The CIA has apparently been dispatching small teams of highly-trained fighters to kill specific suspected terrorist targets, breaking with former President Barack Obama's tendency to rely on drone strikes rather than human assassins, BuzzFeed News reports. "It's a small number where it has been kinetic, but it is happening," said one person familiar with the new squads, using "kinetic" to suggest lethal military action.
The CIA's Special Activities Center apparently oversees the program; it also houses the Ground Branch, which is "made up of elite fighters, often taken from the ranks of SEALs, Delta Force, and Marine Special Operations Command," called Paramilitary Operations Officers, BuzzFeed writes. There are about 100 such fighters, although that number is seemingly growing under President Trump. A spokesperson for the CIA denied any elite hit team program exists.
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