.
troops may go on training exercises with foreign militaries overseas if
the primary purpose is to train U.S. troops.

In a series of articles, The Washington Post reported this week that
many missions have other goals, such as training foreign troops in
counterdrug and counterinsurgency operations, and are not well monitored
by senior foreign policy officials. Lethal-tactics training in countries
such as Indonesia, Colombia, Rwanda, Suriname, Equitorial Guinea, Turkey
and Papua New Guinea also suggested the program is out of step with the
broader foreign policy of fostering military respect for human rights.

"When asked to provide details about the benefits to the U.S. military .
. . these officials have resorted to justifications so vague and evasive
as to be embarrassing," Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), chairman of
the House subcommittee on international operations and human rights, said
in a statement. "We need a simple and transparent set of rules to govern
all our military education programs. The first rule should be that the
United States does not give any kind of military assistance whatever to
governments that murder their own people."

Separately, the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on foreign
operations, which funds and monitors other military training and exchange
programs involving foreign countries, is likely to add language in its
mark-up today to require the Defense Department to supply an annual report
on all military exercises with foreign militaries, said Rep. Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.), the subcommittee's ranking minority member.

"It's really appalling the military would act with complete disregard for
Congress's intent" in Indonesia, Pelosi said. Sending U.S. troops to train
with foreign militaries "has implications for our foreign policy," said
Pelosi, who added that she believes the State Department should get more
involved in the matter.

Both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House International
Affairs Committee have asked the General Accounting Office to audit the
JCET program, to detail the approval process and assess whether U.S.
regional commanders, who use the program to forge relationships with
foreign militaries, are complying with the intent of the law, according to
congressional staff members.

H. Allen Holmes, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations
and low-intensity conflict assigned to oversee the special operations
forces, said last week he now will receive quarterly reports on planned
exercises. But he described the new responsibilities as "not an approval
process" but "a final check" on the program.

Defense committee staff members said that is not good enough for them,
and several charged that lack of active oversight by Holmes has, in part,
allowed the program to drift away from its original intent. "The bill will
say `approval'; it won't say a `check-off,' " said one Senate staffer. "We
want them to review it and to turn it off if it's not appropriate."

The defense committees also intend to make it clear they want high-level
State Department scrutiny and that Franklin D. Kramer, assistant secretary
of defense for international security affairs, should have a strong hand
in the review process.

"Clearly, if they don't handle it, we'll be looking at the viability of
the program and at putting limits on it," said one high-ranking staffer.

        Copyright 1998 The Washington Post
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