Britain and the US have been in regular contact with him in recent days, mainly through intelligence sources.
But they said it would be relatively small -- about 10 people or so -- and consist mainly of intelligence officials and diplomats.
It now appears that the NCA is simply going to be a marginally beefed up version of the existing Serious Organised Crimes Agency i.e. concerned mainly with intelligence.
Lawmakers from the more threatened places objected, and proposed a program -- the Urban Area Security Initiative -- that would give special aid to cities at special risk, based mainly on intelligence assessments and population density.
"What we will have to see is," the staff member said, "is he going to be a staunch defender of them no matter what?" Steven Aftergood, an analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said evidence suggested that Mr. Roberts would be mainly an "intelligence community booster".
Describing the main role of special forces operating in small numbers, Rear Adm. John D. Stufflebeem, the deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they mainly collect intelligence that cannot be seen from aircraft, and "train forces like opposition forces -- to be a force multiplier".
The Ministry of Defence said it only used such craft in Afghanistan, mainly for intelligence gathering and unarmed.
"Did you hear what I just said?" Huntsman snapped back, saying he favored drawing down the number of troops to a force of 10,000 or 15,000 tasked mainly with intelligence gathering and special-forces response capabilities.
It also seems to be the second in a trilogy that will be crowned by his upcoming novel, Shemlan, a village in the mountains overlooking Beirut made famous by what was once known as "The Spy School," where mainly British intelligence operatives went to learn Arabic and other tricks of the trade.
Small remotely piloted planes are now used mainly to gather intelligence and fire missiles at insurgents.
