Trump says he has authorized covert CIA action in Venezuela [View all]
Source: Washington Post
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct operations in Venezuela, markedly escalating U.S. pressure on President Nicolás Maduro amid a string of lethal strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats in Caribbean waters off that country’s coast.
Trump declined to say whether he had authorized the CIA to overthrow Maduro, a step some of his top national security aides have urged. “I think Venezuela’s feeling the heat,” he said at a White House news conference.
The president was asked about reports that he signed a highly classified document, known as a “finding,” that allows the CIA to conduct covert operations in foreign countries, ranging from clandestine information operations to training guerrilla opposition forces and conducting lethal strikes. Trump’s order was reported earlier by the New York Times. The details of the new authorities now available to the CIA remain unclear.
But people familiar with the matter said the spy agency has surged personnel to the Caribbean and Central America as part of the Trump administration’s move against Western Hemisphere drug cartels. They are there to collect intelligence, not conduct armed operations, said the people, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. CIA surveillance drones are also prowling the skies above Mexico, searching for labs that make the deadly drug fentanyl, they said.
Read more: https://wapo.st/4oeRb3Y
Nothing says "covert" more than announcing covert operations to the world.
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