Project OPUS
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Project OPUS is a joint program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency which began in the late 1990s or early 2000s, though its existence has not been officially confirmed. The project allegedly enlisted students, criminals, and other people who do not fit the profile of standard CIA recruits. The background of these recruits is said to have resulted in the project's name, Operational Personnel of Unconventional Status (OPUS).
[edit] History
The project began receiving widespread support from the upper echelons of the Intelligence Community after September 11, 2001. Its funding was tripled, and OPUS teams began operating across the United States as well as externally. The project is rumored to have been the source of the arrest of USF Professor Sami Al-Arian, who is accused of funding the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. OPUS teams were also said to have been in countries such as Ireland, Sudan, Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Spain and Chile.
In the winter of 2001, one interrogation in Arizona resulted in the death of a detainee when he tried to escape from the fifth floor hotel room in which he was being held, he fell to his death. A few months later, a team in Florida was accused of the kidnapping and maiming of a Jordanian National. The team apparently kidnapped and tortured their victim with a power drill. According to reports, neither team was disciplined for their actions. The activities and existence of these teams is still denied by the US government. However the rumors persist, placing them in an armed standoff with the FBI, a running shootout in a mall, firing at local police in Orlando, stealing a yacht in California, as well as destroying evidence in several criminal cases, including a murder case, throughout the country. The most disturbing is the claim of an OPUS team, relieving a US Army Officer of his command, when the commander refused to initiate an action he believed to be immoral.
[edit] Analysis
The CIA's shift back to unconventional programs has worried observers, who are concerned by reports that the CIA may once again be operating inside the borders of the United States, an approach that was considered to be unused after the early 1980's. The autonomy that the teams had been given, allowed for several alleged incidents in which civil and human rights were violated under the auspices of the United States government.
