U.S. Considers Stepping Up Rebel Support

By
ADAM ENTOUS
and
JULIAN E. BARNES
WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is considering putting the Pentagon in charge of arming and training moderate rebel forces in Syria, a move that could help expand the effort significantly beyond the limited scope of the current Central Intelligence Agency program, U.S. officials said.
These internal discussions come as Congress begins a debate over a resolution to authorize limited strikes against Syria in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons last month.
The move would substantially revamp one of the administration’s most secretive and controversial undertakings in the 2½-year-old civil war. President Barack Obama authorized the CIA program in June after Hezbollah’s large-scale entry into the conflict on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s side and a U.S. determination that Syrian forces had used chemical arms in small amounts in earlier clashes.

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The idea of giving the Pentagon a greater role in the effort has gained traction in recent weeks among some in Congress and in the administration who say the CIA’s arming and training program is too small and slow-moving.
Administration officials have privately told lawmakers they don’t want to tip the balance against the Assad regime for fear Islamist groups in the opposition with links to al Qaeda could seize large swaths of the country and Mr. Assad’s weapons. At the same time, the White House says it wants to build up moderate elements in the hope they will one day play a leadership role in a post-Assad Syria.
Sen. John McCain, a leading Republican advocate for intervening in Syria, said he asked Mr. Obama during a meeting on Monday why the CIA had yet to start distributing arms to moderate rebels.
Sen. McCain said Mr. Obama confirmed the holdup, assured him “that that’s going to change” and that the administration had “plans to make sure” that would now happen. The White House declined to comment on what it described as a private meeting.
U.S. officials said Tuesday that special-operations forces would be able to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels faster than the CIA and that they have a history of training both commando units and conventional military forces.
Military officials, frustrated with the pace of the CIA process for vetting and training of rebel fighters, have said for months they are ready to either aid the effort or take it over. Officials said the distribution of weapons has yet to begin.
Administration officials were questioned about the process at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Tuesday. The CIA program’s covert nature has limited public discussion of the effort until now. “It was June of this year the president made a decision to support lethal assistance to the opposition,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said, publicly confirming the existence of the operation.
But Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged delays. He noted the opposition was “about to receive” additional support, adding, “There are things that haven’t gotten there yet.”
Officials have attributed the delay to the care the CIA is taking to establish secure delivery “pipelines” for arms and training before weapons start to flow. The agency declined to comment.
Criticism has risen in Congress about the pace of training and arming of the rebels. Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, suggested Tuesday the Obama administration should build up the capacity of moderate rebels more rapidly.
Some congressional aides have discussed the possibility of adding an authorization for the Pentagon to provide arming and training to the resolution authorizing military strikes on Syria. But the aides fear doing so could undercut support for the entire measure on the Hill.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. was likely to re-examine how it was supporting the moderate opposition following the U.S. response to the alleged chemical-weapons attack in Syria.
“We are very focused on the chemical weapons; subsequent to that we would return to what we might do to the moderate opposition in a more overt way,” Gen. Dempsey said.
Gen. Dempsey has called for an investment in upgrading the moderate opposition, a signal that he could support such a shift. In a letter to lawmakers last month, Gen. Dempsey said that, if asked, the U.S. could “significantly increase our effort to develop a moderate opposition.”
Congressional officials said the administration would need to seek explicit congressional authority for the Pentagon to provide training and arming to non-state actors such as rebel forces. The law currently limits Pentagon and State Department training to states and international organizations, they said.The law currently limits Pentagon and State Department training to states and international organizations, they said.
Write to Adam Entous at adam.entous@wsj.com and Julian E. Barnes at julian.barnes@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared September 4, 2013, on page A6 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: U.S. Considers Stepping Up Rebel Support.

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