CIA's force - Cross of spies, soldiers

WASHINGTON -- Somewhere between America's spies and commandos is a small group of men and women like Johnny "Mike" Spann, the CIA paramilitary officer killed by rioting prisoners in Afghanistan.

Part intelligence operative, part combat trooper, these officers were among the first Americans to cross the border into Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 -- even before military commandos began reconnaissance missions.

"This is America's secret warfare," said Loch Johnson, a CIA expert at the University of Georgia, of the agency's paramilitary force.

U.S. officials will not say how many are in Afghanistan and the surrounding countries, except that the contingent is much smaller than the hundreds of U.S. military special operations forces.

They are believed to be supplying weapons, training and intelligence to rebels fighting the Taliban. They are gathering information on their own, interrogating prisoners and defectors. Some work alongside the Army's Green Berets and other special operations forces, while others are on their own.

They come from within the CIA's Directorate of Operations, whose primary mission is to conduct clandestine intelligence-gathering. This includes traditional case officers, who work out of U.S. embassies, trying to make sources out of foreign government officials.

One branch, the Special Activities Division, is home to the CIA's offensive punch. Officers in this division are called upon when the president wants covertly to advance U.S. foreign policy, influencing a foreign government without any signs of U.S. action.

Inside the division are intelligence officers who can create economic and political disruptions in foreign countries. Others write propaganda to influence foreign elections.

The division also contains the Special Operations Group, which is the agency's elite paramilitary cadre.

Similar to the Green Berets, these officers can train and supply local dissident groups and friendly governments.