Under President Donald Trump, the Central Intelligence Agency has assembled commando teams to assassinate suspected terrorists, Buzzfeed News reports.
The news organization cites two unnamed sources familiar with the program, which Buzzfeed claims is "coordinated" by the CIA paramilitary outfit the Special Activities Center, led by a former senior aide to CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who has been selected by Trump to serve as his next secretary of state. According to the two sources, Pompeo pushed for the ability and authorization to carry out lethal operations on the ground.
One source, a retired intelligence official, told Buzzfeed that there have been "a small numbe"" of "kinetic" missions, "kinetic" being a euphemism for violent military action.
"They are getting people on targeting lists," one source said. "Small teams are locating and killing bad guys. That's what we are doing."
"No one can dispute the number of real, real bad guys, where there's real intelligence, that are taking hits. No one can dispute its been effective," a source added.
Agency spokesperson Ryan Trapani told Buzzfeed that its story was "wrong."
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