Article

2003-08-07 Europe

On secret mission in Germany: CIA agents with "a lisence to kill"

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Posted by DeviantSaint 2003-08-07 10:31:52 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Uh-huh...

Posted by mojo 2003-8-7 10:43:11 AM|| 2003-8-7 10:43:11 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 The source is supposedly some German rag. I doubt it's true, or if it's true, the mission has been compromised, if even notoriously obtuse reporters can spot them. What's more likely is FBI agents helping with German investigations. Feebees are the guys with the short hair and the shades.

Covert operatives try to blend in - in Afghanistan that meant beards and local costume. In Germany, that would mean German hairstyles and used clothing with German labels, probably from the German equivalent of the Salvation Army.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-8-7 10:43:30 AM|| 2003-8-7 10:43:30 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 They're selling art door to door.

Posted by Angie Schultz 2003-8-7 11:12:39 AM|| [http://darkblogules.blogspot.com] 2003-8-7 11:12:39 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 GSG-9 can handle the duties very well without the CIA's help.

Posted by Chuck 2003-8-7 11:21:05 AM|| [http://blog.simmins.org] 2003-8-7 11:21:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 If they wanted to fit in they would stop bathing and protest US imperialism.

Posted by Anonymous 2003-8-7 11:31:04 AM|| 2003-8-7 11:31:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Maybe it's the decoy team. Special agents Fitzhume and Milbarge.

Posted by marlowe 2003-8-7 11:51:46 AM|| [http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe] 2003-8-7 11:51:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 They looking for Goldfinger? I thought he was dead.

Posted by tu3031 2003-8-7 12:28:10 PM|| 2003-8-7 12:28:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 "Unfortunately for the success of the mission, Jimmy blew their cover when he walked into a Biergarten and stupidly ordered 'a martini--shaken, not stirred.'"

Posted by Mike 2003-8-7 12:37:01 PM|| 2003-8-7 12:37:01 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Is there really a state of "Essen"? I thought that meant "eat"...

Posted by mojo 2003-8-7 1:06:08 PM|| 2003-8-7 1:06:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 'Twelve CIA-agents are currently said to be on
an "unclear mission" in Germany...'

Surmise: They mis-spelled "nuclear"?

Knock, Knock...

Who's there?

Candygram...

Posted by snellenr 2003-8-7 1:17:56 PM|| 2003-8-7 1:17:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Sheesh! This whole thread is a COFFEE ALERT!

Posted by Â·com 2003-8-7 1:54:24 PM|| 2003-8-7 1:54:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Is there really a state of "Essen"? I thought that meant "eat"...

Essen is a major German city in the Rhur basin, in the German state of North Rhine/Westphalia.

"BILD" is supposed to be a rather conservative magazine, but some of their writers are off the wall. I'm sure TGA can fill us in. The problem is, many of the places mentioned are also home to most of the GI's still stationed in Germany, so there is plenty of room for confusion, especially deliberate "confusion".
If the CIA is truly in Germany, you'd never know it. If Delta Force or Seals were in Germany, it would be about the stupidist thing the US government has done in years. Most likely, as Zhang mentioned, it's the FBI or some other overt group helping search for terrorist links in Germany, mis-interpreted by an over-zealous German reporter, probably with an agenda.

Posted by Old Patriot 2003-8-7 2:08:55 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2003-8-7 2:08:55 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 And then filtered through IRNA...

Posted by Fred 2003-8-7 2:27:22 PM|| 2003-8-7 2:27:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 I just read the Bild article. Nothing more than a bunch of speculations with a lot of question marks. Bild is a mix of Sun and Mirror (6 million copies a day) without a clear political agenda (more conservative but pretty much goes with current "public opinion").

Of course the CIA operates in Germany. But a "license to kill"? Clearly unnecessary. The CIA will track the guys down and German authorities will bag them if necessary.

Delta Force? You need them in countries hostile to the U.S. In Germany they would do way more harm than good. While top level political relations between the U.S. and Germany may be strained, collaboration on lower levels works very well. And will continue to do so. No need for Rambos.

Posted by True German Ally 2003-8-7 2:38:53 PM|| 2003-8-7 2:38:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 No need for Rambos.

I think there's a mistaken assumption here that these guys will go in with maximum noise and visibility. I really doubt that. Even NYPD police operations against dangerous criminals are extremely low-key - typically when no one's watching. If covert operatives are carrying out hits in Germany, the targets will likely disappear, never to be found and without any headlines, since their targets are always moving around anyway. No body, no crime. And our guys are unlikely to try to be too clever by half, by staging something so it looks like an accident. Disappearances are almost impossible to pin on someone - just ask the families of mob victims who never turn up again.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-8-7 2:57:41 PM|| 2003-8-7 2:57:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 I have my doubts that this story is true. However, just having his story out there ought to keep the bearded ones nervous.

Posted by Kinch1 2003-8-7 3:01:41 PM|| 2003-8-7 3:01:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 In that case you wouldn't send the Delta Force. Yes people sometimes just go missing without being missed too much.

I could see that action in France (French intelligence mostly takes a hostile or at least unfriendly stance against U.S. intelligence). I doubt that the CIA would risk its excellent relationship with the German services. Of course the BND or the Verfassungsschutz might just look the other way. But CIA action without any notice to German intelligence would spell trouble nobody wants.

Posted by True German Ally 2003-8-7 3:09:58 PM|| 2003-8-7 3:09:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 "keep the bearded ones nervous"

You might have the key right there. Have a source like Bild run the article to draw attention to them while the real CIA agents with licenses to kill are cleverly disguised as well-known ayatollahs and running around Iran...

I shouldn't have said that.

Posted by Fred 2003-8-7 3:56:37 PM|| 2003-8-7 3:56:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 In that case you wouldn't send the Delta Force.

People have serious misconceptions about Delta Force, probably from misconceived Hollywood movies*. Anyone who's read anything about Delta Force knows that they rely on stealth rather than firepower. All commandos operate on the basis of stealth - the enemy has stockpiled weapons and unlimited reserves of manpower on site, whereas the commando has only a few team members and is equipped with only what he and his buddies can carry. Commandos are stealthy not by choice, but by necessity. Discovery before the onset of the operation almost always means failure. Given that they operate almost exclusively in foreign countries, they are especially leery of discovery.

* Not that the technical advisers would want to divulge anything really secret, since this would endanger their former colleagues. Plus the stealthy truth is less glamorous, just like real-life policing or espionage methods are much less entertaining than what you see in the movies - the running gunfights are related more to box-office requirements than reality. The best operation is one where you accomplish the mission without anyone knowing you were there until you've left the area.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-8-7 4:09:29 PM|| 2003-8-7 4:09:29 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 I know it's hard to have a job where success will never be noticed, only failure.

I still don't buy the story. Given that this is Germany, you don't have to go for secret killings unless the guy is a CIA renegade.

Posted by True German Ally 2003-8-7 4:35:32 PM|| 2003-8-7 4:35:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 I still don't buy the story.

I don't buy it either. I don't think politically that we're quite comfortable with the idea of assassination teams. I'm personally fine with it, but a lot of people aren't - and then there are the legal and political problems in the event of failure. If something goes sour, unlike in the movies, you can't really abandon someone who risked his life for his country. During all-out war, anything goes. In a quasi-wartime situation like this, I just can't see assassination teams being deployed.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-8-7 4:55:37 PM|| 2003-8-7 4:55:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 Twelve CIA-agents...

TGA's well informed sources say it's in fact:

THE DIRTY DOZEN!

Posted by True German Ally 2003-8-7 6:02:11 PM|| 2003-8-7 6:02:11 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 I think this is OBVIOUSLY a case of wishful thinking on the part of the editors of BILD.

I think that some rational minds will realize that the "Deutcheland Uber Alles" FRG is a much softer target for islamic nut jobs than the US....and the fatwahs and ranting of the clerics does not differtiate between German infidels or US infidels.

I think it is just a matter of time before we have something make a loud casualty causing noise in some major kraut city.....BOOM.......hey Gerhardt, you hear that???

Posted by SOG475 2003-8-7 6:25:44 PM|| 2003-8-7 6:25:44 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 Well, it's the height of the tourist season and perhaps the German intelligence people have gone on vacation for the month and needed someone to fill in.

Posted by Tokyo Taro 2003-8-7 8:20:16 PM|| 2003-8-7 8:20:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 It only in Phewrance that they'd stop bathing

Posted by Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire 2003-8-7 9:57:22 PM|| 2003-8-7 9:57:22 PM|| Front Page Top

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