Providence, Scranton, Whitney: gone from Libya

USN warships now on Libyan duty are the USS Kearsarge, the USS Ponce and the destroyer USS Barry.

Among those no longer participating in the Libya mission are two submarines, the destroyer USS Stout and the Mount Whitney,

According to published accounts, an unknown number of CIA officers, along with British intelligence and special forces counterparts, are working with the Libyan rebels. The CIA has its own paramilitary component, known as the Special Activities Division. But what the CIA might be doing in Libya beyond just gathering intelligence is unclear. VOA

The Special Activities Division (SAD) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) National Clandestine Service (NCS) responsible for covert operations, black operations and other "special activities". These include covert political action and paramilitary special operations. Within SAD there are two separate groups, one for paramilitary operations and another for political action The Political Action Group within SAD is responsible for covert activities related to political influence, psychological and economic warfare. The rapid development of technology has added cybA large covert operation usually has components that involve many, or all, of these categories, as well as paramilitary operations. The division is supervised by the U.S. Secretary of State

Special Operations Group (SOG) is the element within SAD responsible for paramilitary operations. These operations include collection of intelligence in hostile countries and regions, and all high threat military or intelligence operations with which the U.S. government does not wish to be overtly associated As such, members of the unit (called Paramilitary Operations Officers) normally do not carry any objects or clothing (e.g., military uniforms) that would associate them with the United States government If they are compromised during a mission, the government of the United States may deny all knowledge.
Only three Navy warships and a supply ship remain for the operation, compared with the 11 ships there when the intervention began, two defense officials said Tuesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the data.