US okays helping Libya rebels secretly

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert US government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials said.

Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks, according to government sources familiar with the matter. Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. This is a necessary legal step before such action can take place but does not mean that it will.

"As is common practice for this and all administrations, I am not going to comment on intelligence matters," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. "I will reiterate what the president said — no decision has been made about providing arms to the opposition or to any group in Libya."

The CIA, which declined comment on the Obama authorization, has inserted small groups of clandestine operatives to gather intelligence for air strikes as part of a shadow force of westerners that the United States hopes can help bleed Gadaffi's military, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed US officials.

In addition to the CIA operatives, dozens of British special forces and MI6 intelligence officers are also working in Libya, the newspaper said. News that Obama had given the authorization surfaced as the president and other US and allied officials spoke openly about the possibility of sending arms supplies to Gaddafi's opponents, who are fighting better-equipped government forces.

People familiar with U.S. intelligence procedures said that Presidential covert action "findings " are normally crafted to provide broad authorization for a range of potential US government actions to support a particular covert objective. In 2009 Obama gave a similar authorization for the expansion of covert US counter-terrorism actions by the CIA in Yemen.

US officials also have said Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whose leaders despise Gaddafi, have indicated a willingness to supply Libyan rebels with weapons.