Pentagon Runs Clandestine Intelligence-Gathering Infrastructure (moved from ATSNN), page 1

Since 2002, the Pentagon has been running Intelligence Gathering, and Support unit. It is given legal authority to operate anywhere in the world, where it is needed to run Anti/Counter Terrorism operations. In 2004 they were officially given the name "SSB," meaning "Strategic Support Branch."

www.cnn.com
The official said the role of the Strategic Support Branch -- described first in Sunday's Washington Post -- "is to provide an intelligence capability for field operation units" including the U.S. military's secretive special forces unit.

The Strategic Support Branch (SSB) got its name in 2004 after operating under a different, undisclosed name before then, said the official, who confirmed the unit's existence and mission to CNN.

The official said the SSB, as part of the the Defense Intelligence Agency's human intelligence operations, sends DIA personnel into the field and recruits agents to provide intelligence. The official emphasized the unit's role is to provide a human intelligence capability for field operating units that, in many cases, will be composed of special forces also operating clandestinely in such countries as Iraq and Afghanistan.

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I personally am estatic that we have such a branch to protect our country. I believe the only way to prevent terrorism, is to know about it. Maybe the public disclosure of this unit, will force enemies to think twice before trying something covert and sneaky. Because anyone, at anytime, could be an SSB Operative.