In a development that indicates that the United States military will play a very critical role in any future military operations in the Rakhine State, four US Air Force officers today arrived in Dhaka before checking into Westin Hotel in the city’s Gulshan neighbourhood, Northeast News has reliably learnt.
Discreet Bangladeshi security sources said that the “advance” USAF team’s arrival signaled the imminent landing of “a large and sensitive cargo” by air.
This relates to the USAF’s team leader, Tara Lynn Alexzandria Stryder, who is the Director of Logistics, Logistics, Supply Chain and Planning.
She is said to have the US’ highest security clearance, ‘TS/SCI’, or Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Intelligence. Stryder, inquiries by Northeast News revealed that she is a “Combat mission support commander”.
The team, which essentially comprises private contractors attached with the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), also has David Thomas Reifenber, a Product Sales Manager, DFS Group Limited. He had earlier graduated from the United States Naval Academy.
The third member of this advance team is Michael Cody Thacker, Senior Director – Fleet Operations, Logistics, Fleet Management. A USAF instructor, Thacker is a “survival specialist” in a USAF rescue squadron.
He has over a decade of military experience primarily in rescue and has worked in diverse operational fields in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The fourth member of the team is USAF Staff Sergeant Martin Lucas Vannorsdall, a pararescueman from the 308th Rescue Squadron and is based at the Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Vannorsdall had earlier trained with the US Army’s 20th Special Forces Group to hone search and rescue skills.
While sources said that the four USAF officers will “not remain on Bangladeshi soil” and “may soon cross over” to Rakhine State, they will hold meetings with Bangladesh Army officers before their cross-border departure.
A previous team (of about 20-25) of US military officers arrived in Dhaka in the middle of April before being lodged at the Bangladesh Army 10th Infantry Division’s Ramu cantonment.
They are said to have subsequently clandestinely slipped into Rakhine State towards the end of April or beginning of May.
The Bangladesh security and military is also said to have come under “increasing pressure” as a consequence of this no-holds-barred engagement with the US military and intelligence community.
This forced NSA Khalilur Rahman to hold a closed-door meeting with Principal Staff Officer in the Armed Forces Division, Lieutenant General Kamrul Hassan before rushing to meet Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman earlier in the day.
These meetings are said to have discussed the recent “pressure” and evaluated the likely consequences for the Bangladesh security establishment in the weeks to come.
