CIA kill teams modeled on Israel commandos

WASHINGTON, July 14 (UPI) -- Proposed CIA kill teams were to be modeled on teams fielded by Israel after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, a former senior U.S. official told Newsweek.

The proposal, which was never carried out, was designed to hunt down and kill al-Qaida terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States. The plan is also at the center of a fight between the CIA and Democrats over whether the agency withheld information illegally from Congress.

Newsweek said the U.S. proposal was brought up several times in the last few years. It provided for squads to be sent overseas into sometimes friendly countries to track down and kill al-Qaida leaders.

Two unnamed former officials told Newsweek the Bush White House consulted with the secret branch of the CIA, then called the Directorate of Operations, about how operatives could track and kill terrorists. But top directorate officials concluded the proposal was too risky, the magazine said.

Still, the proposal was never formally killed until Obama administration CIA Director Leon Panetta ended the program last month, Newsweek said.

The two former officials said Vice President Dick Cheney was not involved in the planning and did not order the information withheld from congressional oversight. But The New York Times reported Cheney told the CIA to withhold the information from two oversight panels, and Newsweek said other sources also told it Cheney pressured the agency not to tell Congress about the program.

The CIA is not commenting publicly about the controversy.