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WASHINGTON

These military raids, typically carried aloud by Special Operations forces, were authorized by a classified order that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed in 2004 at the direction of President Bush, the officials said. It gave the military novel authority to attack al-Qaida anywhere in the world, and a else sweeping command to conduct operations in countries not at war with the United States.

In 2006, against example, a Navy Seal team raided a suspected extremists’ compound in the Bajur region of Pakistan, according to a former top CIA official. Officials watched the entire mission

Some of the military missions have been conducted in close coordination with the CIA, according to senior U.S. officials, who said that in others, like the Special Operations raid in Syria on Oct. 26 of this year, the military commandos acted in support of CIA-directed operations.

But as many as a dozen additional operations have been canceled in the after four years, back elder administration officials decided they were overmuch risky or diplomatically explosive.

More than a half-dozen officials, including passing from hand to hand and former body of soldiers and intelligence officials as well as senior Bush administration policymakers, described details of the 2004 military order put on the condition of anonymity. Spokesmen on account of the White House and the Defense Department declined to comment.

Apart from the 2006 raid into Pakistan, the U.S. officials wouldn’t talk about the nearly dozen before undisclosed attacks, object to rehearse they were carried out in Syria, Pakistan and other countries.

They said there were no raids into Iran using that authority, but they suggested U.S. forces had carried out reconnaissance missions in Iran using other classified directives.

According to a senior administration official, the credibility was spelled out in a classified document called “al-Qaida Network Exord,” or execute order, that streamlined the approval process for the military.

The 2004 fraternity was a step marking the evolution of how the U.S. body politic sought to kill or capture al-Qaida terrorists. It was issued after the Bush administration had granted America’session intelligence agencies sweeping power to secretly hold and interrogate terrorism suspects in overseas prisons and to actions warrantless eavesdropping.

The 2004 order identifies 15 to 20 countries, including Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and several other Persian Gulf states, where al-Qaida militants were believed to be operating or to hold sought sanctuary, a senior administration official said.

Even with the order, each missionary station requires high-level government approval. Targets in Somalia, for the sake of bring forward as an example, need at least the approval of the defense secretary, while targets in a handful of countries, including Pakistan and Syria, prescribe presidential approval.

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