By Ken Klippenstein, Website, 8/19/24
As the Ukraine war enters its most perilous phase, with Kiev’s forces fighting inside Russia, the United States is operating a formal “sensitive activities” detachment that is active in providing direct military support to the beleaguered country. The detachment, never before disclosed, is run by U.S. special operations forces, and with its Ukrainian counterparts, provides on-the-battlefield support, including near-real time targeting intelligence, operators say.
Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the Biden administration has issued firm reassurances that there are no U.S. boots on the ground in Ukraine. The statement has always been misleading because “boots” only refers to conventional forces and excludes CIA and military special operations personnel, which are considered unconventional and even covert.
The U.S. military defines1 sensitive activities as:
“Operations, actions, activities, or programs that are generally handled through special access, compartmented, or other sensitive control mechanisms because of the nature of the target, the area of operation, or other designated aspects. Sensitive activities also include operations, actions, activities, or programs conducted by any DOD Component that, if compromised, could have enduring adverse effects on U.S. foreign policy, DOD activities, or military operations; or cause significant embarrassment to the United States, its allies, or the DoD.”
Something that is “sensitive” is defined2 as:
“Requiring special protection from disclosure that could cause embarrassment, compromise, or threat to the security of the sponsoring power. May be applied to an agency, installation, person, position, document, material, or activity.”
The Government Accountability Office further clarifies that sensitive activities demand extraordinary secrecy and are “excluded from normal staff review and oversight because of restrictions on access to information.”
Given the Biden administration’s pledges not to be involved in the fighting against Russia, it’s not hard to see why public knowledge of special operators directly supporting the war might be embarrassing. Also, U.S. military aid packages for Ukraine have become an increasingly contentious issue, particularly among Republicans in Congress who have sought to block such aid. But is this a legitimate reason for secrecy? To prevent the American public from knowing something, especially at such a time when the war could even further escalate?
An operator formerly deployed to the Army’s 10th Special Forces Group assigned to a sensitive activities detachment told me their work included the creation of clandestine human networks for intelligence gathering, as well as identifying Russian military weaknesses for targeting. Part of the sensitive activities detachment, the operator was tasked with providing near-real time intelligence in support of Task Force Raven, which trains Ukrainian military personnel, predominantly in Poland.
A second operator also described having been tasked with providing near up-to-the-minute intelligence support to Ukrainian forces. Formerly deployed to a coalition planning cell in Germany, the operator worked with 20 partner nations, generating intelligence on vulnerabilities in Russian electronic warfare systems and air defenses.
To what extent is the “sensitive activities” detachment working on the ground in Ukraine? And how are U.S. green berets and other special operators providing support for Ukraine’s foray into Russia? These are questions that demand answers. Those answers would enhance U.S. foreign policy rather than undermine it, by better informing debate on the matter. At a time when the Pentagon is decrying adversary operations in the so-called “gray zone” — the murky continuum between peace and all-out war — shrouding their own such activities in unnecessary secrecy destabilizes more than stabilizes a very shaky world.
— Edited by William M. Arkin